Equal Justice Works

Law school engagement and advocacy:equal justice works also offers programs to increase the number of law students and lawyers dedicating all or part of their careers to public service by engaging and collaborating with law schools, students, and attorneys. Equal justice works maintains a robust law school membership, which includes over 90% of aba-accredited law schools, and helps ensure those members know of and participate in the programs offered by equal justice works, including fellowships described above as well as the following programming for law students. The organization provides short-term summer student fellowships programs. The rural summer legal corps (rslc) program is a joint partnership of the legal services corporation (lsc) and equal justice works. The rslc program connects public interest law students with civil legal aid organizations to address pressing legal issues facing rural communities. Despite the challenges presented by the global pandemic, the 2024 rslc program provided 50 students with the opportunity to serve rural communities across 29 states. Student fellows in the 2024 class collectively served 2,892 individuals, assisted in 1,393 legal cases, and helped achieve 495 positive outcomes for their clients. The disaster resilience program places law students at legal services organizations where they gain exposure to legal disaster preparedness and recovery work. In 2024, 7 law students spent eight to ten weeks working alongside equal justice works fellows in the disaster resilience program, helping to provide legal aid, engage in community outreach and education in disaster resilience. During their summer of service, student fellows in the disaster resilience program collectively contributed 2,100 service and training hours that included over 150 hours on research and developing resources, over 730 hours on client cases, client intake, and legal clinics and provided informal legal assistance to over 1910 individuals total.the equal justice works crime victims advocacy program (cvap) mobilizes lawyers and law students to increase access to legal aid for survivors of crime, especially in underserved black, indigenous and people of color (bipoc) communities. In 2024, 18 student fellows spent 8-10 weeks working alongside post-graduate fellows advocating for survivors of crimes. During their summers, student fellows in this program contributed over 5,400 hours of service and training hours, and worked on projects addressing topics like trafficking and gender-based violence.