Announced at the National Rural Access to Justice Convening, the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) released the results of an annual survey to measure the contribution law schools make to legal services through clinics, other experiential courses, and the pro bono activities of law students.
The survey found:
Law students in the class of 2026 delivered at least 4.3 million hours of much-needed legal services.
Nearly 22,250 law students from 110 schools were represented in the survey with an average of 197 hours per student.
The value of students’ contribution to pro bono services was more than $157 million. Independent Sector, a nonprofit coalition, estimates the value of volunteer time at $36.14 an hour in 2026.
In the same survey, 107 law schools reported that 71,232 students in all class years (1L-3L) during the academic year 2025-26 contributed more than 6 million hours in legal services, an average of approximately 85.4hours per student. Using the Independent Sector value of volunteer time, the value of these services is estimated to be worth more than $219.7 million. The schools represent approximately 59 percent of the students in American Bar Association accredited law schools in the 2025-26 academic year.
Contributions are more than reported. Law schools represented in the survey account for over half of the American Bar Association accredited law schools.
Many schools reported that some hours went uncounted or were difficult to track, suggesting 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 2026 for all AALS member law schools, the estimated contribution of student volunteer hours to legal services would exceed $250 million for the class of 2026*. For students in all class years during academic year 2025-26, the estimated contribution would be $343 million.
Projects and Clinics. Law students contributed hours through a wide range of activities, including externships with legal aid and community organizations, law school clinics, and student organization projects. Participants reported the areas of law their clinics and pro bono opportunities cover, with the most common being immigration, criminal justice, and housing. These experiential learning opportunities let students apply classroom concepts to real-world legal issues under the supervision of lawyers and professors, giving them practical legal experience while delivering essential services to communities.
The benefits of pro bono work. Survey participants highlighted their cross-institutional collaboration efforts to expand access to justice nationwide. Many law schools offer students remote opportunities and partnerships with other schools to conduct pro bono projects. Over 70 percent of survey participants confirmed that their institution provided remote pro bono opportunities for their students and communities.
More than half of the schools participating in the survey reported having clinics or pro bono opportunities related to rural access to justice, including the following examples:
The following schools contributed information for the survey:
The 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
University of Arkansas School of Law
University of Baltimore School of Law
Baylor University Law School
Boston College Law School
Boston University School of Law
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
Capital University Law School
Case Western Reserve University School of Law
The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law
University of Chicago, The Law School
Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology
University of Cincinnati Donald P. Klekamp College of Law
University of Colorado Law School
Columbia Law School
University of Connecticut School of Law
DePaul University College of Law
University of Detroit Mercy School of Law
Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law
Duke University School of Law
University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law
Florida State University College of Law
Fordham University School of Law
Georgetown University Law Center
University of Georgia School of Law
Georgia State University College of Law
Harvard Law School
University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa 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 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 and Clark Law School
University of Louisville Louis D. Brandeis School of Law
Louisiana State University, Paul M Hebert Law Center
Loyola University Chicago School of Law
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 Christian University School of Law
University of Missouri School of Law
University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law
Alexander Blewett III School of Law at the University of Montana
University of Nebraska College of Law
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 University School of Law
University of North Dakota School of Law
Northeastern University School of Law
Northwestern University 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
Pepperdine University Rick J. Caruso School of Law
University of Pittsburgh School of Law
University of Puerto Rico School of Law
Roger Williams University School of Law
St. John’s University School of Law
St. Mary’s 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
Santa Clara University School of Law
Seattle University School of Law
University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law
South Texas College of Law Houston
University of Southern California, Gould School of Law
Southwestern Law School
Stetson University College of Law
Suffolk University Law School
Texas Tech University School of Law
The University of Texas School of Law
Texas A&M University School of Law
Texas Southern University, Thurgood Marshall School of Law
University of Toledo College of Law
Touro University Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center
University of Utah, S.J. Quinney College of Law
Vanderbilt University School of Law
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 School of Law
Wayne State University Law School
West Virginia University College of Law
Western New England University School of Law
This is the eighth AALS Law Student Pro Bono Hours Report. Reports for 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 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 2026 includes all three years of law school in a JD program.
