Particularly attractive to students who may not be quite ready to commit to an intensive, semester-long clinic experience, the Pro Bono Program offers students a chance to do some meaningful work, develop marketable skills, and maybe begin a lifelong habit of volunteering.
“The Pro Bono Program connects students to what drew them to law school, which is to help people or to serve the community,” says Amy Sankaran, ’01, director of externship and pro bono programs.
Since 2009, shortly after Sankaran took over the program, Michigan Law has asked interested students to pledge 50 hours of pro bono work during the course of their JD studies (or 25 hours for LLM students). That number matches the pro bono hours that the American Bar Association asks lawyers to perform annually.
The students’ work is supervised by lawyers within the Law School or at the partnering agency. A number of projects operate in conjunction with Legal Services of South Central Michigan or other local legal-aid agencies. The program oversees 20 to 30 projects in a typical year.
The program offers benefits for all involved. Students develop useful skills and valuable experience that they can draw upon in job interviews; individuals get the legal help they need; and supervising attorneys can expand the reach of their pro bono work.
One popular ongoing pro bono program is the Student Rights Project (SRP), which assists K-12 students facing disciplinary action such as expulsion. The Student Advocacy Center refers them to the project, where an interdisciplinary team supports the family and helps the student get reinstated in school.
Brad Gonzalez, ’26, was drawn to SRP in part due to challenges his brother encountered in high school. Speaking recently at The Valiant, the annual public-interest storytelling event, Gonzalez called the SRP “a beautiful experience.”
“It’s been my home here, and it’s been my way to do right by the students in my community,” he said. “SRP is special to me because I get to work with students who are struggling.”
One particular student whom Gonzalez represented after the student got into a fight “was a reminder to me why I came to law school, and that is to support those who are in need,” Gonzalez said. He will now take that spirit into his career, working for the Neighborhood Defender Service in Detroit.
In another long-running effort, the Sentence Commutation Project (SCP), volunteers help prisoners work on their applications to have their sentence commuted. Lila Nazarian, ’26, joined SCP to gain experience with clients and because of her belief in the mission, “that everyone deserves a second chance.”
Nazarian has worked directly on several commutation applications and helped supervise other students as a board member and, most recently, president/chair of the board. The experience helped put her on a path to a career in public defense.
“I’ve learned so much about redemption, forgiveness, and compassion from our clients,” she says. “People are imperfect. But we all do the best we can, and we are all greater than our worst mistake.”
She adds, “The communication skills, organizational experience, and life perspective I’ve gained will guide me through the rest of my career. Being a great public defender is about learning how to tell your client’s story. SCP taught me that most of all.”
