Under the Pro Bono Program, students who perform 40 hours of pro bono work between the beginning of their first semester and graduation will receive a certificate and be recognized in the graduation bulletin. The Pro Bono Executive Board has also arranged for certificate recipients to receive a letter of commendation from the Oregon Supreme Court and Oregon State Bar.

To receive recognition for work performed, students must submit records of their hours to the Pro Bono Executive Board.

Students may record their pro bono hours on standardized forms available in the Career Services Office. Submission of pro bono hours is governed by the law school’s Honor Code; any student who falsely reports pro bono hours may be subject to discipline.

To qualify for the Certificate, work performed must fall under one of the following definitions:

"Pro bono work" means:

(a) work directly related to the delivery of legal services to indigent individuals by attorneys or organizations; or

(b) work for an attorney or attorneys on behalf of organizations, donations to which qualify under state or federal tax law; or

(c) law-related work for federal, state or local government, including governmental agencies, but excluding law enforcement and other positions not directly benefiting under-served populations or causes;

(d) work directly related to the administration of the pro bono program, including service on the Pro Bono Executive Board.

Students must not receive academic credit (including "extra credit") or payment for their work.


Training Prerequisites: Effective January 2002

Some pro bono opportunities, such as Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA), and mediation programs require substantial training hours before a student can begin performing pro bono work.

If a pro bono opportunity requires training, only a portion of the training hours may be used to calculate the 40 required hours for the Pro Bono Certificate and to calculate the total number of pro bono hours. The formula is as follows: for every 30 hours of volunteer work, 10 hours of training may be added to count toward pro bono hours. For example, if 20 hours of training is required, you must work 60 volunteer hours to count the full 20 hours of training and to add them to your total pro bono hours. If you do 50 hours of volunteer work, your total pro bono hours would be 60 (30 hours of work + 10 hours of training + 20 more hours of pro bono).