New York Pro Bono Scholars Program

Take the NY bar exam and enter practice early.

Through the New York Pro Bono Scholars Program, students spend their spring 3L semester working full-time and for credit, on behalf of indigent clients, through an externship with a host organization or through a BU Law clinic. Students take the February New York bar exam, begin their fieldwork immediately after, and work for 12 weeks into mid/late-May.

The program enables students to enter practice early.  Students passing the bar exam, completing other NY bar requirements, and satisfying BU’s graduation requirements are admitted to the New York bar in late June.

Qualifying Placements:

The New York Pro Bono Scholars Program Guide defines a qualifying placement as the following:

Pro bono service must be full-time, supervised law-related work that assists in the provision of legal services for:

  • persons who are financially unable to pay for legal representation;
  • not-for-profit legal service providers that predominantly address the legal needs of indigent clients where the work performed is for such clients; or
  • a government entity, so long as the work performed is on behalf of identifiable individuals who are financially unable to afford representation or whose unmet legal needs prevent their access to justice.

Your placement should provide ample opportunity for client contact or be of direct benefit to an identifiable client or clients. Work that involves advocating on behalf of disadvantaged individuals generally but does not directly benefit specific individuals will not qualify.” Click here for the complete placement guide.

Placements may be anywhere – there is no geographic restriction to New York.

Credits:  Students receive 10 ungraded credits for the fieldwork and 2 graded credits for writing bi-weekly journals and a 15-20 page research paper under guidance of a BU Law faculty member.  Students must log 45 hours per week on their fieldwork and academic work combined.

Please note that although the academic component is graded, all 12 credits of the program count toward BU Law’s 16-credit cap on non-GPA credits.

How to apply:  As a first step, set up an appointment with Eron Hackshaw and Kate Devlin Joyce to discuss the academic requirements and your career interests.  If the program is a good fit and you decide to participate, the next step is to secure a placement.  The CDO, the Office of Clinical & Experiential Programs, and the NY Pro Bono Scholars Program all have resources to help you.  Once you line up a placement, you will fill out an application that will be reviewed by a faculty committee.  The deadline to submit the application to the State of New York is September 15 of each year, for participation that spring, so make sure to plan ahead and have your application in early.

Once your application is approved, the school will notify the New York Pro Bono Scholars office, and they will issue final approval for your participation.  You will next register for the NY bar exam.  It is highly recommend that you take the MPRE and the New York Law Exam in the fall, if you haven’t already.

Contact: Eron Hackshaw, Director of Public Service and Pro Bono (eronh@bu.edu); Kate Devlin Joyce, Director of the Externship Program (kdevlin@bu.edu)

Program information link: www.nycourts.gov/attorneys/probonoscholars/index.shtml

Financial Aid FAQ

If you participate in the New York Pro Bono Scholars Program, you may see changes to your financial aid. The changes to your living expenses and the disbursement of your loan funds are a direct result of the shorter semester and later start date of the NY Pro Bono Program. The changes we have to make are mandated by federal regulations and are not BU policies.




Information about bar loans is available on the private loan page of the website and in the Law Financial Aid Office.