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On January 9th, the University of Utah College of Law invited its first year students to a lunch hour presentation about the importance of pro bono work. Speakers
at the lunch, Jeff Tachiki (2L) and attorney Mary Jane Ciccarello, encouraged a standing-room only crowd to join the Pro Bono Initiative, a new College of Law
program that provides student assistants to attorneys working on pro bono cases.
The first year students' enthusiastic response can in part be attributed to the Pro Bono Initiative's dynamic first semester. Since August, 25 local law firms have
become members of the Initiative and over sixty second and third year students have taken on pro bono projects ranging from death penalty appeals to victims'
rights cases. Among the first volunteers were Matt Hall, working with A Welcome Place, and Kira Dale Pfisterer, volunteering for the Utah Rivers Council.
Matt Hall, a second-year law student fluent in Spanish, chose to serve as a volunteer with A Welcome Place, a local agency providing legal services for immigrants
and refugees in Salt Lake City. Matt is specifically interested in Immigration Law and is the President of the law school's International Law Society.
Attorney Marti Jones works full-time at the agency, and served as Matt's supervisor. A Welcome Place serves a large clientele base with legal problems, including
family-based petitions of immigration, political asylum, suspension of deportation and cases of domestic violence. While the agency charges a small fee for its
services, between 30% to 50% of its funding comes from private grants.
During fall semester, Matt worked on two separate cases. The first case involved a recent refugee from Chad who was seeking asylum. Matt researched the history of
Chad and its current political conditions. He studied the five official grounds for asylum (nationality, religion, social group, race and political opinion) and
assessed the relevance of each of these issues to the case.
Matt also assisted Marti Jones on a case involving a woman from Guatemala who was seeking a petition for suspension of deportation. As a student volunteer, he
gathered information by conducting interviews with the woman's family, confirming the citizenship of her relatives, and gathering other pertinent background
information. Matt found that tracking down the client was the most difficult part of this project. "Marti Jones is thorough in emphasizing to her clients the
gravity of preparation for a hearing," Matt says, yet the difficulty of gathering relevant information presented a unique challenge in this case. However,
with his Spanish skills, Matt was able to make contact, set up an appointment, and "motivate her to get prepared for the hearing."
While Matt was
interviewing clients at A Welcome Place, the Natural Resources Law Forum (NRLF), a student organization at the law school, was organizing a volunteer project
through the Pro Bono Initiative with the Utah Rivers Council. NRLF members met with Utah Rivers Council Director Zach Frankel, and a five-student team signed up to
work on a research project involving the disputed ownership of the Bear River Bird Refuge.
The Bear River project presented NRLF volunteers with a complex research assignment. Working under the supervision of attorneys Jeff Appel, Cullen Battle, and Joro
Walker, the student team researched state statutes and interpretations of the Reservation Act.
"One of the best things about this project is that the work we are doing with Utah Rivers correlates directly with the curriculum in my Natural Resources Law
class. In class we're given context, background and framework, but Utah Rivers Council presents us with the messy application which doesn't always fit into tidy
chapters. It's a more realistic application of what I am learning," Kira explained.
This interplay between curriculum and volunteer work is a happy by-product of the Pro Bono Initiative's original intent: to create an ethic of public service among
law students while providing assistance to attorneys doing pro bono work.
"Kira was a tireless workhorse on this project," says Utah Rivers Council director Zach Frankel appreciatively. The Utah Rivers Council has extensive
experience working with volunteers and particularly valued Kira's ability to take the initiative and pursue the research independently.
The Pro Bono Initiative requires that all students work under the supervision of an attorney. Working with an attorney ensures the quality of the student's work
product and gives the students a positive professional role model. Jeff Appel (Appel & Warlaumont), Kira's supervisor, had this to say about their
collaboration: "There are very few people who offer environmental pro bono assistance. Having this pool of talent to draw on helps to multiply our
effectiveness. It is also refreshing to see the gleam in the eye of these students as they work on projects with goals they obviously believe in."
"The attorneys working on the case are members of private law firms, and they are setting a good example for student volunteers by doing pro bono
work," says Kira Dale Pfisterer, who has accepted a summer position at Parsons, Behle & Latimer. "I have decided to enter the firm environment upon
graduation, and it is important to me that lawyers in firms do pro bono work."
"The Pro Bono Initiative encourages all College of Law students to complete a minimum of fifty hours of law-related volunteer work before graduation. Our
students are receiving neither credit nor compensation for their work," says Assistant Dean for Career Services Kristin Clayton. "As the time logs for
our first semester begin to trickle in, I am amazed to see that some students have far exceeded that goal already."
Participation in the Pro Bono Initiative is open to all College of Law students after the completion of their first semester of law school. First year students are
now eligible to take on projects. If you are an attorney currently working on a pro bono case and would like a student volunteer, please contact the Pro Bono
Initiative at 581-5418 or probono@law.utah.edu.
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