Bridging the 'justice gap' is a part of the curriculum at Charlotte School of Law
Only a few U.S. law schools – like CharlotteLaw – require pro bono work. Often, current students enter law school with a history of service. They did it in high school and college, and they believe in public service. This week, The Charlotte Observer featured CharlotteLaw’s pro bono program.
It is not a secret that across the country, lawyers for low-income people are in short supply, so pro bono opportunities like the ones CharlotteLaw provides for students are extremely timely.
A 2009 “justice gap” report by the federal Legal Services Corporation shows that 80 percent of low-income people who need legal help can’t get it.
That’s why the American Bar Association requires that all law schools provide some mechanism for pro bono work for students, said Sylvia Novinsky, assistant dean for public service at the UNC Chapel Hill Law School.
“It’s really also a great way to gain some practical skills.”
Pro bono at CharlotteLaw is one of three pillars in the school’s mission statement. Serving the underserved is an oft-repeated ideal taken seriously at CharlotteLaw, the only law school in the state that requires students to complete pro bono work to graduate.
For five days over spring break, 16 CharlotteLaw students traveled to Biloxi, Miss., to help attorneys at the nonprofit Mississippi Center for Justice, still advocating for victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and last year’s BP oil spill.
The students, supervised by Lew and MCJ attorneys, worked on a study on fair housing, explored access to healthy and affordable food. They also worked with residents on the controversial closing of a historically black elementary school. And the BP oil spill.
