Public interest practice is a key professional value of lawyers. The School of Law would like all its law students to recognise the value of pro bono work, and to commit to undertaking pro bono work both while they are students and in their professional careers.
To this end, the UQ Pro Bono Centre has established a pro bono roster to link student volunteers with law firms and community legal centres seeking student assistance in their pro bono activities. Students opt in to the register by completing a form online. Law firms and community legal centres can then make requests for student assistance to the Centre, and students are linked with these firms and centres according to student availability and interest.
Pro bono activities undertaken by students do not attract academic credit. Pro bono, by definition, is work for no reward. The benefits to students lie in the work experience, the professional networks formed, as well as the knowledge that they are working in the public interest for the benefit of the community.
UQ students are invited to join the UQ Pro Bono Roster.
Mr Paul O’Shea, and Dr Peter Billings, Directors of the UQ Pro Bono Centre, are academic staff contacts for the pro bono roster. For general enquiries please contact Mrs Helen Braatvedt on tel. (07) 3365 2361 or email probono@law.uq.edu.au