The Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs (OCP) offers HLS students the opportunity to conduct pro bono work during spring break through organized group trips and projects with legal organizations in the Boston area and across the United States. Typically students engage in pro bono legal work for a minimum of five days over the break in addition to other cultural activities. Legal work time is eligible for HLS pro bono credit.
Please contact Lee Mestre with any questions.
2026 Trips Outside of Boston
Timeline
Information session: Friday, November 14 at 12:30 pm, WCC 3007 POWERPOINT PRESENTATION
- Student application deadline: Tuesday, November 18 at 11:59 pm
- Notifications by Wednesday, November 26
- Student acceptance deadline: Tuesday, December 2
- Trips run March 14-21, 2026
Immigration Services Trip to San Diego, CA with Jewish Family Service
Students will assist recent migrants and asylum seekers fill out necessary immigration paperwork and applications. This could include but is not limited to work permit applications, change of address forms, family petitions, special immigration visa applications, and DACA renewal applications. Students will also have the opportunity to conduct know your rights presentations and provide legal information for clients at the migrant shelter. Students will also get to work on legal research for complex immigration cases and advise clients on specific legal issues such as applying for U-Visas and T-Visas. Students may also assist with other aspects of the immigration process such as aiding in citizenship classes and interview preparation
Not required, but preference for speakers of other languages, including but not limited to, students who speak Arabic, Haitian Creole, Dari, Pashton, Portuguese, Spanish, and Russian.
Co-sponsored with HLS Immigration Project.
(Six to eight students)
Students will assist residents impacted by Hurricane Helene. Some possible projects could be vital documents replacement; estate planning document replacement or creating new wills and advanced directives; and heirs property. Work will be done through legal clinics and individual client services. Exact work to be determined based on need at time of trip so students must be flexible. Students will be based in Asheville but may travel to other offices.
(Four students)
ACLU of Mississippi in Jackson, MS
Students will work with the ACLU of Mississippi to plan and host Know Your Rights events across the Jackson area and around the state. Students would be trained by the ACLU of Mississippi prior to the events and assist the organizers field questions from the public about their various legal and legal policy questions that affect rural America with a particular focus on voting rights.
Students will visit the Mississippi State Capitol with the ACLU of Mississippi to meet with legislators about issues such as the ballot initiative issue, Medicaid Expansion and healthcare access, rural hospital closures, healthcare coverage, and more. Participants will learn more about the history of Mississippi and the cultural significance of the Mississippi Delta Region.
Co-sponsored with the HLS Mississippi Delta Project.
(Four students)
Funding
OCP has funded spring break trips since 2005, when students went to New Orleans to assist families displaced by Hurricane Katrina. There is a limited amount of funding available for administrative costs and student travel. Our goal is to fund as many students as possible for valuable learning and service experiences. Housing, rental cars, and some airfare will be funded. Students will likely need to contribute to airfare or other costs depending on final numbers of student participants. Students are responsible for airline baggage fees, getting to and from Logan Airport, food, and entertainment. We only fund group trips through OCP. We do not fund individual student trips or projects.
2026 Local Boston-Area Projects information coming in January
Timeline
- Student application deadline: February 2026
- Notifications: February
- Student acceptance deadline:
- Projects run March 16-20, 2026
Past Project Descriptions below as example but 2025 – 2026 Projects TBD
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Asian Outreach Center at Greater Boston Legal Services (Boston, MA)
Asian Outreach Center uses a community lawyering model to support low-income Asian immigrant communities. Students will conduct legal research and produce resources that will support Asian immigrant communities. Past student research projects have included: developing memos related to client questions and community partnerships; creating fact sheets and Know-Your-Rights handouts; and identifying resources for client populations.
2L, 3L Eligible.
Thursday required in person. Hybrid schedule other days to be determined with supervisor.
Mandarin, Vietnamese, Cantonese helpful, but not required. Strong legal research and writing skills preferred. Some experience in immigration law preferred. Lived experience with Boston’s Asian American communities helpful but not required.
Office is easily accessible by public transportation, Office is wheelchair accessible, Gender neutral restrooms are available, metered street parking available.
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Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS), Mental Health Litigation Division (Remote; Brockton, MA)
https://www.publiccounsel.net/mh/
Students will perform research on legislative and interstate history regarding discharge and varying levels of security in the context of involuntary commitment.
1L, 2L, 3L LLM Eligible
U.S. Citizenship required
Volunteers fully remote or hybrid.
Office is easily accessible by public transportation and by car. Free or low-cost parking is available near office, Office is wheelchair accessible.
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Court Service Center Lowell (Lowell, MA)
https://www.mass.gov/info-details/court-service-center-unpaid-internships-and-volunteer-opportunities
Day 1 will be civ pro boot camp; the remainder will be 1-on-1 work with court users to complete court forms in probate, housing and district court.
1L, 2L, 3L, LLM Eligible, Must be eligible to work in U.S.
5 Days required, In person all days preferred, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday required in-person.
Cambodian, Spanish, Portuguese language helpful.
Office is easily accessible by public transportation and by car. Office is wheelchair accessible, gender neutral restrooms are available.
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Discovering Justice (Boston, MA)
http://www.discoveringjustice.org
For this volunteer project we are looking for students who are interested in becoming long term supporters and volunteers for our organization. During their time over spring break we would put them through two types of volunteer training.
- Becoming a Courthouse Education Guide (CEG): In our Courthouse Programs we host thousands of visitors to the Moakley during the year. Visitors come to us in the form of field trips, public tours, international law student tours, college trips, etc. In support of the capacity of our Courthouse Program Staff, we aim to build a robust volunteer cohort who would be trained in giving tours. We would turn to this cohort to support large groups and multi-tour scheduled days.
- Final Events Volunteer: In our Mock Trial and Mock Appeal program, students across 32 schools meeting with legal mentors after school to take part in a 9-10 week curriculum that prepares them to be student attorneys. They are given a case that is age appropriate and are assigned to take the defense side or plaintiff. At the end of the sessions, 8-10 schools come to the Moakley Courthouse for their final event where they deliver their oral arguments in front of an actual judge and an audience made up of supporters. Hosting this event at the Moakley requires a lot of staff and we are looking to build up a volunteer cohort to train in final event proceedings who we can turn to if we are needing additional people come May for the event. During the event, volunteers may be asked to help with registration, greet judges and legal mentors, escort a school team to a courtroom and observe their proceedings and escort them out at dismissal.
Other tasks that could be asked of volunteers:
- Assisting with packing up and shipping out materials/shirts for our Mock Appeal Teams
- Help put together CEG tour bag materials
- Be assigned to begin research on case development for our Fall Mock Trial 2025 sessions. This years case is about a school that enforced a smart phone ban. A student, Leslie, lead a protest against the ban that disrupted after school activities and students who were for the ban were bullied at this protest. The principal then suspended Leslie for 5 days. Is this against Leslie’s First Amendment rights?
- Assist with office administrative task such as space organization and data input
NOT eligible for HLS pro bono credit.
1L, 2L, 3L, LLM Eligible
In-person required Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, Remote or In-person Monday and Friday.
Haitian Creole, Spanish and Portuguese is helpful but not required.
Office is easily accessible by public transportation. Office is wheelchair accessible, gender neutral restrooms are available. We recommend taking public transportation to South Station and then it is about a 10 minute walk to Moakley Courthouse or the Silver Line.
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EdLaw Project of the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) (Roxbury, MA)
EdLaw Project
The student would be analyzing documents acquired through a public records request to the Problem Resolution System of the Massachusetts Department of Education concerning the use of Emergency Exclusions of students. If time allows, the student would research potential legal claims regarding these exclusions.
2L Eligible
Hybrid schedule to be determined with supervisor.
Office is easily accessible by public transportation andvby car, free or low-cost parking is available.
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Immigration Unit at Greater Boston Legal Services (Boston, MA)
https://www.gbls.org/what-we-do/immigration
Student will assist with filling out client immigration applications and potentially hosting pro se clinics, related research.
2L, 3L Eligible
Hybrid schedule to be determined with supervisor.
Haitian Creole, Spanish, Portuguese, French, other languages helpful but not required.
Office is easily accessible by public transportation. Office is wheelchair accessible. Gender neutral restrooms are available.
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MetroWest Legal Services (Framingham, MA)
https://mwlegal.org/
Students will be helping with green card applications for Afghan asylees and legal research/country conditions for defensive asylum case from Haiti.
1L, 2L, 3L, LLM Eligible
Monday and Friday required in person, Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday in person or remote.
Office is easily accessible by public transportation or by car, free or low-cost parking is available near our office. Office is wheelchair accessible. Gender neutral restrooms are available.
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Northeast Legal Aid (Lynn, MA)
https://www.northeastlegalaid.org/
Two separate tracks for participating students: One track is the Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic where we are preparing for a Tax Court trial scheduled for March 17, 2025, or later the same week. We may need help with trial prep. If the case settles or as time permits, we will assign work on collection cases and appeals cases with the IRS and the Massachusetts DOR. The second track is consulting for entrepreneurship and small business owners helping clients with corporate compliance with the Massachusetts Secretary of State, employment law compliance for their workers, and related matters.
1L, 2L, 3L, LLM Eligible
Permanent Work Authorization required.
Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday in person required with remote work possible Wednesday and Friday. Monday, March 17, 2025 is the Tax Court calendar call in Boston, so students assigned should come to Tax Court.
Office is easily accessible by public transportation and by car, free or low-cost parking is available. Office is wheelchair accessible. Our office is located a 5-minute walk from the Lynn Interim commuter rail station, which connects to North Station. It’s also a 10-minute walk from the Lynn Central Square bus station, which connects with Wonderland (Blue Line) and elsewhere.
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Rhode Island Public Defender (Providence, RI)
www.ripd.org
Students will be shadowing attorneys in courtrooms. If time allows, students will assist in researching legal questions.
1L, 2L, 3L Eligible
In person required Monday- Friday.
Office is easily accessible by public transportation and by car. Metered street parking is available.
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SouthCoast Fair Housing (Remote; New Bedford, MA)
www.southcoastfairhousing.org
Students will receive training on fair housing issues and work may include: legal research, client intake, reviewing matters for fair housing issues, investigative work, drafting documents, drafting informational materials, drafting internal policies, and assisting with other needs as they arise.
1L, 2L, 3L, LLM Eligible
Fully remote M-F 9am-5pm.
Conflict check required.
