April 30, 2008

Mitchell professor’s research shows law schools can influence pro bono work in graduates’ careers

Recent research by Mitchell Professor Deborah Schmedemann shows that when a law school provides its students opportunities and incentives for public service, they are more likely to engage in pro bono work in their practice.

Schmedemann conducted focus groups and surveys of more than 1,000 law students and lawyers. In her research, she found that students who took clinic courses and volunteered through the Minnesota Justice Foundation, which facilitates law student involvement in a wide range of public service activities for all Minnesota law schools, were more likely to engage in pro bono practice. Students who were recognized for 50 hours or more of public service also were more likely to do pro bono later. Students who see the cause of poverty and solutions for it as societal rather than individual tend to perform more pro bono, as do students who feel that they are aware of the needs of their community.

“To a great extent, the research findings affirm Mitchell’s approach to pro bono among students and support having a voluntary program with the incentive of recognition rather than requiring participation,” Schmedemann said.

Schmedemann presented her paper on “Priming for Bono: The Impact of Law School on Pro Bono Participation in Practice,” at a conference April 25 sponsored by the Baldy Center for Law & Social Policy at the University of Buffalo in New York.

The conference, titled Private Lawyers and the Public Interest: The Evolving Role of Pro Bono in the Legal Profession, explored the relationship between pro bono ideals and pro bono in practice and the opportunities and limitations of pro bono in expanding access to justice. Schmedemann wasamong the prominent legal scholars and social scientists who shared their recent research on the public service role of lawyers in legal education and practice with other academics and lawyers at the conference.

Schmedemann has taught Contracts, Employment Law Survey, and Writing & Representation: Advice & Persuasion at William Mitchell for 26 years and served as associate dean for clinics and skills for five years. She was a volunteer staff attorney and professor-in-residence for the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund, in Prestonburg, Ky., from 1997 to 1998 and recently spent a sabbatical studying the phenomenology of pro bono. Her research examines social insights into volunteering and testing them out in the legal context.

The Rosalie Wahl Legal Practice Center

The center of William Mitchell’s clinic, externship, and skills programs.