National Jurist - November 2008 - (Page 26) grants and scholarships and strength of loan repayment or loan assistance programs. Other law schools making our top 10 list include Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, Lewis and Clark College of Law, American University Washington College of Law, Stanford University, Mercer University, University of Maryland, University of Washington School of Law, University of North Carolina and the City University of New York School of Law. CUNY Dean Michelle Anderson said overall, the vast majority of law school graduates do not go into public interest practice. “At CUNY we have more students going into public interest law percentage-wise,” she said. “Our motto at the law school is ‘Law in the Service of Human Needs.’” Improving public interest law Anderson said CUNY’s curriculum focus is dedicated to public interest law — hiring professors who work in the public interest field and admitting students based on demonstrated experience in the field. “We really are and were pioneers when we were founded in 1983,” she said. “This was a law school that was to be devoted to public interest. We have been praised for our integration of theory and practice.” Heather Jarvis, senior program manager for Equal Justice Works, said the new trend in legal education is to incorporate skills training and allow more choices for handson experiences and opportunities. “More schools are requiring pro bono service or are offering public interest certificates,” she said. “Equal Justice Works believes that students should have at least one hands-on service experience while in law school. “You will find that incorporating public interest into the law school experience is an emphasis of law schools these days,” Jarvis said. For more than 20 years, Equal Justice Works has collaborated with the nation’s leading law schools, law firms, corporate legal departments and nonprofit organizations to provide the training and skills that enable attorneys to provide effective representation to vulnerable populations. Equal Justice Works provides a continuum of programs that begin with incoming law school students and extend into later careers in the profession. Stern said their focus was initially on the diehards, but over time they changed the focus to look more at the 100-percent solution. Which is, every student should graduate with a commitment to serving under-served communities and causes. Those values are often instilled through summer jobs, pro bono opportunities or clinical programs. “Personal experiences where students use their skills to help a needy individual or community lead to lifelong commitments of the work,” he said. “We hope to create a profession where every lawyer gives time, talent and money to take on the justice deficit.” Spieler said Northeastern’s first-year program has every law student working on a community-based legal research project for a real client organization. This, she said, gives students the legal skills and social context of the public interest field. New trends in the field In recent years, there has been a dramatic shift in law school leadership. A transfer over to a new generation of deans who care deeply about the field has already begun. These are people who really prioritize public interest program26 THE NATIONAL JURIST November 2008 http://niceprogram.tjsl.edu http://niceprogram.tjsl.edu http://chinaprogram.tjsl.edu http://chinaprogram.tjsl.edu
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