Date Chartered: 5/31/1999
The Section on Pro Bono & Access to Justice promotes the communication of ideas, interests and activities among members of the Section and makes recommendations to the Association on matters concerning Pro Bono & Access to Justice.
Annual Meeting Programs
2025
- Main Program
- Poverty Law, Co-Sponsored by Clinical Legal Education and Pro Bono & Access to Justice
- Poverty Law, Co-Sponsored by Clinical Legal Education and Pro Bono & Access to Justice
2024
- Main Program (1)
- Main Program (2)
- Award Ceremony
- Litigation, Co-Sponsored by Professional Responsibility, Pro-Bono & Access to Justice, and Technology, Law and Legal Education
- Professional Responsibility (Co-Sponsored by Pro-Bono & Access to Justice)
- Clinical Legal Education (Co-Sponsored by Communications, Media and Information Law, Pro-Bono & Access to Justice, Technology, Law and Legal Education; and Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Issues, and Women in Legal Education)
- Poverty Law (Co-Sponsored by Clinical Legal Education, Critical Theories, Pro-Bono & Access to Justice, Property Law, and Women in Legal Education)
2023
2022
- Joint Program
- AALS Open Source Program
- Leadership (Co-Sponsored by Pro Bono & Public Service Opportunities)
- Awards
2021
- Main Program
- Award Presentation
- Leadership (Co-Sponsored by Pro Bono & Public Service Opportunities)
2020
- Main Program
- Service Project
- Empirical study of Legal Education and the Legal Profession (Co-sponsored by Pro Bono & Public Service Opportunities)
- Leadership (Co-sponsored by Pro Bono & Public Service Opportunities)
2019
- Main Program
- Service Project
- Leadership (Co-sponsored by Pro Bono & Public Service Opportunities)
Awards
AALS Pro Bono Honor Roll
The Pro Bono Honor Roll acknowledges and highlights the pro bono work of individuals engaging in, expanding, and/or supporting their law school community in providing pro bono legal services. Each law school may select up to three people to be included in the Pro Bono Honor Roll each year: one staff member, one faculty member, and one student. Fewer than three people may be selected but no more than one person is each category may be selected in a given year. A form is circulated each fall through the AALS Section discussion list.
See the Pro Bono Honor Roll online: https://www.aals.org/awards/pro-bono/
Annual Section Awards
The Section on Pro Bono & Access to Justice presents three awards at the AALS Annual Meeting: The Lifetime Achievement Award, Access to Justice Award, and Emerging Leader Award. Award details and deadlines for submission are circulated to Section members through the Section listserv each fall.
- Access to Justice Award
The AALS Pro Bono & Public Service Opportunities Section Access to Justice Award honors those who manage Pro Bono Programs and who have removed barriers to justice and/or improved legal services to individuals unable to pay for such services.
Who may be nominated: Any Dean, faculty, or staff at an AALS member school who has designed or managed a pro bono program.
Evaluation factors may include some or all of the following:
- If the nominee manages a Pro Bono Program, what has been the impact of the pro bono program on clients, the surrounding community, and law students/law school?
- How has the nominee increased awareness of the role law students and lawyers should play in addressing the justice gap?
- How has the nominee otherwise advanced the access to justice movement?
- How has the nominee addressed systemic access to justice issues?
- Emerging Leader Award
The AALS Pro Bono & Public Service Opportunities Section Emerging Leader Award honors early‐to‐mid career staff or faculty who have made an outstanding contribution to pro bono and public service in the law school setting.
Who may be nominated: Faculty or staff at an AALS member school who have been working in a pro bono/public service role at a law school for approximately two to six years.
Evaluation factors may include some or all of the following:
- Leadership (How has the nominee inspired others to act?)
- Program design/management (How has the nominee created opportunities for others to serve?)
- Scholarship (How has the nominee advanced, deepened, or disseminated the discourse around pro bono and/or public service?)
- Innovation (How has the nominee changed the way pro bono and/or public service is taught, practiced, or treated?)
- Impact (How has the nominee impacted access to justice in the law school or broader community?)
- Personal pro bono service (How has the nominee set an example of pro bono service?)
- Lifetime Achievement Award
The AALS Pro Bono & Public Service Opportunities Section Lifetime Achievement Award honors those who have significantly advanced pro bono and public service in the law school setting over the course of their career.
Who may be nominated: Any Dean, faculty, or staff at an AALS member school
Evaluation Factors:
Length of career/service in a law school setting
Nominators can discuss how the nominee has significantly advanced pro bono and public service in the law school setting through examples of some or all of the following:
- Leadership (How has the nominee inspired others to act?)
- Program design/management (How has the nominee created opportunities for others to serve?)
- Scholarship (How has the nominee advanced, deepened, or disseminated the discourse around pro bono and/or public service?)
- Innovation (How has the nominee changed the way pro bono and/or public service is taught, practiced, or treated?)
- Impact (How has the nominee impacted access to justice in the law school or broader community?)
Personal pro bono service (How has the nominee set an example of pro bono service?)
Recipients
| Year | Award Name | Recipient | Law School |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Access to Justice Award | Becki T. Kondkar | Tulane Law School |
| 2024 | Emerging Leader Award | Darcy Meals | Georgia State University College of Law |
| 2024 | Lifetime Achievement Award | Catherine Greene Burnett | South Texas College of Law Houston |
| 2023 | Access to Justice Award | Stephen Rispoli | Baylor University School of Law |
| 2023 | Emerging Leader Award | Deborah Schlosberg | University of California, Berkeley School of Law |
| 2023 | Lifetime Achievement Award | Russell Engler | New England Law | Boston |
| 2022 | Access to Justice Award | Ryan Sullivan | University of Nebraska, College of Law |
| 2022 | Emerging Leader Award | Allison Constance | University of North Carolina, School of Law |
| 2022 | Lifetime Achievement Award | Marjorie McDiarmid | West Virginia Univeristy College of Law |
| 2021 | Deborah L. Rhode Award | Erwin Chemerinsky | University of California, Berkeley School of Law |
| 2021 | Father Robert Drinan Award | Pamela Robinson | University of South Carolina, School of Law |
| 2020 | Deborah L. Rhode Award | Aviam Soifer | University of Hawaii, William S. Richardson School of Law |
| 2020 | Father Robert Drinian Award | Laurie Barron | Roger Williams University School of Law |
| 2019 | Deborah L. Rhode Award | Vivian Neptune Rivera | University of Puerto Rico School of Law |
| 2019 | Father Robert Drinian Award | Louis Rulli | University of Pennsylvania Law School |
| 2018 | Deborah L. Rhode Award | Angela Drake | University of Missouri School of Law |
| 2018 | Father Robert Drinian Award | Thomas Schoenherr | Fordham University School of Law |
| 2017 | Father Robert Drinian Award | Paolo Annino | Florida State University |
| 2016 | Deborah L. Rhode Award | James H. Rosenblatt | Mississippi College School of Law |
| 2016 | Father Robert Drinan Award | Janet Weinstein | California Western School of Law |
| 2015 | Deborah L. Rhode Award | Gerald Lopez | University of California, Los Angeles School of Law |
| 2015 | Father Robert Drinan Award | William P. Quigley | Loyola University New Orleans College of Law |
| 2014 | Deborah L. Rhode Award | Mathew Diller | Benjamin Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University |
| 2014 | Father Robert Drinan Award | Linda McGuire | University of Iowa College of Law |
| 2013 | Deborah L. Rhode Award | Douglas A. Blaze | University Tennessee College of Law |
| 2013 | Father Robert Drinan Award | J.P. “Sandy” Ogilvy | The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law |
| 2012 | Deborah L. Rhode Award | Claudio Grossman | American University Washington College of Law |
| 2012 | Father Robert Drinan Award | Christine Smith | University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law |
Newsletters
Webinars & Webinar Recordings
The Section on Pro Bono & Access to Justice offers regular Educational Enrichment seminars and hosts Community Conversations on a variety of topics. Invitations to attend are circulated through the Section discussion list and posted in our newsletter.