The Association of American Law Schools (AALS) for the eighth year measured the contribution law schools make to legal services through clinics, other experiential courses, and the pro bono activities of law students.
In December, 108 law schools reported that 22,336 law students in the class of 2025* contributed more than 5.1 million hours in legal services as part of their legal education, an average of about 230 hours per student. Independent Sector, a nonprofit organization coalition, estimates the value of volunteer time to be $34.79 an hour. Using this number, the total value of the students’ time at these schools is estimated to be in excess of $178 million. The schools represent approximately 60 percent of the students in American Bar Association accredited law schools in the class of 2025.
In the same survey, 104 law schools reported that 66,606 students in all class years (1L-3L) during the academic year 2024-25 contributed 6,659,896 hours in legal services, an average of approximately 100 hours per student. Using the Independent Sector value of volunteer time, the value of these services is estimated to be worth more than $231.6 million. The schools represent approximately 58 percent of the students in American Bar Association accredited law schools in the 2024-25 academic year.
Many schools reported that some hours were uncounted or difficult to track, suggesting that actual contributions were likely higher. In addition, the project did not include hours contributed by students enrolled in law school master’s degree programs, such as LLM programs. If the average hours reported per student were applied to the total enrollment in the class of 2025 for all AALS member law schools, the estimated contribution of student volunteer hours to legal services would be worth more than $283 million for the class of 2025* and $372 million for all class years (1L-3L) during the 2024-25 academic year.
Law students contributed hours through a variety of efforts, including externships at legal aid and community organizations, law school clinics, and law student organization led projects. These hands-on or experiential learning opportunities enable students to apply classroom teachings to legal problems under the supervision of lawyers and professors. Students received practical experience in law and communities received critical legal services.
Law students contributed hours to hundreds of efforts serving thousands of clients, including the following examples of projects and clinics:
The following schools contributed information for the survey:
- University of Akron School of Law
- The University of Alabama School of Law
- Albany Law School
- American University Washington College of Law
- Arizona State University, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law
- Baylor Law School
- Boston University School of Law
- Brigham Young University, J. Reuben Clark Law School
- Brooklyn Law School
- University at Buffalo School of Law, The State University of New York
- California Western School of Law
- University of California, Berkeley School of Law
- University of California, Irvine School of Law
- University of California, Los Angeles School of Law
- Case Western Reserve University School of Law
- The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law
- The University of Chicago Law School
- Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology
- University of Cincinnati College of Law
- University of Colorado Law School
- Columbia Law School
- University of Connecticut School of Law
- University of Dayton School of Law
- DePaul University College of Law
- Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law
- Duke University School of Law
- Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University
- Emory University School of Law
- University of Florida Levin College of Law
- Fordham University School of Law
- The George Washington University Law School
- Georgetown University Law Center
- University of Georgia School of Law
- Georgia State University College of Law
- Harvard Law School
- University of Hawaii William S. Richardson School of Law
- Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University
- University of Idaho College of Law
- University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) School of Law
- Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law
- Indiana University Maurer School of Law
- University of Iowa College of Law
- University of Kansas School of Law
- Lewis & Clark Law School
- University of Louisville Louis D. Brandeis School of Law
- Louisiana State University, Paul M. Hebert Law Center
- LMU Loyola Law School, Los Angeles
- Marquette University Law School
- The University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law
- University of Miami School of Law
- The University of Michigan Law School
- University of Minnesota Law School
- Mississippi College School of Law
- University of Missouri School of Law
- University of Missouri-Kansas City
- Mitchell Hamline School of Law
- Alexander Blewett III School of Law at the University of Montana
- University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law
- New England Law | Boston
- University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law
- University of New Mexico School of Law
- New York Law School
- New York University School of Law
- North Carolina Central University School of Law
- Northern Illinois University College of Law
- Northern Kentucky University, Salmon P. Chase College of Law
- University of North Dakota School of Law
- Northeastern University School of Law
- Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
- The Ohio State University, Michael E. Moritz College of Law
- Oklahoma City University School of Law
- University of Oregon School of Law
- University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
- Penn State Dickinson Law
- Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law
- University of Pittsburgh School of Law
- University of Puerto Rico School of Law
- University of Richmond School of Law
- Roger Williams University School of Law
- St. John’s University School of Law
- St. Thomas University College of Law
- University of St. Thomas, School of Law
- Samford University Cumberland School of Law
- University of San Diego School of Law
- University of San Francisco School of Law
- Santa Clara University School of Law
- University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law
- Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of Law
- Southwestern Law School
- Stetson University College of Law
- The University of Texas School of Law
- Texas A&M University School of Law
- University of Toledo College of Law
- Touro University Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center
- Tulane University Law School
- University of Utah, S.J. Quinney College of Law
- Vanderbilt University Law School
- Vermont Law and Graduate School
- Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law
- University of Virginia School of Law
- Wake Forest University School of Law
- Washington and Lee University School of Law
- University of Washington School of Law
- Washington University in St. Louis School of Law
- Wayne State University Law School
- West Virginia University College of Law
- Western New England University School of Law
- Widener University Delaware Law School
This is the seventh AALS Law Student Pro Bono Hours Report. Reports for 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, and 2024 are available on the AALS website. The survey was not conducted in 2020 or 2021 due to complications related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
*Class of 2025 includes all three years of law school in a JD program.
