Duke Law students, faculty, administrators and guest speakers enjoy a break during the overnight Public Interest Retreat.

DukeSpring 2003 Duke Law Magazine features community service.

Welcome to the website of the Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono at Duke Law School. The purpose of this site is to acquaint students, prospective students, alumni, potential pro bono supervisors and the general public with the goals and resources provided by this Office. For prospective students, we seek to introduce you to the opportunities and public spiritedness of the "public interest community" at Duke Law School, which we define widely as encompassing all future lawyers. For students, we have information on public interest activities, public interest employment, pro bono opportunities, the curriculum and pro bono service. For alumni, we have space for you to engage in the on-going discussion with current students about our role as lawyers in the community and the world, and we hope you will offer your advice and assistance to them. For potential pro bono supervisors, we acquaint you with our Pro Bono Project and tell you how to sign up to attract and receive student assistance. For the public, we have a referral page so that you can see some of the legal resources that are available in the community.

Public Interest is broadly defined at Duke Law School. This Office is for all the students of the school whether or not they expect to spend part of their professional career in the public sector. Lawyers are looked to as leaders in their communities and most are called upon frequently to serve their communities over the course of their careers. Indeed, they are exhorted to do so by the Codes of Professional Responsibility of state bars. Lawyers have many opportunities to serve. The two most obvious ones are careers in the public sector - government and non-profit legal advocacy - and law firm pro bono. However, lawyers also serve as legislators crafting laws, as advisors on non-profit boards, as members of public commissions, and in countless other ways.

This public spiritedness of the profession is encouraged and cultivated among Duke Law students. Indeed, most students come to Duke Law already steeped in the ethic of service. These days, the best students are active in community service in high school and college. They do not want to take three years "off" from public service while in law school. Through the Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono, students can maintain their service ethic and engage in intellectual debate on the pressing issues of the day.

A central aspect of the Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono is student leadership. Over 20 students serve on the Public Interest and Pro Bono Board, and these students each have responsibility for at least one program or pro bono group. Students come to Duke Law with a wealth of skills. We take every opportunity to leverage these skills so that students are assisting each other to make the best use of their time as they prepare for the practice of law.

In fall 2003, we are introducing a new feature of our Pro Bono program. All new students will be invited to sign The Pro Bono Pledge at orientation, in which they commit to contribute at least 50 hours of law-related service to the community while a student at Duke Law School. The 50 hours exhortation is inspired by the ABA's Model Rule of Professional Conduct 6.1 that states, in part: "Every lawyer has a professional responsibility to provide legal services to those unable to pay. A lawyer should aspire to render at least (50) hours of pro bono publico legal service per year."

At this writing, in August 2003, we are looking forward to another exciting, energetic year of service and learning.

Carol Spruill
Associate Dean of Public Interest and Pro Bono and Senior Lecturing Fellow

"Every lawyer has a responsibility for improving the law, the profession, and the availability of legal services to society's underserved populations. Duke Law School underlines the importance of this responsibility by the examples set by its faculty and by the opportunities it provides its students for pro bono service."
- Dean Katharine Bartlett

"Altruism combined with realism; knowledge of fundamental principles and capacity to apply them; courage to insist on the right and patience to achieve it; understanding of the timidity of the weak; fearlessness of the domination of the powerful; sympathy for the mistakes of the indiscreet; caution of the craftiness of the unprincipled; enthusiasm for that which is fine and inspiring; reverence for that which is sacred; these are some of the attributes of great lawyers."
- Justin Miller
Dean, 1930-34

Pictures in Banner: Students react to a speaker at the overnight Public Interest Retreat; students clear debris for a non-profit organization during the Dedicated to Durham school-wide service project; student leader Tamala Boyd stands with a speaker she recruited for the Public Interest Book and Film Club - Louis Massiah, a producer for one segment of the Eyes on the Prize film series on the civil rights movement; Dean Kate Bartlett pitches in at Dedicated to Durham.