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Reporting pro bono and community service hours

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It is very important that students report their pro bono hours and community service hours. Not only does it allow them to qualify for graduation with Pro Bono or Community Service Distinction, it is also critically important for the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law to have an accurate account of our law school's pro bono and community service activities. This information is often shared with the president of Arizona State University, the Board of Trustees and the legislature of the State of Arizona. By reporting your hours, you are helping the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law achieve future success. There are many studies of law student involvement with public interest efforts. These efforts can only be accurately reviewed if students accurately report their participation.

If you are unclear whether your work is considered pro bono service, please refer to the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law's definition of pro bono below. Any volunteer hours that do not qualify as pro bono hours may be reported as community service. Community service hours will not count towards pro bono distinction awards at graduation.

Students should report all of their hours of pro bono service on-line at Atlas (12twenty). It is important to record your information in a timely manner because reports are made on an annual basis.

  1. Click on “Experiential Learning” on the left side of the Atlas homepage.
  2. On the top right corner, click on the “+ New Experience button.”
  3. For pro bono legal hours, select “Pro-Bono” under the “Experiential Learning Type” dropdown menu.
  4. For any non-legal volunteer work, select “Community Service (non-legal volunteer work)” under the “Experiential Learning Type” dropdown menu.
  5. Enter information as requested and click “Save.”
  6. On the top right corner of the next page, click on “Submit for Approval.”
  7. Confirm that you would like to submit your experience for initial approval by clicking “Ok.”
  8. Once your experience is approved, you will receive an email notification confirming initial approval. Your module will change from “Pending Initial Approval” to “In Progress.”
  9. Once your experience, is “In Progress” you will have access to the Hour Log.
  10. Click on the “+ Add Hours” button to add your date, hours and a short description of your pro-bono work.
    1. The Hour Log will allow you to enter your total hours as one entry. You are also welcome to add your hours on a daily, weekly or monthly basis for ongoing pro-bono projects.
  11. Once all of your hours have been recorded/completed, click on “Submit for Approval.” That will then be submitted for final approval of your pro-bono hours.

It is important to record your information in a timely manner because reports are made on an annual basis by October 30 for fall graduation and by March 30 for spring graduation to count towards distinction at graduation. Students may pre-record (in Atlas) any forthcoming pro-bono and community service completed between those dates and graduation.

Pro Bono Distinction

Students who graduate with 50 hours or more of pro bono service will graduate with Pro Bono Distinction and will be recognized at graduation.

These are the three levels of recognition:

  • Pro Bono Distinction is given to students who report between 50 and 99 hours of pro bono service;
  • High Pro Bono Distinction is given to students who report between 100 and 149 hours of pro bono service;
  • The highest Pro Bono Distinction is given to students who report 150 or more hours of pro bono service.

Each level comes with its own seal to be placed on the law school diploma. Those students with the highest number of hours are also eligible for graduation service awards.

What counts as pro bono service?

Law students should keep in mind that pro bono service and community service are not the same thing. We do encourage you to volunteer as you feel appropriate with community service efforts, but only professional, law-related services will count toward your pro bono record. ASU Law defines pro bono service as:

Providing legal services, supervised by an attorney, free of charge and without earning academic credit:

  1. To the indigent or to organizations that have, as a principal purpose, promoting the interests of the indigent;
  2. for the purpose of securing or protecting civil rights, civil liberties, or public rights;
  3. for the purpose of improving the legal profession or the judicial system;
  4. to charitable organizations as defined by Section 501c(3) of the Internal Revenue Code so long as the work is in furtherance of the charitable organization’s purpose; or
  5. to judges, courts, the legislature, public officers, and governmental agencies including federal, state, tribal, and local agencies.

Pro bono service does not include:

  1. Participating in law school activities such as moot court, journal, student organizations, ambassador duties, organizing and attending social events, fundraising and publicity activities, participating in writing competitions, or attending or participating in symposia or conferences;
  2. A fellowship, paid internship, clinic, or externship with a qualified organization, unless the student provides legal services exceeding the requirements of the fellowship, paid internship, clinic, or externship (the amount of service hours counted toward pro bono for a fellowship will be determined on a case-by-case basis depending on the cost of living in the city of the fellowship/paid internship);
  3. Community service (e.g. serving food at a soup kitchen, cleaning kennels at an animal shelter, etc.);
  4. Work for political campaigns; or
  5. Time spent commuting to/from home to the service opportunity within the Phoenix metro area.

Any non-legal volunteer work may be counted and reported as “community service.” Community service hours do not count towards pro bono distinction at graduation. In addition, hours counted toward pro bono distinction cannot also be counted toward community service, and vice versa. Hours can only be counted once for one qualifying category and must meet the definitions of that category.

Explore what activities are eligible for community service below. 

Community Service Distinction

Students who graduate with 100 or more hours of community service will receive Community Service Distinction and will be recognized at graduation.

What counts as community service?

ASU Law defines community service as, “Any non-legal volunteer work for which a student does not receive payment and/or academic credit.” Pro-bono hours may not be counted as community service hours.

Community service may include, but are not limited to:

  • Non-legal service to the law school or legal community, examples include but are not limited to:
    • Volunteering as an ambassador for 1L orientation or other ASP events (does NOT include paid ambassador positions).
    • Volunteering to organize the NBA Trade Deadline Competition, McCarthy Institute Conferences, or other conferences.
    • Volunteering for bar association committee positions and junior advisory board positions.
    • Volunteering for a student organization to plan, implement student events (may include the time spent on organizing or planning the event, but does not include attending the event, gala, reception, etc.)
    • Volunteering for student organization executive board positions.
  • Volunteering at a local church, school, food bank, or community center.
  • Volunteering time to read to the elderly, facilitating a field day at local elementary school, etc.
     

Frequently asked questions about the Pro Bono program

No, unless you plan to become admitted in New York.

Legal service is work that requires legal knowledge or legal skills. This includes, but is not limited to, drafting pleadings, discovery, and motions, preparing for and attending meetings with clients, preparing for and attending court hearings, legal research, drafting legal memoranda, drafting contracts, conducting client intake, etc. Legal service also may include certain legal education activities such as giving lectures on public interest topics to community organizations or creating legal brochures or web information on legal topics for underserved communities. Legal service also includes the application or interpretation of the law or formulation of legal policy and statutes.

Pro Bono Examples include but are not limited to:

  • Trial Advocacy, Moot Court, Litigation Experience, Mock Trial: Serve as volunteer juror, judge, witness or coach for undergraduate mock trial. Students who are enrolled in or participants of the team/class are not eligible to seek pro-bono hours.
  • Pro-bono projects or cases assigned by a for-profit law firm (clients must be pro-bono and not charged fees/costs by the law firm). Please indicate in your hour log that it is a pro-bono project or case.
  • Marshall Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project
  • Arizona Legal Center
  • Business Legal Assistance Program
  • Cannabis Legal Association
  • Unhoused Legal Assistance Program
  • Probate Lawyers Assistance Project
  • Any government/public interest internship where you were not paid or received academic credit. This includes unpaid judicial externships where you did not seek or receive academic credit.
  • Excess hours from externships or clinics, where the student completed additional hours beyond the required hours for their externship or clinic.

Organizations that seek to secure veterans' rights, victims' rights, family rights, prisoners' rights, environmental protection, etc. It also includes legal services provided to civic or community-based organizations such as religious organizations, cultural organizations, and bar associations.

Acting as a judge, juror, or translator for official competitions or events such as the Arizona Foundation for Legal Education and Services' We the People Project Citizen program or the Arizona Prosecuting Attorneys' Advisory Counsel's Trial Advocacy Training program.

The College encourages every student to begin pro bono service as soon as they are able, so long as the student is confident that the pro bono service will not interfere with the student’s studies and the student is either enrolled in Professional Responsibility or has already earned a passing grade in Professional Responsibility. Pro bono service completed prior to entering law school will not count.

Yes. For example, if you ride the Family Justice Bus to a rural area for the purpose of providing legal services to the indigent and under privileged, you may count the time you spent commuting.

Yes, as long as it falls within the guidelines for pro bono service and is completed under the supervision of an attorney. Students are encouraged to consult with the Director of Public Interest prior to doing the pro bono service if the student wants to ensure that the activity will court toward pro bono service.

Fall graduation: October 30

Spring graduation: March 30

Time spent on student activities that primarily benefit the school or student body does not qualify as pro-bono but may be reported as community service (non-legal volunteer work). For example, selling tickets, planning and attending administrative meetings, fundraising, organizing social functions, etc. for the law schools’ pre-approved pro bono group or student organizations will not count as pro-bono service but may be reported as community service. However, volunteering legal services in conjunction with a student organization or pro bono group does qualify if it falls within the scope of the definition of pro bono service.

In addition, any service to the law school or a pre-approved pro bono group that does not qualify as pro-bono may qualify as community service. Service to the law school is defined as volunteering without pay or credit for the law school administration or a law school department.

Community service may include but is not limited to volunteering events during 1L Orientation, volunteering at Admitted Students Day (excludes paid student ambassadors), volunteering to prepare or organize a conference through a student group, bar association or institute (examples include the McCarthy Institute, NBA Trade Deadline Competition, GETs Conference, etc.)

Yes. Pro bono distinction is awarded for at least 17 hours, high distinction for at least 34 hours, and highest distinction for at least 50 hours of pro bono service.

You are highly encouraged to discuss this with the College’s Director of Public Interest, Vanessa Pineda.

No, only hours that fall within the definition of pro bono service and are reported as pro bono in Atlas will count towards pro bono distinction awards at graduation. Students who earn 100 or more community service hours will receive Community Service Distinction at graduation.

Vanessa Pineda, Director of Public Interest.

ASU Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law
Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law

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