The new program, the Law School Public Service Program, is a collaborative effort between the Minnesota Justice Foundation, the Minnesota State Bar Association and 30 public service organizations. Although the foundation, which was established in 1982 by University law students, has been a recourse for students to do unpaid work since its inception, the new program will encourage every law student to do at least 50 hours of volunteer work during law school, Curry said. The program is modeled after the Minnesota Rules of Professional Conduct, which strongly encourages all lawyers to volunteer at least 50 hours per year, Curry said. She added that when students leave the Law School, even if they don't go into public service work, they will carry with them the obligation to do volunteer work. Brusilovsky said although volunteer work can take a lot of time and sometimes money, it's a good way to learn about the law, including ethics.
Students can also volunteer by taking a law clinic class.
Each year, students participating in the law clinics perform more than 17,000 hours of unpaid work in the Twin Cities area, said Sharon Reich, associate dean of the Law School. In addition to offering students unpaid work, the Law School requires students to take a professional responsibilities course, said Maury Landsman, a senior attorney in the Law School. The class teaches the rules of ethical conduct and what to do when professional ethics conflict with ordinary ethics, Landsman said. In addition to the required class, Landsman teaches a seminar called Lawyers in Ethics and for the last three years has talked to orientation law students about ethics and responsibility.