2022 Summer Pro Bono & Public Interest Forum: Poverty Law and Criminal Law & Death Penalty
Our Summer Pro Bono & Public Interest Forum is an annual tradition that brings together lawyers, summer associates, summer interns, and others interested in using their law degrees to help those in need. It’s also a great way to highlight the importance of pro bono and public-interest work throughout one’s legal career.
You may register to attend the Summer Forum anytime before Thursday, June 23. If you missed previous sessions, we will send you links to the recordings of those earlier events.
The forum kicked off with keynote speaker Kristen Clarke, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice. Attorney-General Clarke is a lifelong civil rights lawyer who has spent her entire career in public service. She has a wealth of legal experience including working as a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division, working on voting rights and election law with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, serving as head of the Civil Rights Bureau for the New York State Attorney General’s Office, and as president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. This conversation will take place in person on Wednesday, June 8 from 12:00 – 2:00 pm ET at Arnold & Porter. Doors open at 11:45 am with lunch from 12:00-1:00 pm and AAG Kristen Clarke’s remarks from 1:00-2:00 pm. A live stream is also available.
The first virtual practice-area panel discussion will follow on Thursday, June 9 from 12:00 – 1:15 pm ET. There will be networking time before and after the panel. Then, over the following two weeks, you will have the opportunity to attend the remainder of the virtual panel presentations where you can learn more about pro bono and public-interest work in DC and all across the country. Each panel will focus on a different practice area, featuring presentations by national and local experts in that legal specialty. The panel topics will include:
- June 9 – Non-Litigation Pro Bono
- June 16 – Poverty Law – 12:00-1:15 pm ET
- June 16 – Criminal Law & Death Penalty – 1:15-2:30 pm ET
- June 23 – Civil Rights & Civil Liberties – 12:00-1:15 pm ET
- June 23 – Immigration & Human Rights – 1:15-2:30 pm ET
The Summer Forum is open to Washington Council of Lawyers members (join), participants in summer associate and summer intern programs, lawyers in law firms, government and public-interest organizations, law students, and others interested in learning more about incorporating public-interest law into their practice.
You can attend from anywhere! A single registration provides access to all four days of Summer Forum sessions. And if you miss a session, don’t fret. Recordings of each session will be sent to all registered attendees.
The cost is just $35 for WCL Members; $45 for Government & Public-Interest Lawyers, Interns, and Individual Law Students; and $65 for Law Firm Lawyers, Summer Associates, Corporate Law Department Lawyers, and Law Department Interns, and the General Public.
Summer Program Coordinators: If you’d like your summer associates or interns to attend, but don’t yet know their names, you can register them as guests (First name: Guest 1, Last Name: Organization Name). Please email Christina Jackson (at cjackson@wclawyers.org) if you need any assistance.
Look for updates and join the conversation about the Summer Forum using #SumFo22 on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn!