Penelope Gets Engaged

Inspiration

We thought it would be a good idea to engage a student who had no interest in doing public interest work and no background with underserved populations to complete pro bono assignments with a legal services organization.

What it does

Our idea would motivate this student by first establishing a 3 tier approach to her pro bono projects. The first tier would allow Penelope, as a first year student, to interact with juvenile populations in a relatively non-legal setting -- intake, form development, interviewing. As a second year student, Penelope would engage in more intermediate work which would be on par with her progressing education and training. As a third year student, Penelope would have the ability to work on more complex legal issues more related to her future career goals. As Penelope completes her tiers and assignments, her site supervisor would send out an email to Penelope, her law school, her client, the client's employer, and her state legislator to announce the good work she's done. The email would read as follows --"Today, Penelope Jones helped an employee of Walmart save her home, " etc....

How I built it

The idea came from initial conversations with our frustrations on how to get students to complete their pro bono work and how to help legal aid agencies fill their needs. Then we brainstormed ideas on ways to help both of these parties with the focus being on the student experience. We then developed a profile of what this student would look like and her particular needs, interests, and goals. We had to address the engagement between the law school, the student, legal aid, the legal aid clients, and how this would impact the community.

Challenges I ran into

Because of the impact on all the parties involved, we had to refocus on just one - the student going through the process. In the end we were able to address the impact on all the parties, but needed to be mindful of the power of the one student to create this change. In so doing, the student would develop a more meaningful connection with legal services work as she progressed within the tiers and her education, and ultimately, her community.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

We are proud that we were able to create a program that moved one student from being self-interested to being interested in public service work.

What I learned

That we all could work together to meet the needs of our individual populations -- law students, the law schools, legal aid clients, and the legal aid employees. We learned how one person could impact and be impacted by legal work and the community.

What's next for Penelope Gets Engaged

Not only has Penelope become engaged enough to complete her pro bono requirements, she is now engaged enough in the community and public interest to incorporate this kind of work into her legal life following law school.