Our annual Summer Pro Bono and Public Interest Forum encourages summer associates and summer interns to make pro bono or public-interest work a part of their legal careers, and provides an introduction to several different types of public-interest practice.
Our 2019 Summer Forum featured esteemed keynote speaker Jonathan M. Smith, Executive Director of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. In a conversation with Washington Council of Lawyers Board Member and Human Rights Watch U.S. Programs Executive Director Nicole Austin Hillery, Jonathan shed light on the intricacies of civil rights advocacy and the fight for systemic change and reflected on his distinguished career.
After lunch and the keynote address, six breakout sessions introduced lawyers and law students to pro bono and public-interest career options and volunteer opportunities. This year the sessions were:
- Civil Rights & Civil Liberties
- Criminal Law & Death Penalty
- Ethics, Transparency & Accountability: Suing the Federal Government
- Immigration & Human Rights
- Poverty Law
- Transactional & Non-Litigation Practice
You can catch up on the conversation on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook using #SumFo19.
To learn more about our past Summer Forums, check out the links below.
Video of David Cole at the 2018 Summer Forum