For Attorneys and Supervisors

How to Get Involved

We welcome your interest in having Harvard Law students work on a clinical or pro bono basis at your law firm or organization. If you are getting in touch with us for the first time, please complete the Placement Organization Registration form and submit it to office.

The role of the supervising attorney is invaluable in the educational experience of our students, and for that reason, we have certain requirements:

• Students must be supervised by a licensed attorney. The attorney should hold an initial meeting to explain expectations and set goals for the student's work; meet regularly with the student; give regular feedback; and submit written evaluations to us.
• The student's work must be law-related, involve the application or interpretation of law, formulation of legal policy, or drafting of legislation or regulations. Students should not do clerical or fundraising work. Eligible tasks include: assisting an attorney at a trial, client and witness interviewing and investigation, drafting documents, assisting pro se litigants in court, community legal education, research and writing, or policy analysis.

Clinical credit: The clinical program allows students to work to earn academic credit for legal work conducted during the law school's fall, winter, or spring semesters.  Projects and placements must be coordinated and approved by the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs prior to students beginning any work, and all work must be supervised by a licensed attorney.  For clinical credit, students commit to working on an unpaid basis for 10, 15, or 20 hours per week during a full semester, and often takes a course related to the work conducted. Having students work with you on a clinical basis is a good choice if your organization or firm can host the student at the office itself.  This provides the best opportunity for you to supervise the student, assign tasks, provide legal training and instruction, and give feedback on projects.  We ask supervisors to complete written evaluations of students twice in the fall and spring semesters (once for the three-week winter term), and will work with you in conjunction with the professor teaching the related course to provide students with the best practical teaching experience.  Contact our office if you are interested in becoming a clinical placement; and we can determine if your organization can link with a current clinical program or would be an independent project for a student.

Pro bono: The Harvard Law School pro bono requirement mandates that all J.D. students perform at least 40 hours of unpaid legal work for a nonprofit, government agency, or law firm. This may be a good choice for you if your firm or organization seeks a student to assist you in providing unpaid legal services to a client. Pro bono projects are best for timely cases that need immediate and short-term assistance, one-time events, or research and writing projects that can be done off-site. This work is not necessarily done as part of an academic course.  Students may work for a concentrated time or spread their hours over many semesters. Most students are apt to take on pro bono projects during the school year, except during exam times. Students also seek discrete 40-hour or one-week projects at the end of the summer, during holiday vacation, the winter semester, and spring break. If you contact our office and we approve your pro bono project, we will advertise the opportunity to students and students contact you directly to discuss the assignment, hours required, and work schedule.  Once a student is selected by you for the project, the pro bono project must be registered with the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs prior to the student beginning any work.  All work done by the student must be supervised by a licensed attorney on staff, a volunteer attorney at the host organization, or an HLS faculty member in conjunction with an on-site supervisor.

Keep the Harvard Law School Academic Calendar in mind when making your project requests. We cannot guarantee that students will be available or interested in all advertised projects or that your requests will be approved.

Contact our office to find out which options might work best for you.

If you are a potential client looking for someone to help you with your own legal issues, you are not eligible to directly hire or work with student, as students are not licensed to practice law unless under the supervision of an attorney. Please see our Legal Help page for information about obtaining legal services.  

More information:

• Attorney and Supervisor Forms
• Supervising Clinical or Pro Bono Students