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United States Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts | United States Department of Justice | The Department of Justice Pro Bono Program

United States Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts
As part of its mission, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts has established a community outreach program through which attorneys and staff participate in many pro bono programs. The community-based programs endeavor to keep at-risk middle and high school students in school, to keep them away from negative societal influences, and to motivate them to go on to receive higher education and to consider a career in the law.

Programs:

Citizens Schools. The U.S. Attorney's Office has participated in the Citizens Schools program, along with other public agencies and law firms. Each semester, teams of attorneys and other professional staff from the U.S. Attorney's Office meet for two hours a week for ten weeks with Boston public school children (ages 11 and 12) to prepare a mock criminal case.
Dorchester High School Project. Assistant U.S. Attorneys, paralegals and support staff met with students at Dorchester High, a school located in a neighborhood of Boston where the U.S. Attorney's Office has indicted a substantial number of gang and gun cases. At the request of high school faculty, the staff discussed the different types of cases they bring, and tried to show the children the link between their English, math and science curricula, and potential future careers in the law. Assistant U.S. Attorneys of color also have met with students to discuss their life stories and career paths.
Stay-in School Program for City Youth. The U.S. Attorney's Office employs 10 urban high school students who attend school and work part-time in the U.S. Attorney's Office. The program is designed to facilitate hiring high school students who are able to "stay in school" during high school and through college because they can support themselves financially while pursuing their education.
Summer Student Hiring For City Youth. The U.S. Attorney's Office has joined other public and private sector employers in hiring Boston high school students in paid summer positions, as part of the City's commitment to not only keep the city safe, but also to provide urban youth with work experience and ideas for possible future careers. For the past several years the U.S. Attorney's Office has hired 6-8 students, and has developed a weekly "enrichment" program to expose them to judges, attorneys and other professionals in the legal system who also are persons of color.
The Boston Jobs Project. U.S. Attorney Stern with others, including the Boston Police Commissioner, the state Attorney General and the Suffolk County District Attorney, formed the Boston Jobs Project in 1997. Project members determined that providing Boston youth ages 16-24 with meaningful education and employment opportunities was critical to sustaining the reduction in violence Boston had experienced. Under the Boston Jobs Project, the City has received millions of dollars in grants from the Departments of Labor and Justice to develop jobs, job training, mentoring, alternative education opportunities, and related services for youth and young adults in key neighborhoods. Law enforcement agents on the ground level act as referral sources for the youth.

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"Ultimately, the successful operation of our legal system depends on the public belief that it dispenses justice fairly. Our mutual goal should be to shape a legal profession that represents and respects the communities that it serves."

Attorney General Janet Reno

United States Department of Justice
Efforts to Increase Diversity In Recruitment, Hiring and Retention
As lawyers for the nation, the Department of Justice has recognized its responsibility to recruit, hire and retain the best lawyers. In order to achieve this goal, the Department searches widely for talented attorneys and strives to create a work environment where good lawyers will thrive. As part of its search for talented attorneys, the Department engages in extensive outreach to attract attorneys and law students of diverse backgrounds through the Attorney General's Honor Program, the Summer Law Intern Program and a three-year pilot program called the Lateral Attorney Recruitment Program.

Over the past several years, the Department has adopted measures to increase its outreach to and recruitment of diverse groups in order to increase the size and diversity of the applicant pool of qualified candidates for Department vacancies. In an effort to build on these recruitment programs and focus on training, retention and promotion, the Attorney General has also recently approved an Eight-Point Plan to Enhance Diversity in the Department of Justice.

The Attorney General's Honor Program: Since 1953, the Attorney General's Honor Program has had a distinguished and proud history at the Department. Through the years, the Honor Program has enjoyed great success as the Federal Government's premier entry-level attorney recruitment program. Many attorneys recruited under the Honor Program have since joined the ranks of the Department's leadership, while others have gone on to enrich the ranks of the entire legal community. Attorneys who began their legal careers as Honor Program recruits have distinguished themselves in the federal legislature, the judiciary, academia, government, private practice and industry.

Third year law students, full-time graduate law students and judicial law clerks are eligible for the Honor Program. Selection for the Program is made on the basis of many factors, including: academic achievement and class rank; law review and other publication work; extracurricular activities such as moot court competition, legal aid and legal clinic; and summer and part-time employment.

As a part of the Department's efforts to provide equal employment opportunities for women, racial and ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities and others who have been traditionally under represented in the Department's workforce, the Department encourages minorities and persons with disabilities to apply to the Honor Program. The Department forwards Honor Program recruitment materials to law schools, minority law student associations, minority bar and legal services organizations, chambers of all federal judges, state supreme court justices and state court administrative offices, and the National Association for Public Interest Law. Honor Program applications are also posted on the Department's web site. The Department participates in job fairs that focus on minority recruitment, and coordinates and conducts recruitment presentations at individual law schools with high minority populations. The Department is active in the National Association for Law Placement, which addresses minority and other vital recruitment issues. Last year, total minority representation in the Department's Honor Program applicant pool measured 27.5%, which is 7.5% higher than the total percentage of minorities enrolled in ABA-accredited schools that year. Total minority representation of those accepting offers of employment for the Honor Program measured 34.2% (14.2% higher than the total for minorities in ABA-accredited law schools).

Summer Law Intern Program: Each year, the Department hires as Summer Law Interns a significant number of students who have completed their second year of law school. This program is also open to law graduates the summer between graduation and commencement of either a judicial clerkship or a full-time graduate law program. The Department's extensive recruiting efforts for the Honor Program include recruitment for the Summer Law Intern Program. This past year, minorities represented 28.55% of the Summer Law Intern Program applicants and 22.6% of Program acceptances. Lateral Attorney Recruitment Program: The Lateral Attorney Recruitment Program (LARP) is a pilot program designed to increase accessibility and outreach to experienced attorneys to fill vacant positions throughout the Department of Justice. Information on a substantial number of vacant positions is publicized on the Office of Attorney Personnel Management's web page and each vacancy is disseminated to an extensive list of outreach sources, including, law schools, minority and disability organizations and specialty bar associations. Approximately 700 of the 2500 national, state and local outreach sources to which vacancy announcements are disseminated are diversity and disability outreach sources.

Eight-Point Plan to Enhance Diversity in the Department of Justice
Recognizing that a commitment to creating and maintaining diversity requires an ongoing evaluation of existing recruiting, hiring and promotion policies, on June 16, 2000, Attorney General Janet Reno approved a plan to enhance diversity within the Department through expanded recruiting, hiring and retention efforts. The Eight-Point Plan to Enhance Diversity at the Department of Justice consists of principles and action items that are designed to help the Department meet its goals to increase access to career opportunities within the Department for both new and experienced attorneys, while at the same time broadening the pool of candidates for hiring and promotion to include individuals from diverse groups. The eight principles are as follows:

One. Each Department component is encouraged to devote more resources to recruiting at the attorney, law clerk and summer law intern levels. The plan identifies seven concrete ways to promote the hiring of a diverse workforce. One of those is to recruit at job fairs that reach a large number of minorities. Another is to place recruiting advertisements in media designed to reach these target groups.
Two. Each component is encouraged to use the Internet to post attorney and law clerk vacancies so that job opportunities within the Department can reach a broader audience.
Three. The importance of diversity will be reinforced by requiring periodic reporting of attorney hiring and advancement activity within all components.
Four. Diversity training is required for all hiring officials and supervisors. This training will be designed to emphasize the value of diversity and develop a sensitivity to the experiences of people of various cultures.
Five. Each component is encouraged to develop new attorney mentoring programs, which are widely recognized throughout the profession as important to the development of essential legal skills.
Six. All attorney supervisors should closely monitor caseloads, other assignments and training to ensure appropriate advancement for all attorneys.
Seven. All of the Department's Attorney Organizations have been asked to assist the Department in its recruiting and professional skills development programs.
Eight. Since most of the Department's policies are generated at the Senior Executive Service (SES) level, the eighth principle seeks to ensure that all SES and senior level management positions are widely advertised, and that selection panels are diverse.

Inquiries about the Attorney General's Honor Program, the Summer Law Intern Program, and the Lateral Attorney Recruitment Program should be directed to the Office of Attorney Personnel Management, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. 20530-0001, or information can be found on the DOJ website Department of Justice. Inquiries about the Eight-Point Plan to Enhance Diversity in the Department of Justice should be directed to the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. 20530.

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The Department of Justice Pro Bono Program
Program Overview
In March, 1996, Attorney General Janet Reno issued the Department of Justice's Pro Bono Policy, making DOJ the first federal agency to have a comprehensive pro bono policy and program. Before the issuance of the policy, the complex rules governing outside employment by DOJ employees made it daunting for volunteers to undertake pro bono work. In the four years since the policy was issued, the Department has developed a rich program that makes it easy for government attorneys to navigate these complex rules and participate in a wide array of projects. DOJ attorneys now participate in diverse activities from staffing walk-in clinics to representing clients, from filling out tax forms to staffing intake sites. Through creative partnerships with the D.C. Bar and local legal services organizations, the Department has worked to address any residual barriers to pro bono service by government attorneys and to create opportunities for volunteers to undertake the types of work that most interest them. Since 1997, DOJ also has convened and chaired an Interagency Working Group on Pro Bono to support the efforts of other federal agencies to implement their own policies and programs.

Oversight of Program
The Pro Bono Program is overseen by the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Policy Development, and is administered by a Pro Bono Program Manager and an active Pro Bono and Volunteer Services Committee. The Manager and the Committee work together to develop diverse opportunities for government volunteers, organize training, disseminate information and pro bono activities, and provide sample pleadings and other supporting materials to volunteers. The Committee has representatives from each of the Department's thirty-six components and offices and meets approximately every six weeks to oversee program implementation. Committee representatives serve as points of contact to distribute information and facilitate employee efforts. Representatives also work with Deputy Designated Agency Ethics Officials (DDAEOs) in each component to screen pro bono cases and projects and help attorneys to obtain the necessary approval to perform pro bono work.

Pro Bono and Volunteer Services Policy
The Pro Bono and Volunteer Services Policy provides a blueprint for volunteers wishing to perform pro bono work. It illuminates the types of pro bono work that volunteers can perform within the constraints of government service and urges volunteers to undertake at least 50 hours of pro bono work per year. The Policy focuses on several issues. First, it explains that government attorneys undertake pro bono work on their own time and in their personal, rather than official, capacities. It provides guidance for supervisors on how to manage court appearances and other work that volunteers must undertake during the workday, and urges flexibility on such issues. Second, it explains the restrictions on outside employment by government attorneys and outlines the types of cases that present a conflict for Department volunteers. Third, the Policy describes the approval process for pro bono work. Government attorneys are required to obtain approval from their component head, and sometimes their supervisor and DDAEO, before participating in pro bono work. The Policy lays out this process and creates a mechanism for component heads to "generally approve" certain activities in order to streamline the approval process. Fourth, the Policy explains that, under a revised Rule 49, government attorneys do not have to be members of the D.C. Bar in order to take pro bono cases, as long as other conditions are met. Fifth, the Policy explains which office resources can appropriately be used during pro bono work. After completing a year-long effort to update the pro bono policy, the Attorney General reissued the Policy this past May, 2000.

Pro Bono Activities
Although the Department does not track the numbers of volunteers undertaking pro bono work, it is clear from discussions with local providers and contacts with the Pro Bono Committee representatives that DOJ attorneys regularly participate in a wide variety of activities, most of which are based in the District of Columbia and serve those predominantly minority residents living in poverty in D.C. Several non-representational activities are particularly popular. First, volunteers regularly participate in the D.C. Bar's Advice and Referral Clinic on the second Saturday of each month in the Shaw neighborhood of D.C. At this Clinic, volunteers provide brief counseling and referral services to clients on a walk-in basis. Employees from the Antitrust Division staff this clinic on a regular basis. In June 2000, DOJ employees staffed a new Clinic site in Anacostia for the first time with attorneys from DOJ leadership and leadership support offices. Second, employees volunteer at Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless intake sites to screen and refer cases.

Department attorneys also take cases for representation from a variety of sources. The Pro Bono Manager has a compilation of program descriptions and contact information for numerous legal services providers in the D.C. metropolitan area. Through these programs, volunteers can, for example, represent clients in cases related to their HIV status, help domestic violence victims to obtain civil protection orders, be guardians ad litem for children in abuse and neglect, custody, or domestic violence cases, assist people who are threatened with eviction, facilitate adoptions for babies abandoned at D.C. General Hospital, and assist clients with a range of family law matters. As the Department learns about new programs and projects in the D.C. metropolitan area, the Pro Bono Manager and Committee work together to screen those activities for potential conflicts, identify whether malpractice insurance is available through the organization, determine what mentoring and support opportunities exist for volunteers, and advertise them as appropriate. For example, to reach out to the underserved Latina community in D.C., DOJ is working with AYUDA to make pro bono opportunities available through their organization.

The Department has also developed several mechanisms designed to make it as easy as possible for volunteers to select cases for representation. The Legal Aid Society of D.C. and Legal Counsel for the Elderly circulate monthly case lists that describe available pro bono opportunities. Volunteers also participate 1 - 2 times each year in the D.C. Bar's Case Clinic on Wednesday evenings. At this clinic, volunteers choose pre-screened cases for representation. Following two recent Department training events relating to domestic violence and to guardian ad litem work, the Pro Bono Program Manager now distributes, on an expedited basis, case descriptions relating to these areas. The Department has also created a process through which these cases are screened for criminal conflicts through the D.C. United States Attorney's Office.

"Helplessness does not stem from the absence of theoretical rights. It can stem from an inability to assert real rights. The tenants of slums, and public housing projects, the purchasers from disreputable finance companies, the minority group member who is discriminated against-all these may have legal rights which -if we are candid, remain in the limbo of the law."

Robert F. Kennedy

Finally, a cornerstone of DOJ's programs is the involvement of attorneys at all levels of the Department in pro bono work. The Attorney General attends peer mediation activities at local schools to promote nonviolent conflict resolution among students in the community. Several Assistant Attorneys General have participated in local clinics such as the D.C. Bar's Advice and Referral Clinic or have taken on pro bono cases. And DOJ leadership often use their public platforms to promote pro bono and volunteer work.

Training Opportunities: The Pro Bono Manager and Committee regularly advertise training sponsored by the D.C. Bar and local legal services programs, and many DOJ attorneys have attended these sessions. This year, the Department initiated a series of in-house training programs tailored to the needs and experiences of government attorneys. In February 2000, DOJ hosted training for attorneys wishing to represent domestic violence victims in civil protection order proceedings or to perform know-your-rights workshops at area shelters. In March 2000, the Department sponsored training for attorneys to act as guardians ad litem for children in domestic violence and custody proceedings. DOJ is in the process of planning additional training for the fall.

Support and Encouragement for Pro Bono Work: A critical aspect of the Department's program is the encouragement and support provided to volunteers. The Pro Bono Program Manager maintains a pleadings bank, resource library, and sets of sample forms for attorneys to use in their cases. The Department is currently compiling a "Welcome to Pro Bono" packet which will contain all the materials a volunteer would need in order to participate in pro bono work. An intranet website has been designed to make information about pro bono activities accessible to all Department volunteers. Finally, the Pro Bono Committee publishes a quarterly Pro Bono Bulletin that highlights the terrific work being done by Department employees, advertises training opportunities, describes new projects, and provides information on how to get involved in pro bono work.

For further information on the U.S. Department of Justice Pro Bono Program, please contact the Office of Policy Development, Pro Bono Program Manager, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC 20530, 202-662-8311.

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