Legal Aid Society and Public Interest Stipend Fund
About the Legal Aid Society
The Vanderbilt Legal Aid Society is responsible for a variety of activities designed to promote interest in and opportunities for working with traditionally underrepresented groups. The Legal Aid Society also strives to maintain a culture within the law school where public interest work is recognized as a vital part of a legal education and an important component of any legal career.
Initiating the Pro Bono Pledge is one way in which the Legal Aid Society has worked to achieve this vision. The Pledge is designed to recognize law students who perform a certain amount of public interest and volunteer work while at Vanderbilt. The Legal Aid Society helps find and coordinate opportunities for involvement, and in recent years has placed students with the Nashville District Attorney’s Office, the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee, and in the Metropolitan Nashville Juvenile Court. The Legal Aid Society also houses the Street Law Program, which provides traditionally marginalized citizens with information about the law to assist them in their daily lives.
The Legal Aid Society is also responsible for raising money for and administering the Law School’s Public Interest Stipend Fund. Through the fund, students that are interested in public interest legal positions during the summer can receive stipends that significantly lessen the financial difficulties of unpaid internships.
The Legal Aid Society engages in a variety of other events throughout the year, including hosting job panels, bringing in speakers, disseminating information about loan repayment assistance programs, and putting on musical productions.
Please feel free to email any of the current officers if you have questions about what we do or how to get involved.
2011/2012 Officers
Executive Director: Gingie Maynard Membership and PR Director: Hilary Robinson Auction Co-Directors: Thomas Watson, Janna Maples Financial Director: Michaela Jackson Fundraising Director: Palmer Harston Public Interest Opportunties Director: Wyatt Sassman Street Law Director: Blair Byrum Pro Bono Pledge Director: James Berry PISF Director: John Spragens Special Projects Director: Claire Brown Faculty Advisor: Dean Susan Kay