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Consistent with CUNY Law's public service mission, the Law School provides students with ample opportunities to engage in pro bono service work. The students themselves are also very active in creating and participating in a range of pro bono activities throughout the year. Students collaborate with each other and with practicing lawyers, judges and legal services organizations to enhance access to legal representation, increase community awareness and understanding of the law and legal process, and to support community self-empowerment. A few sample pro bono projects are listed below.
Voter Protection Project
On election day, November 4, 2008, approximately 150 students from CUNY Law, representing more than one-third of the student body, fanned out across New York City to prevent voter intimidation and also participated in exit polling to learn about incidents suffered by voters. The effort was preceded by trainings in Federal and New York State voter rights law and poll monitoring conducted by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) and the New York Democratic Lawyers Council (NYDLC). A coalition of student groups spearheaded the initiative, including the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA), CUNY Law Democrats, the CUNY Law chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, the South Asian Law Students Association (SALSA), the CUNY Law chapter of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG), Latin American Law Students Association (LALSA), Muslim Law Students Association, Organization of Women Law Students, Third World Orientation, Black Law Students Association (BLSA), and CUNY Law Student Government. The students' presence was designed to prevent unlawful voter intimidation and vote suppression such as demanding proof of citizenship, turning people away without photo I.D. when it is not required, hindering access to language interpreters, and making racist remarks to intimidate voters of color.
Street Law Programs
A number of student groups including the NLG Student Chapter, BLSA, and LALSA provide trainings and opportunities for law students to teach local high school youth and immigrant populations about their individual legal rights as citizens, such as the rights of students in schools and in interactions with the police, voting rights, and public entitlements.
The Mississippi Project
The Mississippi Project has operated continuously at the Law School since 1994. It was founded by CUNY Law students who traveled to Mississippi to investigate the suspicious hangings of more than 50 African American men in a local jail. Since that time, each year during the January inter-session, CUNY Law students travel to Mississippi and Louisiana to work with community and public interest groups such as the Mississippi Workers' Center for Human Rights, the ACLU of Mississippi, and the Innocence Project of New Orleans. They work on a range of oppressive conditions faced by marginalized groups in the states' workplaces and courtrooms, including Title VII, worker compensation, and wrongful conviction claims. The Mississippi Project seeks to promote justice and human rights for all communities and to provide CUNY Law students an opportunity to learn innovative legal strategies by working alongside seasoned lawyers and support staff.
Courtroom Advocates Project (CAP)
This project trains students to help victims of domestic violence obtain orders of protection from family court. Students gain courtroom experience while assisting clients with petitions and advocating on behalf of the client before the judge. Training sessions are generally offered once per semester; the program is available to all students and no prior experience is necessary.
Legal Observer Training
The National Lawyer's Guild (NLG) Student Chapter organizes legal observer trainings that teach students proper procedures for monitoring of public protests and demonstrations. Throughout the year, along with other New York City legal observers, CUNY Law students monitor various protests and demonstrations to ensure that constitutionally protected speech is not unlawfully hindered and to deter and document illegal and potentially dangerous behavior by law enforcement.
Suspension Representation Project
Founded by NYU Law students in 2007, the Suspension Representation Project (SRP) has successfully reduced or overturned Superintendent's suspensions of students in virtually every case in which its advocates have been involved.
The CUNY Law SRP Chapter is an initiative of the very active CUNY Law National Lawyers Guild (NLG) Chapter. The initiative is supported by a group of faculty members who are acting as an advisory committee as the project takes root at CUNY Law as one of the many student-initiated activities that further our mission of "Law in the Service of Human Needs."
While helping public school students safeguard their right to education, CUNY Law SRP advocates will also develop valuable legal skills including interviewing clients, conducting direct and cross examinations, and delivering closing arguments. As the project develops, CUNY SRP chapter members plan to participate in NYC coalitions aimed at improving the ways that schools respond to students' behavior.
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