Featured Students
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Stephanie Alessi 2013 |
Pro bono has been an invaluable part of my education and will continue to be an important commitment throughout my legal career. Each of us at Hastings is part of a larger community, so we should strive to make our community strong by helping our neighbors who are in need. By getting to know clients and attorneys through my pro bono work, I have been able to cultivate a strong connection to the many individuals who make the Bay Area such an incredible and vibrant place to live. |
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Tamara Bartlett 2014 |
Pro bono service has given me the chance to help the community through my legal education. I've been able to get out of the classroom and directly help people by putting theory into practice. There are so many in our community with very real problems and it's gratifying to realize how much we can do to help. |
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Lauren Birnbaum 2013 |
Pro bono gives me an opportunity that can't be found in the classroom – working with real people to solve their real problems. Working with VITA has allowed me to learn to help many low-income taxpayers who otherwise may have no where else to go. There is an incredible need for basic legal services in San Francisco, and I truly believe that students and the community alike benefit when a bit of time is donated. |
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Michael Bland 2013 |
Environmental advocacy is what brought me to law school. Pursuing a pro bono opportunity with the Environmental Law Foundation allowed me to help under-represented communities and enforce environmental regulations right after my first year of law school. The Foundation not only protects our state's natural resources from overexploitation, but also uses the legal sword of Prop 65 to keep our drinking water and children's baby food free from lead and other toxins. The practical skills of real-world lawyering are almost impossible to obtain while sitting in a classroom and if a similar passion brought you to law school - one of the best ways to help fulfill it is to get out and do it. As Mark Twain put it, "don't let schooling interfere with your education. |
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Mark Boskovich 2014 |
Doing pro bono work is a great way to support the community and a practical way to sharpen one's legal skills. Being able to apply principles from the classroom to help others has brought me much joy. I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to work with the wonderful people at the Eviction Defense Collaborative. |
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Jamie Cheng 2014 |
Volunteering kept me grounded throughout my first year in law school. After hours of burying myself in casebooks, doing legal work for my community every week reminded me of how the law effects real people in the real world. Doing pro bono work has given me invaluable experience and insight, regardless of the type of law I plan to go into in the future. |
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Danielle Corkhill 2013 |
Many people who need legal services the most are those who can least afford them. It has been an honor to donate my time in order to bridge that gap, particularly for the people living in the Tenderloin, only minutes from several courthouses and right outside our doors. Being a lawyer is about serving others and assuring justice, and participating in pro bono opportunities has allowed me to experience that as a law student as well. |
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Sara Craig 2014 |
I have performed most of my pro bono service while at Hastings working with General Assistance Advocacy Project (GAAP) and Homeless Legal Services (HLS). Both GAAP and HLS help homeless or marginally-housed clients access public benefits, GAAP by providing direct representation with social services, and HLS by dealing with outstanding warrants for clients so that they become eligible to receive public benefits. Working with both organizations has given me an opportunity to become part of and strengthen the Tenderloin community, while reminding me that small successes matter and that everything I do to help someone else lifts me out of my own concerns and life and back into the real world. |
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Jill Harris 2014 |
Pro bono work has been the most rewarding part of my law school experience. Applying my legal skills outside of the classroom reconfirmed my decision to pursue this career. San Francisco offers so many opportunities to get involved and provides a real sense of community. Working with Homeless Legal Services affords me balance in my daily life. There is no replacement for the feeling you get when someone thanks you for taking the time to listen to their problems and caring enough to solve them. |
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Valencia Herrera 2013 |
Taking time to do pro bono work has been one of the most rewarding experiences during my time in law school. It gives me the opportunity to take a break from the classroom setting and brings me into the community and into the lives of those in need of legal advocacy .Last year most of my time was spent at Equal Rights Advocates working on the class action gender discrimination case against Wal-Mart. I had the chance to interact with amazing attorneys and assist clients with their claims. Pro Bono not only provides me with a great balance but reminds me of why I came to law school. |
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Katelyn Keegan 2014 |
My experience with the General Assistance Advocacy Project reminded me why I came to law school in the first place. Particularly in the Tenderloin, there are real opportunities for students to advocate for our community and put our education to good use. Pro bono work is something I care deeply about, and something I will pursue throughout my legal career. |
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Colby Kuvara 2014 |
My approach to pro bono social justice and grassroots work is best explained by the maxim—“what you see depends on where you stand.” I seek out opportunities to stand in new places, but more than that, I look for the opportunity to stand with others—to hear their point of view and to see the world as they see it. In my work with the General Assistance Advocacy Project in the San Francisco Tenderloin, I have had the opportunity to aid homeless and marginally-housed individuals in finding the answers to questions and in understanding how the law applies to them, and I often advocate on their behalf to resolve disputes. I love giving back to the San Francisco community through work with groups like GAAP. As I stand in new places with diverse individuals, I see an unbridled potential for creating positive, long-lasting change in grassroots and direct services work. I am optimistic that this work has the power to ensure more sustainable development, a healthier environment, and a better quality of life for the average person. Pro bono work provides me with the opportunity to utilize the legal system in creative ways to contribute to creating a more just, cooperative community. |
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Rebecca Palm 2013 |
Pro bono work has been a valuable part of my law school experience at Hastings. I have greatly enjoyed interacting with clients at the homeless shelter and being a part of resolving their legal problems through Homeless Legal Services. It only takes a few hours a week to make a difference! To read more about Beckie's Pro Bono work, click here. |
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Shannon Roy 2013 |
My pro bono work at Hastings has been incredibly meaningful and rewarding. I worked at the General Assistance Advocacy Project both as a student volunteer advocate and as one of the student co-presidents, and both opportunities allowed me to give back to the community, and gave me a chance to learn and use skills beyond those we all learn in the classroom. Working with both students from the Hastings community and with low-income San Francisco residents was an incredibly positive experience, and gave me a chance to give people hope and to affect change using the skills that law students all have. Even in the process of doing something small, like reading over and responding to a letter from a landlord, I was able to help people who had nowhere else to go and who might otherwise be trapped in bad situation. It is so rewarding to be able to help in that way, and experience that every law student should have. |
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Milan Sundaresan 2013 |
I am humbled by every opportunity to step out of the theoretical world of law school and into a realm full of real individuals seeking anything from Social Security payments to legal work permits. It is a privilege and an honor to have individuals harbor so much faith in my ability to help them. This blind trust reminds me of how vital it is to hold out a hand and change someone's life for the better. In exchange, I have received specialized legal training and the pleasure of working with brilliant and inspiring individuals who are relentless in their service to others. |
UCHastings College of the Law
200 McAllister, San Francisco, CA 94102415.565.4600
