Pro Bono & Community Service Records are Made to be Broken

During the 2009-2010 school year, Lewis & Clark Law School set a school record with the most student pro bono and community service hours ever reported leading to Lewis & Clark, for the first time ever, beating out University of Oregon and receiving the Oregon State Bar’s Pro Bono Challenge Award for Law Schools.  Records are exciting, but it is even more exciting to break them.  With the 2010-2011 school year, Lewis & Clark Law Students have outdone all previous years reporting 16,243 hours of pro bono and community service, that is an increase of more than a third over the previously record setting 2009-2010 numbers. 

On April 14, 2011, Lewis & Clark recognized students who completed 30 or more hours of volunteer time over the previous year at the annual Pro Bono and Community Service Honors Lunch.  Long time pro bono role model and co-founder of Tonkon Torp, Don Marmaduke delivered remarks.  Mr. Marmaduke spoke of his work from winning a 1965 trial to integrate the Neshoba County Courthouse in Mississippi to his recent work fighting restrictions on legal aid funding.  Through his speech, Mr. Marmaduke reminded students that no matter what path they take after law school, they have the skills to slay dragons and fight for justice through their pro bono work.

The awards recognize students in two categories, law-related pro bono work, and general volunteer community service work.  Just under a quarter of enrolled students reported doing at least one hour of volunteer work during the 2010-2011 school year.  While attending Lewis & Clark, 35% of the graduating class of 2011 received at least one Pro Bono or Community Service Award. 

Logan Perkins spent the summer of 2010 after her first year of law school in Maine working with Pine Tree Legal Assistance on a PILP stipend.  Through Pine Tree, Logan worked on eviction, Social Security Benefits, and employment discrimination cases, but she did not receive pro bono credit for these hours because of her stipend.  Remarkably, Logan found time in addition to her full time work, to volunteer with Maine National Lawyers Guild attorneys to protect the rights of individuals protesting large-scale wind power development.

No matter where you fall on the spectrum of views regarding large-scale wind power development, everyone can agree that all people deserve to have their civil rights and their criminal procedural rights protected.  What Logan did in her free time was work to protect those rights.  Logan gained experience working with clients as she calmed defendants, raised bail, and helped secure the release form jail of arrested protesters.  She worked with NLG lawyers on defense strategy, and performed the essential research to decide which defenses to pursue.  So essential has Logan’s work been to the cases that attorneys expect to seek special permission from the court for her to sit at counsel table when trials are set.

Like all students doing pro bono work, Logan is strengthening the community and the legal system through her pro bono efforts while applying what she has learned in law school.  Through this volunteer work, Logan is building the skills to unlock what her pro bono supervising attorney called her “potential to be an excellent attorney.”

2010-2011 Pro Bono Honors Award Recipients

 James Aaron
Cary Allen
Sara Althoff
Amanda Alvarez
Naomi Andress
Mark Apker
Karen Barnett
Cecil Benjamin
Valerie Berg
Brent Bielski
David Boyer
Brienne Bridegum
Jenna Bruce
Liv Brumfield
Jesse Buss
Amanda Caffall
Natalie Calta
Brienne Carpenter
Kristen Chambers
Tommy Chau
Lana Chow
Sylvia Ciborowski
Lia Comerford
Zachary Davies
Matthew Deisen
Matthew Dominguez
Erin Duncan
Beth Edwards
Lowell Elliott
Aurelia Erickson
Maura Fahey
Haley Farrar
Jessica Flint
Walter Fonseca
Alexandria Forester
Sara Foroshani
Tara Gallagher
Holly Gann
Louis Geltman
Marcel Gesmundo
Kathryn Grado
Tanya Green
Rich Grisel
Dana Gross
Christine Gunn
Maggie Hall
Louise Hansen
Nicholas Harrell
Jennifer Herbst
Scott Hilgenberg
Michael Hsu
Torie Jarvis
Jessica Johnson
Miles Johnson
Heather Joy
Jenny Keatinge
Kenny Key
John Koch
Jeff Kucirek
Mackenzie Lawson
Andy Le
Andy Le
Jaclyn Leeds
Elizabeth Lieberknecht
Amelia Linn
Jennifer Loda
Jenny Logan
Ryan Lowe
Jenevieve Mandell
Laura Mandell
Melissa Marrero
Rochelle Martinsson
Meaghan McCredie
Colette McEldowney
Erin McKee
Dennis Mooney
Jessica Morgan
Lauren Moser
Keith Mosman
Marla Nelson
Beth Oates
Kieran O’Donnell
Josh Orem
Michelle Pawliger
Kimberlee Petrie
Andrew Phillips
Zachary Pilchen
Margaret Poehler
Lauren Posten
Matthew Preusch
Vicky Razo
Elliott Rector
Charissa Robbins
Meagan Robbins
Leah Robson
Kimberly Roegner
Shayna Rogers
Ann Marie Rubin
Paul Ruprecht
Kirsten Rush
Danielle Shaw
Sarah Shepherd
Sara Shok
Nolan Shutler
Surinder Singh
Kathryn Skondin
Jake Smart
Laurel Smith
Josh Soper
Paige Spence
Nathan Sramek
William Stabler
Nicholas Stack
Joel Strong
David Susens
Jackie Swanson
Lindsay Tallon
Joe Terrenzio
Bobbie Traverso/Estes
Jamie Trinkle
Amanda Tufts
Jeffrey Van Name
Amy Van Saun
Megan Vaniman
Kathryn Walter
Kimberly White
Tim Wigington
Melissa Williams
Grant Wilson
Lorena Wisehart
Sean Worley
Binah Yeung