The mission of the AALS Pro Bono Project is to improve the teaching of the professional ethic of pro bono service in the legal academy. This mission follows from the recommendations of the AALS Commission on Pro Bono and Public Service Opportunities set forth in its report entitled Learning to Serve. In sum, the major proposals of the Commission are twofold:

1) That law schools make available to all law students at least once during their law school careers a well-supervised law-related pro bono opportunity and either require the students' participation or find ways to attract the great majority of students to volunteer.

2) That all law schools adopt a formal policy to encourage and support faculty members to perform pro bono work. This policy should include an annual expectation of service that goes beyond teaching and institutional service, should apply to all full-time and substantially full-time law teachers, and should involve annual reporting of pro bono work. Each law school should provide reasonable support services for faculty pro bono and should allow faculty to freely choose the sort of pro bono work they perform, consistent with their political beliefs and their capacities.
Report at 9, 18.

To help schools implement these recommendations, the AALS has established the Pro Bono Project as well as the new Section on Pro Bono and Public Service. The project, thanks to the generous funding of the Open Society Institute, will be staffed July 1, 1999 - June 30, 2001, by Cynthia F. Adcock, Director of Pro Bono, and Alison M. Keegan, Assistant to the Director. Ms. Adcock and Ms. Keegan consult with a Board of Advisors.

The AALS Pro Bono Project strives to help law schools evaluate and improve the ways in which they teach their students the legal profession's responsibility to provide pro bono legal services to persons who cannot afford needed legal services. The Project is committed to facilitating the exchange of ideas amongst law schools regarding the best ways to teach the ethic of pro bono and to supporting schools in their efforts to implement new pro bono programs. For more information, please contact at 202.296.8851 or cadcock@aals.org or akeegan@aals.org.