Please report your pro-bono hours - commencement cords

[Pro Bono]

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 who have met former Chief Judge Lippman’s goal:

"The new pro bono service requirement for admission to the New York bar serves to address the state's urgent access to justice gap, at the same time helping prospective attorneys build valuable skills and imbuing in them the ideal of working toward the greater good. It is so important that the next generation of lawyers in New York embraces the core values of our profession that so fundamentally include pro bono legal assistance."

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:
http://www.law.buffalo.edu/current/pro- ... ional.html
We hope to honor students for their true pro bono hours rather than pro bono done for pay or for credit through a Clinic, Externship or Practica. We will also focus on the pro bono hours, the legal services provided.

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 200 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 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/50 ... 4.2020.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.


The Law Related Employment Affidavit is available at: https://www.nybarexam.org/Admission/Par ... 4.2020.pdf

Any questions? contact Vice Dean for Social Justice Initiatives Melinda Saran at saran@buffalo.edu