2024 Summer Pro Bono & Public Interest Forum
Our Summer Pro Bono & Public Interest Forum is an annual tradition that brings together lawyers, summer associates, summer interns, and others interested in making pro bono or public-interest work a part of their legal careers and provides an introduction to several different types of public-interest practice.
We’ll kick off the forum with an in-person and live-streamed keynote conversation with Fatima Goss Graves, President & CEO of the National Women’s Law Center on Thursday, June 20 from 5:30-7:30 pm ET. Following the keynote, we will dive deeper into six substantive practice areas through virtual panel discussions where you can learn more about pro bono and public-interest work in DC and across the country. Each panel will focus on a different practice area, featuring presentations by national and local experts in that legal specialty. All discussions will take place from 12:00-1:30 pm ET. The panel topics will include:
- June 26 – Non-Litigation Pro Bono
- June 26 – Environmental Justice
- June 26 – Criminal Law & Death Penalty
- June 27 – Poverty Law
- June 27 – Civil Rights & Civil Liberties
- June 27 – Immigration & Human Rights
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 three days of Summer Forum sessions, and recordings of each session will be sent to all registered attendees. You can choose to attend the in-person keynote and reception or participate in the live stream. All the panels are virtual.
The cost for the in-person keynote’/virtual panel option is $65 for WCL Members; $85 for Government & Public-Interest Lawyers, Interns, and Individual Law Students; and $115 for Law Firm Lawyers, Summer Associates, Corporate Law Department Lawyers, Law Department Interns, and the General Public.
The all-virtual option is just $45 for WCL Members; $65 for Government & Public-Interest Lawyers, Interns, and Individual Law Students; and $105 for Law Firm Lawyers, Summer Associates, Corporate Law Department Lawyers, Law Department Interns, and 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). Bulk registrations are available. 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 #SumFo24 on Instagram, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn!