Holland & Knight Partners With Brooklyn Law School to Offer Pro Bono Clinic
March 26, 2008
George H. Kendall- New York
NEW YORK – Holland & Knight has partnered with the Brooklyn Law School to offer a clinic that allows students to work on high-profile pro bono cases with experienced lawyers. Launched for the spring 2008 semester, the Holland & Knight Pro Bono Clinic provides a group of six to eight Brooklyn Law School students the opportunity to work in the firm’s New York office with lawyers in Holland & Knight's Community Services Team (CST).
CST Senior Counsel George Kendall supervises the clinic which is taught by two associates in the firm's Chesterfield Smith Fellowship Program who devote two years to working on pro bono matters full time. The students in the clinic are exposed to a variety of work and focus primarily on criminal justice cases in southern states, with death penalty cases making up about half of their docket. They also work on prison condition cases, clemency work and voting rights cases. The students work on their cases for 12 to 15 hours a week with attorneys in Holland & Knight's New York office.
"The idea for the program came to me after I had been working with a Brooklyn Law School student on a case," said George Kendall, who is experienced in death penalty and prisoners' rights cases. "I approached Stacy Caplow, director of Brooklyn Law School’s Clinical Education Program, and the clinic developed from there."
“Our partnership with Holland & Knight is an exciting new direction for law school clinical programs, not only at Brooklyn Law School, but also nationally,” says Caplow.
About Holland & Knight's Community Services Team: In 1990, Holland & Knight established its Community Services Team (CST) to more effectively marshal its resources to provide legal representation to those who cannot afford it. The CST is a structured, institutionalized department within the firm, drawing on all of the firm's resources and is the largest law firm full-time pro bono practice group in the nation.
Contact: Kristin Ricca (813) 769-4335