Excerpt: "Recent research by Mitchell Professor Deborah Schmedemann shows that when a law school provides its students opportunities and incentives for public service, they are more likely to engage in pro bono work in their practice.

Schmedemann conducted focus groups and surveys of more than 1,000 law students and lawyers. In her research, she found that students who took clinic courses and volunteered through the Minnesota Justice Foundation, which facilitates law student involvement in a wide range of public service activities for all Minnesota law schools, were more likely to engage in pro bono practice. Students who were recognized for 50 hours or more of public service also were more likely to do pro bono later. Students who see the cause of poverty and solutions for it as societal rather than individual tend to perform more pro bono, as do students who feel that they are aware of the needs of their community."

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