Law student wins state pro bono award
Thursday, March 29, 2007
- Organization: William & Mary News
Maryann P. Nolan, a third-year law student at the College, has been named the 2007 recipient of the Oliver White Hill Law Student Pro Bono Award by the Virginia State Bar (VSB) Committee on Access to Legal Services. The award will be presented during the VSB Pro Bono Conference to be held May 17-18 in Richmond, Virginia.
The Hill award, named for the attorney who led Virginia challenges to school segregation, recognizes a student's voluntary and minimally compensated public service work.
"Oliver W. Hill has served as a shining example of what attorneys can accomplish, and his career is an inspiration," Nolan said.
The recognition comes for the more than 1,000 hours of uncompensated or minimally compensated public service and supervised legal work Nolan completed while in law school.
"Building on her service in the Peace Corps before law school, Maryann Nolan has provided exemplary legal assistance to low income and underrepresented clients in human rights, asylum, and criminal matters," said Robert Kaplan, associate dean of the William and Mary Law School, who nominated Nolan for the award. "She also has worked tirelessly to raise tens of thousands of dollars for law-related public service internships throughout the world. She personifies Oliver White Hill's legacy of distinguished public service and William and Mary's citizen-lawyer ideal."
Her projects included:
• The Capital Area Immigrants' Rights Coalition, for which she visits Virginia detention centers to educate detainees about legal rights and to provide legal support services.
• The Fairfax Public Defender's office, for which she interviewed clients, visited jails and wrote legal memoranda for the clients' attorneys.
• An internship in Cordoba, Argentina, with the Center for Human Rights and the Environment.
• America Reads, for which she served as a tutor to Williamsburg students elementary school pupils who struggle with reading and learning English as a second language.
• The William & Mary Public Service Fund, for which she served as co-chair. The fund raises and allocates money to help repay tuition loans for students who work in public service.
• The W&M Chapter of the Innocence Project, which works to exonerate convicted defendants through DNA testing.
• The Children's Advocacy Law Society, for which she served on the board and organized panels and speakers to talk about legal issues affecting children and families.
• The W&M Honor Council, for which she served as a justice.
"William & Mary Law is very supportive of its students, with great emphasis placed on creating citizen lawyers," Nolan said. "[The school] provides students the opportunity to become involved in their community and use their legal education for the public benefit."
Nolan, who received undergraduate degrees from the University of Virginia, will graduate from the law school in May. Immediately following graduation she plans to continue her service work with a 10-week fellowship for International Bridges to Justice (IBJ), a non-profit human rights organization founded in 2000. Nolan will be helping to set up IBJ's office and get the program running in one of the newly or unestablished regions. According to its Web site, IBJ "supports and enhances criminal defender and governmental legal aid efforts in Asia and Africa to protect citizen rights and to implement existing criminal laws through providing training partnerships, legal and administrative structural support and material assistance."
The Virginia State Bar is a government agency that regulates the legal profession and promotes the administration of justice in the commonwealth. It is an agency of the Supreme Court of Virginia. It is supported through the licensing dues paid by all Virginia lawyers, and it is governed by a council of lawyers elected or appointed from every judicial circuit in Virginia.
The Hill award, named for the attorney who led Virginia challenges to school segregation, recognizes a student's voluntary and minimally compensated public service work.
"Oliver W. Hill has served as a shining example of what attorneys can accomplish, and his career is an inspiration," Nolan said.
The recognition comes for the more than 1,000 hours of uncompensated or minimally compensated public service and supervised legal work Nolan completed while in law school.
"Building on her service in the Peace Corps before law school, Maryann Nolan has provided exemplary legal assistance to low income and underrepresented clients in human rights, asylum, and criminal matters," said Robert Kaplan, associate dean of the William and Mary Law School, who nominated Nolan for the award. "She also has worked tirelessly to raise tens of thousands of dollars for law-related public service internships throughout the world. She personifies Oliver White Hill's legacy of distinguished public service and William and Mary's citizen-lawyer ideal."
Her projects included:
• The Capital Area Immigrants' Rights Coalition, for which she visits Virginia detention centers to educate detainees about legal rights and to provide legal support services.
• The Fairfax Public Defender's office, for which she interviewed clients, visited jails and wrote legal memoranda for the clients' attorneys.
• An internship in Cordoba, Argentina, with the Center for Human Rights and the Environment.
• America Reads, for which she served as a tutor to Williamsburg students elementary school pupils who struggle with reading and learning English as a second language.
• The William & Mary Public Service Fund, for which she served as co-chair. The fund raises and allocates money to help repay tuition loans for students who work in public service.
• The W&M Chapter of the Innocence Project, which works to exonerate convicted defendants through DNA testing.
• The Children's Advocacy Law Society, for which she served on the board and organized panels and speakers to talk about legal issues affecting children and families.
• The W&M Honor Council, for which she served as a justice.
"William & Mary Law is very supportive of its students, with great emphasis placed on creating citizen lawyers," Nolan said. "[The school] provides students the opportunity to become involved in their community and use their legal education for the public benefit."
Nolan, who received undergraduate degrees from the University of Virginia, will graduate from the law school in May. Immediately following graduation she plans to continue her service work with a 10-week fellowship for International Bridges to Justice (IBJ), a non-profit human rights organization founded in 2000. Nolan will be helping to set up IBJ's office and get the program running in one of the newly or unestablished regions. According to its Web site, IBJ "supports and enhances criminal defender and governmental legal aid efforts in Asia and Africa to protect citizen rights and to implement existing criminal laws through providing training partnerships, legal and administrative structural support and material assistance."
The Virginia State Bar is a government agency that regulates the legal profession and promotes the administration of justice in the commonwealth. It is an agency of the Supreme Court of Virginia. It is supported through the licensing dues paid by all Virginia lawyers, and it is governed by a council of lawyers elected or appointed from every judicial circuit in Virginia.
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