PUBLISHED:June 26, 2007

Duke Law Public Interest and Pro Bono Board Wins NC Bar Association Outstanding Student Pro Bono Award

The Duke Law Board of Public Interest and Pro Bono received the North Carolina Bar Association's 2007 Outstanding Law Student Pro Bono Project Award, recognizing a student group for an excellent pro bono project. The award was presented June 22 during the NC Bar Association's President's Luncheon at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC.

Established in 2002 as part of the Law School's effort to emphasize the values of leadership and service as outlined in the Duke Blueprint, the Pro Bono Board is made up of a group of 50 students, all of whom assume leadership of a pro bono project or public interest activity, support each other on projects, and generally advise the work of the Office of Public Interest and Pro Bono.

This year, students led a record number of groups, including ten new ones: Teen Court, the Duke Law Hurricane Relief Project, Duke Organizing, the Duke Death Penalty Project, the Duke Law Immigration Education Program, the Duke Consumer Law Project, Legal Assistance for Non-English Speakers, a Duke Civil Liberties group, the Hispanic Intoxilyzer Rights Project, and Students Advocating Felony Murder Reform.

A number of groups also continued service this year, including the Innocence Project, Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, Guardian Ad Litem (GAL), the GAL Litigation Project, the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Advocacy Project, the Refugee Asylum Support Project, Street Law and the Southern Justice Spring Break Trip. In addition, students led the Public Interest Retreat Planning Committee, the Faculty Lives in Public Service Series, the Women Judges Forum, and many other events and activities.

Board member Kristina Johnson '08 nominated the board and led the effort to recognize the Law School's various pro bono groups.

Matt Wolfe, the board’s co-chair, accepted the award on behalf of the Law School.