Question: What is Pro Bono?

Bamboosprout

I believe I understand what the two words mean, and even understand what it means in the context of a practicing lawyer, but what does pro bono mean for law students? I see articles talking about supervising attorneys, pro bono trips, in-house projects, and outside organizations. Is pro bono just the law school way of saying volunteering? Do students have to find these themselves, are they like clubs and organization that anyone can join, or are they competitive?
Would appreciate any insight from someone who knows a bit about this topic. Thank you, all.

AudaciousRed

As I understand, pro bono is the work you do for free. On one school tour, the girl said she had racked up over 100 hours of pro bono work without even trying, because of clinics she was a part of that served the public for free (public defense, etc).
Hoping someone with more insight can come along and explain this better.

Seeking Perfection

@AudaciousRed pretty much has it right.

Schools define it differently than each other as do different states.

Some states (like New York) have a pro-bono hours requirement to be barred. Some count clinic work and some don't.

The work usually needs to be legal, free, and sometimes help the poor to count.

Additionally, for practicing attorneys, firms often take on pro-bono unpaid work to improve their reputation, get young lawyers experience in the court room, and help their community. Different firms have different philosophies on it from pretty much banning it, to allowing it so long as it doesn't interfere with the real work, to counting pro-bono hours for bonuses, to actively encouragin lawyers to develop their skills through pro-bono. If you want to work in a firm you have to look into that kind of thing when deciding where you want to work.

If you are in a public interest job, you are being paid for doing your good work so it isn't pro-bono.

Bamboosprout

@AudaciousRed said:
As I understand, pro bono is the work you do for free. On one school tour, the girl said she had racked up over 100 hours of pro bono work without even trying, because of clinics she was a part of that served the public for free (public defense, etc).
Hoping someone with more insight can come along and explain this better.

Ahhh, that's pretty insightful, thank you!

@"Seeking Perfection" said:
Additionally, for practicing attorneys, firms often take on pro-bono unpaid work to improve their reputation, get young lawyers experience in the court room, and help their community. Different firms have different philosophies on it from pretty much banning it, to allowing it so long as it doesn't interfere with the real work, to counting pro-bono hours for bonuses, to actively encouragin lawyers to develop their skills through pro-bono. If you want to work in a firm you have to look into that kind of thing when deciding where you want to work.

If you are in a public interest job, you are being paid for doing your good work so it isn't pro-bono.

Thanks for the clarification.