Pro Bono Program

By offering a broad variety of carefully structured pro bono projects, the School of Law–Camden provides many opportunities for all students to contribute to the community. At the same time, these programs demonstrate how ethical obligations can be fulfilled and how pro bono service can be part of every legal career. All projects require training, which is provided by the program, prior to participation. Our projects include:

Bankruptcy Pro Bono Project: Developed cooperatively with South Jersey Legal Services, under the direction of Chief Bankruptcy Judge, the Honorable Judith Wizmur, this project pairs students with local bankruptcy attorneys to assist with Chapter 7 petitions.

The Cathedral Kitchen Project pairs students with supervising attorneys from South Jersey Legal Services to conduct legal intake at a soup kitchen and assist with casework on poverty law cases.
The Children's SSI Project pairs our students with pro bono attorneys to represent children whose SSI benefits have been denied or are in jeopardy.

A small number of students work on death penalty cases at the Federal Defender's Office through the Defender Project.

The Domestic Violence Project is supervised by Professors Victoria Chase and Ruth Anne Robbins. Students help victims of domestic violence to obtain protective orders at the Camden County Courthouse.

The Financial Literacy Project provides an opportunity for our law students to make presentations about the financial facts of life at local high schools.

Students selected for placement at The Innocence Project help represent innocent people seeking release from imprisonment and/or exoneration; they also investigate and seek to mitigate systemic causes of wrongful convictions.

Through the LEAP Immigration Project, students provide immigration advice and legal referrals to parents and others at our neighboring LEAP Academy University Charter School.

Mediation Project: After an 18-hour training, students mediate disputes in superior and municipal courts in Camden County, enabling hundreds of people each year to craft their own resolutions without litigation.

Through the Prisoner Re-Entry Pro Bono Project, law students assist with legal intake for former federal prisoners who need help with family law, bankruptcy, and other civil legal problems.

The Pro Bono Research Project, codirected by Dean Klothen and Professor Sarah Ricks, is an opportunity for students to provide research assistance to a broad variety of requesting nonprofits, pro bono attorneys, and governmental entities on discrete legal issues.

Under the auspices of our Street Law Project, students visit local schools, detention centers, homeless shelters, and other sites to excite young people and vulnerable adults about the law and how it relates to their lives. Each semester, Street Law has over 1,000 contacts with Camden-area children.

Students participating in the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Project provide tax preparation services to people in Camden with low income; typically the Project helps Camden residents to recover over $300,000 in refunds and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

The Voters Rights Project gives trained, supervised students an opportunity to promote fair, free voting in Camden as observers; some participating students are deputized by the local Board of Election to intervene directly to resolve voting problems.