Public Service Commendation Program

• Public Service Commendation: Placement Verification (This form should be submitted at the time your ACCEPT a pro bono placement)
   
• Public Service Commendation: Supervisor Evaluation of Student (This form is to be completed by your supervisor and submitted with your time-sheet at the end of the placement)
   
• Public Service Commendation: Time-Sheet
   
• Current Pro Bono Opportunities

A student may earn a Public Service Commendation for each semester in which he or she performs thirty (30) or more documented hours of unpaid law related public service work as identified by the College of Law Public Service Coordinator. 

This Commendation can be listed on resumes and will be posted on the law school web site much like the Dean’s List.

Work in a law school clinic, including the Public Service Externship Clinic, can be used in partial satisfaction of these requirements (Limited to 8 of the 30 hours required in a semester.) This provision recognizes the importance of clinics and public service externships in providing help to the community. The number of hours recognized for these for-credit courses is limited to encourage “pro bono” type work that is neither for credit nor for pay.

Work performed over the summer will be credited toward earning the Commendation in the subsequent Fall Semester.

The College of Law and PILA will help students find placements with public service agencies, organizations and lawyers engaged in pro bono work. We have a strong partnership with The Toledo Bar Association Pro Bono Legal Services Program, Legal Aid of Western Ohio (LAWO) and Advocates for Basic Legal Equality (ABLE). In addition, you are welcome to secure a placement with an agency of your choice so long as you will be directly supervised by a licensed attorney.

The Public Service Coordinator for the program will be Jessica Mehl, J.D. of the Career Development Office. Working with community stakeholders and PILA officers, she will coordinate placements and arrange for supervising attorneys to certify qualifying hours for participating students. Please contact her at jessica.mehl@utoledo.edu or 419-530-4996 for further information and to get involved in the program.