Elana is 75 years old. She doesn't have much in the way of savings, but she does have a few possessions she wants to distribute among her three daughters and six grandchildren. She needs to draw up a will. But she has no idea where to start and no money to pay a lawyer to help her. 

Like many people, Elana will turn to one of many law offices that perform pro bono work—that's work lawyers do for free to help out low income or elderly people. And it's not just small firms or legal services, it's the big firms too. 

But it takes a lot of time and resources to do pro bono work, and many offices, especially in rural areas, don't even have access to a law library. 

That's one of the reasons why students in the School of Law have started the Pro Bono Program—to help these lawyers out. The program is only in its third year, but students have already taken on all types of projects. Some help write wills, powers of attorney, and health care powers of attorney; others assist with tax preparation and laws, environmental issues, domestic violence cases, and consumer law issues. Third-year law students even have the opportunity to argue in court under a supervising attorney. 

"Many legal services have a lot of cases to deal with and a limited number of attorneys and staff," says Jami Jackson, a third-year law student and student coordinator of the program. "So everything we do gives them time to devote to something else." 

One of the projects Jackson worked on was for the North Carolina Justice and Community Development Center, where she was involved with a class-action lawsuit in which people who had previously defrauded the welfare system and had paid their dues were still being denied their benefits. 

When people collect their benefits illegally—for example, lie about how many children they have—they are penalized for two years, but after that, they are entitled to those benefits again. But in this case, these people still weren't receiving benefits even after the prescribed amount of time. And a lot of these people don't know that there is going to be a class-action suit, or even that they are entitled to compensation. 

So what Jackson did was try to track people down, let them know that a suit was being filed—found phone numbers, matched addresses. It may not seem like typical lawyer work, but it's something lawyers go through every day. 

Another thing lawyers wrestle with on a daily basis is defending their clients even when they aren't sure themselves how they feel about an issue. That's something Stephanie Eakes, a second year law student and student coordinator, got to experience personally in her work with the Pro Bono Program. 

Eakes was involved with a constitutional case challenging a 1997 law that denies disability benefits to people whose predominant reason for being disabled is alcoholism or drug addiction—both of which are considered legitimate disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act. 

Congress argues that alcoholics and drug addicts should not receive disability benefits because they are more likely to spend their money on supporting their habits. Instead, Congress would like to pour money into centers for helping alcoholics, not give it to them up front. 

But Hank Wansker, a Rockingham attorney who is trying the case, sees the law as unconstitutional because if you have another disability and also happen to be an alcoholic or drug addict, you still get disability benefits. "Those people are just as likely to spend their money on booze or drugs as those whose sole disability stems from alcohol or drugs," Wansker says. "They're just picking on a politically unpopular group." 

With help from the School of Law, Wansker is defending a man who was denied disability benefits because alcoholism is his sole disability. 

Eakes' work with Wansker involved helping him write his initial brief to the district court. Wansker compiled a list of questions and gave them to Eakes—questions like, "I want to know if Congress can do this," "What level of scrutiny will apply to this type of classification," and "How have disabilities played out in other areas of law?" 

"I just started picking up books," says Eakes. "I hadn't even had constitutional law yet, and here I was helping this lawyer write a brief to the eastern district of North Carolina. When Wansker sent me the brief he filed in court, there were three pages that were actually my own words. It was really an incredible experience." 

Even though they've lost their case twice, the team—Wansker, Eakes, and another law student, Cotten Garrison—is persevering and filing an appeal with the Fourth Circuit, the highest appeals court in North Carolina. 

Eakes and Garrison have gone through all 98 cases the district court cited to support its ruling. Now Wansker has a whole notebook full of every case that was cited against him, along with notes on how the district court may have cited some cases incorrectly. "All of this really helps the argument," Eakes says. "Without access to cases, lawyers have to take the other side's word that what is being argued is right. They are only able to work with what they've got and aren't able to challenge what the other side says." 

Eakes isn't sure how she personally feels about the case, but it's given her an experience that she wouldn't get by just going to class. "This is something lawyers have to face every day," Eakes says. "You're not always going to agree with all your cases. It's how you argue them that's important." 

Last semester, the Pro Bono Program received a public service grant, which will help spread services to more of the rural areas of North Carolina—places that don't have access to law resources. "Our goal is to serve the whole state's population," Eakes says. "We want attorneys to know we're here and that we've got the facilities to help them." 

The students run the program with the help of Sylvia Novinsky, their faculty advisor. They coordinate projects with law firms and legal services, get other students involved, and evaluate each project. 

"It's a great feeling," Eakes says, "to be a part of it all—to know that you're helping someone who can't find help anywhere else. What kind of society would we live in if only the wealthiest people had access to our legal system?"