Author Archives: Pam Robinson

Tuesday Notable

Today we introduce you to the 2019 Hugh Willcox Volunteer of the Year– Sarah McIntosh

Sarah was the recipient of the Pro Bono Program’s highest honor because of her high degree of demonstrated commitment to the ethic of service and the goals of the Program.  She was an active VITA volunteer, a guardian ad litem with the Probate Court Project as well as a dedicated volunteer CASA with Richland County CASA.  In addition to these projects Sarah was also a mainstay of many outreach activities associated with the SC Bar- the Friday Blitz, My Wills and the Prisoner Correspondence team.

As an Ambassador for the Law School Sarah would bring prospective students and their families by the Pro Bono Program office.  Her enthusiasm about service was infectious but she could also balance the concerns about academic needs.As a Pro Bono Board member Sarah was an amazing advocate and recruiter of volunteers. Sarah is  preparing to take the SC Bar exam in July and will then head off to Georgetown Law School to pursue an LL,M. in Taxation.

Sarah shows off her award with able assistance from her sidekick, Dante.

Tuesday Notable

Each Tuesday, we will highlight the volunteer work of one of our unsung heroes.

Today we put the spotlight on Randi Jones. Randi is a 2nd year student and spends one morning a week at Harvest Hope Food Bank and two mornings a week conducting intake for the Vitual VITA program at Cooperative Ministries. Randi sought out these opportunities to serve and gain experience when her summer clerkship cancelled.  We welcome Randi and thank her for stepping up and helping.

Summer Research opportunity with a dash of lawyer supervision!

Greetings and I hope this finds you well.

I am reaching out to you as many of you have indicated that you might have time for a pro bono project. If you are interested and have the time over the next 4-6 weeks here is the project:

Updating information in the Law School for Non-Lawyers Handbook.
The manual sections were each drafted by an attorney and are designed for non-lawyers. It has been a few years since the material has been reviewed and updated, that is where you enter the picture.
I have attached the following:
A job description
A list of the remaining topics ( subject to change)
Tips on updating the material

After reviewing the attachments, let me know if you are interested and if so what topics appeal the most. I will do my best to assign you your choice but that may not work for everyone so have a second and third choice.  Embrace this an opportunity to explore something new.

As soon as you get in touch and are assigned a topic, review it and consider what changes you think need to be made. This is where the tips come in to play! Contact me and I will put you in touch with the attorney so that you can discuss and make changes.

Thanks for your interest in helping and hopefully you will gain some valuable experience and a new contact! And if you are too busy to commit, do not feel bad, I always appreciate honesty

LSNL Job description

Tips and instructions

LSNL TofC assigned

Pam

ACLU Legal Observer- volunteer opportunity

ACLU-SC Legal Observer

The ACLU has long had a history of trained volunteer serving as legal observers during elections, protests and demonstrations. The SC Chapter is organizing volunteers to serve in this role during the recent protests, If you are interested please contact me ASAP and I will send you the following items:

1—ACLU SC Legal Observer Training.  The primary material reviewed in today’s training.

2—A Quick history…

3—Training Observer Waiver

4—Name Tag

5—Incident Report

6—Legal Observer Checklist

7—Covid-19 Instructions

The training is a PowerPoint that takes about 30 minutes to read and understand. The training is practical advice which should equip you with the knowledge and awareness of your role and how to accomplish the task of documenting any incidents.  You will be required to read, understand and sign a waiver before you can officially attend a protest in the name of the ACLU.

There will be an area coordinator who will serve as your local contact,  This person will also have t-shirts available to help identify you as an ACLU Legal Observer.

As a Legal Observer you are serving in a non-partisan role.  If you believe that you must use your voice to protest in a specific way, please do so and know that ACLU Legal Observers are present and can be an independent and trained  documenter of any incidents, Watch for them

If you are interested please contact me so I can send you the files to review,  Just expressing an interest does not commit you to serving,

Pamela Robinson

Robinspd@law.sc.edu