Last chance - report your Pro Bono hours

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Pro Bono
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Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 12:03 pm

Last chance - report your Pro Bono hours

Post by Pro Bono »

Documenting Pro Bono is important for two reasons:

1. New York State requires applicants to the bar complete fifty (50) hours of pro bono work to be admitted to practice (technically you can take the bar exam without completing the hours). The 50 Hour Pro Bono Bar Affidavit is a form. YOU MUST COMPLETE AND SIGN the form, AND your supervising attorney must sign also. YOU KEEP AND SUBMIT the form after you take the bar exam when you apply for admission to practice, as part of your Admission to Practice package which goes to the Appellate Division. NYS Bar Admission Form Affidavit to report completion of 50 hours of pro bono required for admission to the NY bar: https://www.nybarexam.org/Admission/F-B ... ements.pdf

2, UB School of Law must report the pro bono hours our students complete to the ABA and other entities. AND, if you complete over 400 hours of pro bono, your receive an honor cord to wear at graduation. The UB Formstack form is for the Law School required pro bono reporting and for honor cords. The Clinic and Externships programs here at UB send me your hours, but you need to get the Bar Admission for from them (Clinic Office). UB Law Pro Bono Reporting Form: https://www.law.buffalo.edu/current/pro ... ional.html

The School of Law values student pro bono work that is not for credit, paid, or stipend/fellowship supported. This spring, at Commencement, we will recognize those students whose pro bono work has far exceeded the 50 hours required for admission to the bar in New York.

In addition to filling out the Form Affidavit for Compliance with the 50-hour requirement for admission to practice as an attorney, we ask that you report these hours to Vice Dean Melinda Saran so that you can receive recognition by the School of Law for your contribution at:
https://www.law.buffalo.edu/current/pro ... ional.html

In the Commencement Program it will read:
Graduates wearing white cords have demonstrated their strong commitment to providing pro bono services while in law school, having delivered more than 400 pro bono hours, or engaged in other extraordinary pro bono service recognized by the law school. Although admission to the New York bar requires at least 50 hours of pro bono service, today's honored graduates have gone above and beyond in their commitment as UB law students to those who would otherwise be without access to justice.

The 50-hour Pro Bono requirement is a New York State bar admission requirement. It is not required to graduate with your JD, nor to sit for the bar exam.

Link to 50 hour Form Affidavit for Applicant’s Compliance with the Pro Bono Requirement is at: https://www.nybarexam.org/Admission/F- ... ments.pdf . You want to complete these now or at the end of the semester, so you do not have any trouble locating your supervising attorney when you are applying for admission to the bar and have time deadlines. In addition, you May also want to obtain any non-pro bono law-related employment forms.

For non-pro bono legal work, you must complete this form for each law-related work position, even those before you attended law school:
The Law Related Employment Affidavit is available at: https://www.nybarexam.org/Admission/D-B ... oyment.pdf

Any questions? contact Vice Dean Melinda R. Saran at saran@buffalo.edu
Lisa Patterson
Program Director for Externships, Public Interest
and Access to Justice Initiatives
518 O'Brian Hall
Phone: (716) 645-6262
Email: LPatter@Buffalo.edu
Pronouns: She/her/hers

My Office is a Safe Space
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