Loyola's Pro Bono Requirement

I decided to knock out my pro bono requirement during the summer after my 1E year. Typically, evening students don’t really hold internships before their 2nd summer, but I wanted to do a little more while I was taking Constitutional Law and continuing to tutor students part-time.

However, I went above and beyond the hours that I needed to hit. I decided to spend three days each week at Neighborhood Legal Services working in their clean slate initiatives. Primarily, I interviewed clients, completed expungement paperwork, drafted petitions, and met with them in person at NLS’s monthly clinic. Throughout all of this, I got to get my feet wet in criminal law and public interest work, while also having direct contact with clients. It was a very informative and rewarding experience, but also very difficult work. I have a lot of respect for the attorneys that I worked with for that very reason. I had several instances where I interviewed very emotional clients, who had been dragged through the mud over a conviction on their record which they either regretted or had a very heart wrenching back story for. These experiences taught me a lot about working directly with clients and also working in the public interest realm. I also learned a lot about dealing with the criminal courts and what it’s like to be a pro per litigant. I would highly recommend this experience to anyone looking to fulfill their requirement because it was more than just logging volunteer hours. NLS gave me the ability to spend time with people, to learn their stories, and to tell them the best way that I could help in the hopes that I might be able to change their lives in a significant way. I think that’s the real power that attorneys have in action.