CUA Law Pro Bono Coordinator Kiva K. Zytnick co-authored an ABA article entitled "Spring Break Highlights: DC Alternative Spring Break 2019" on April 5, 2019.

Spring Break Highlights: DC Alternative Spring Break 2019

From: The American Bar Association
By: Jennifer Tschirch and Kiva Zytnick
Date: April 5, 2019

For the past several years, a group of DC law schools has collaborated to organize DC Alternative Spring Break. This initiative allows students to do meaningful work with legal service providers in their own backyard while meeting peers from nearby schools who care about the same issues. This spring, students volunteered at Amara Legal Center, Capital Area Immigrant Rights (CAIR) Coalition, the D.C. Bar Landlord Tenant Resource Center, Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project (MAIP), The Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program, and Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless. Work included legal research, conducting intake, and engaging in outreach about legal rights.

For the law school pro bono coordinators, DC Alternative Spring Break is a great way to streamline efforts to connect interested students with needed pro bono work. Because the law school spring breaks don't always align - this year they spanned two weeks - each pro bono coordinator from the respective schools seeks out opportunities that fall within either or both weeks. They then use a shared calendar and other online tools to place students from participating schools at the various local organizations.
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Reports from the students this year similarly demonstrate that DC Alternative Spring Break continues to be a win-win-win experience for all!

"The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project works to prevent and correct the conviction of innocent people in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. I worked on a team with two students from Georgetown Law Center to review a case that was previously closed. After a week of research and thorough review of the case file we gave a presentation to the board of MAIP on the case and recommended that they re-open the case." - Ahad Khilji, 3L at The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law
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To learn more about the Pro Bono Program at CUA Law click here.