Students: How to Volunteer

How To Vounteer 

Through MJF you can choose to volunteer your time on a project in an area of law which most closely matches your interests and strengths. In doing so, you make an enormous difference for low-income Minnesotans who might otherwise go underrepresented.

Here are the steps to find a position and to begin volunteering:

  • THINK about what type of volunteer opportunity you would like. Consider subject areas such as immigration, family law, etc.; legal skills you’d like to develop, such as legal research, client interviewing, etc.; time commitment; geographic area, etc.
  • LOOK at MJF’s available volunteer opportunities. You can find a listing of current opportunities by visiting an MJF office at one of the three law schools or by checking the “Explore Volunteer Opportunities” page on this website to see if an opening catches your eye.
  • TALK with an MJF staff member. We will discuss your interests, career goals, etc., and are happy to talk to you in great detail about different volunteer opportunities. We will give you volunteer information, explain expectations, and answer any questions you might have. If you are interested in a particular opportunity, we will give you the name and contact information of the supervising attorney and invite you to email the attorney to discuss the position further.
  • LEARN about the position from the supervising attorney. Discuss schedules, expections, levels of commitment, etc.
  • COMMIT to the project only if you feel confident that you will enjoy it, learn from it, and fulfill your and your supervisor’s expectations.
  • EMAIL your school’s MJF Staff Attorney once you commit to a volunteer project or placement.
  • COMPLETE the Log Sheet and included Evaluation questions in your MJF student account. Please remember to log your volunteer hours every semester.

To create an account
Please create a free MJF account to search the list of available volunteer opportunities and to keep track of your volunteer hours.  After you create an account and log in, you can search available volunteer placements, add them to your “cart”, and press submit, which will let your MJF staff attorney know that you are interested in learning more about those placements.”

To log your hours
Please log in to enter your volunteer hours.  MJF uses the information you input to track the volunteer hours performed by law students statewide, per school, and per class, in order to track our outcomes. Additionally, MJF recognizes students who log 50+ volunteer hours before graduation through the MJF Law School Public Service Program.  Please note that if you are adding additional hours to a volunteer placement, you will need to manually recalculate the total hours.

University of St. Thomas School of Law has a public service graduation requirement. Generally, hours volunteered through MJF can be used to fulfill this requirement; check with the school for exclusions. Students must log their hours separately into the school’s system  for the hours to satisfy their graduation requirement.