Law Students Going Mobile to Do Pro Bono
The Justice Bus rides this weekend! According to Woodland California’s Daily Democrat, the Justice Bus, a mobile legal clinic sponsored by the University of San Francisco School of Law (whose students staff the clinic), the
Public Interest Clearinghouse, and Legal Services of Northern California, is stopping in Woodland on 10/9 to hold a free employment law clinic. “This clinic will offer free legal advice and referrals for all aspects of employment law from wrongful termination and wage and hour claims to workers compensation and benefits questions. Anyone with employment related questions is able to attend this free legal clinic.”
It’s great to see this project allowing students to engage with clients in under-served areas who need help. This really is an ideal (and probably fun) way for city-dwelling students to cultivate their legal skills while reaching those who don’t benefit from having direct access to lawyers – let alone money to afford them. And it’s not the only example of such an undertaking. Indeed, it’s not even the only Justice Bus. In March, the PSLawNet Blog profiled a different Justice Bus run by Arizona State law students. And in August we covered the work of University of Detroit Mercy law students who run Project Salute, which aids low-income veterans and rolls in a “custom designed 31-foot Mobile Law Office, built and donated by General Motors.” Our only major malpractice concern in all of this is a student driving the bus.