OCU Law Students Pursue Public Service

Oklahoma City University School of Law has long been concerned with supporting community service programs and increasing the pro bono opportunities available to students. In this tradition, over the past decade a number of forces within OCU Law have come together to craft a pro bono and externship network, both within Oklahoma and throughout the country, so that virtually any dimension of public service or pro bono program is available to our student body.

At present, OCU Law maintains relationships with more than 40 different agencies and organizations in Oklahoma and around the country. Opportunities range from serving within the United States Attorney’s Office to lending skills and talent to OCU’s Apache Tribal Domestic Violence Clinic. The offices of state and federal judges are often the beneficiaries of OCU Law students’ commitment to the concept of service leadership. Students serve as mediators through our Alternative Dispute Resolution Center; many receive stipends to continue or initiate their service work during the summer months. In the summer of 2004, 13 OCU Law students received summer stipends to support their placement at public service and public interest agencies in seven states and the District of Columbia. Placements included the Professional Responsibilities office at the Department of Justice to the Texas Civil Rights Project in Austin.

Our Pro Bono and Public Interest Career Fair in the spring brought representatives from numerous agencies and organizations to OCU Law. Students discussed opportunities for pro bono and public interest service and externships with representatives of such entities as Oklahoma Lawyers for Children, Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma, Catholic Charities, the Oklahoma Disability Law Center, the Oklahoma Bar Association, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s and Public Defender’s offices, the Association of Professional Educators, and ACLU of Oklahoma. Also participating were OCU Law’s Native American Legal Resource Center and our student chapter of Equal Justice Works. OCU Law is a leader member of the national Equal Justice Works organization whose purpose is to organize, train and support public service-minded law students and is the national leader in creating summer and postgraduate public interest jobs. Our students regularly attend their national career fair and conference held in October.

In recent years, OCU Law students created the Volunteer Legal Center, a debt counseling clinic where law students assist pro bono attorneys serve clients who would otherwise fall through the cracks of the system.

OCU Law is committed to expanding the opportunities for students to experience the satisfaction of public service.

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