Departments & Services > Public Service > About the Public Service Program > Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions About the Public Serivce Graduation Requirement
- When can a student begin work on the public service graduation requirement?
Answer: After completing the first year of law school.
How many hours of public service are required for graduation?
Answer: A minimum of thirty hours is required,
however, the Federal Public Defender placement
requires a minimum commitment of forty hours
and other placements may also require more
than thirty hours. Students may work as
many hours as time and interest permit.
The average number of hours
completed by prior students is 39.63.
- What kind of public service qualifies for the graduation requirement?
Answer:
- Work must be law-related. (Clerical work is
appropriate only to the extent needed to carry out the
overall legal task.)
- Work must be uncompensated. (Students may
not receive monetary compensation, academic credit or
other tangible benefits for performing service.)
- Work must be adequately supervised. Ultimately,
an attorney must be responsible for the student's work, and the
student must be directly supervised on a day-to-day basis by an
attorney, or other lay person with expertise in the relevant
subject matter area, who is responsible for:
- assigning the particular task to the student;
- taking steps to assure the task's successful completion, including training,
- oversight, and provision of model forms or other documentation;
- conducting an evaluative exit interview with the student; and
- completing the Program's mandatory evaluation form about the student.
- Examples of approved placements include work for legal service
organizations, on behalf of nonprofit community groups, and for
government offices responsible for protecting the right of
individuals raising important public interest concerns. Work done
for attorneys in private practice must be pro bono work on
behalf of a person or group ordinarily unable to
secure legal representation.
- Do judicial clerkships count toward meeting the requirement? Answer: NO.
- Does work qualify for holders of or candidates for political office? Answer: NO.
- May students develop their own public service placement/s? Answer: Yes,
BUT IT MUST BE PRE-APPROVED OR NO CREDIT WILL BE GIVEN.
Pre-approved public service placement information is available
in the blue binders of the Public Services Resource
Library, Carr Collins Hall - rooms 308 & 309.