Yes. Students may fulfil their mandatory pro bono hours by participating in SILE-approved projects organised by student clubs or groups, such as the Pro Bono Group, Criminal Justice Club, or the Freshman Orientation Central Committee, among others. Alternatively, students may choose to initiate their own pro bono activities, such as supporting LAB, CLAS, and LASCO casework, on an unpaid pro bono basis during internships. However, in order to record the hours as part of their mandatory pro bono hours requirements, all pro bono “activities” must be approved by the SILE. To be eligible, activities must fall within the scope of those expressly recognised by SILE. In the case of LAB, CLAS, and LASCO, only case-related assistance rendered to lawyers on approved pro bono matters will be considered valid for the purposes of fulfilling the pro bono requirement.

1. Initiating opportunity under the existing list of SILE approved opportunities:

One of the key criteria for a pro bono project to be eligible for clocking mandatory pro bono hours is that it must have been approved by SILE. The currently ongoing list of SILE-approved pro bono projects can be found here: https://www.sile.edu.sg/list-of-sile-approve-pro-bono- work-ongoing. For self-sourced placements which are not listed on the portal, you may wish to contact any of the organisations to apply. Please search for their details on the website, send them an email, and ask who is in charge of the SILE-approved pro bono work offered to law students. Request to be put in touch with the relevant person so you can volunteer for the placement. Please email us a copy of the organisation’s confirmation for this SILE-approved opportunity, and we will provide you with detailed instructions for the opportunity to be posted on the portal.

2. Initiating a new opportunity for SILE approval, below are the options and please do so in consultation and discussion with the respective coordinator/supervisor of the project:

1. initiate a new pro bono work or project to be eligible for SILE approval for mandatory pro bono hours, or
2. if you want to explore new ways to support an existing SILE-approved pro bono project/clinic (i.e., pro bono activity or work that has not yet been approved by SILE), or
3. if the organisation that you are working with wishes to have a new project approved by

Please contact SILE Pro Bono at sile.probono@sile.edu.sg on how to submit the application. Once SILE approval for the new pro bono opportunity/work is received, please email us (probono@nus.edu.sg) a copy of the SILE approved application, and we will provide you with detailed instructions to have the opportunity posted on the portal for you to record your pro bono hours.

Do take note that once a project has been approved by SILE, only pro bono hours clocked by a student from the date of submission of the application to SILE can be counted as MPBH. For example, the organisation submits the application form to SILE on 1 April and SILE subsequently approves the project at a later date, any hours clocked under the approved project from 1 April can be counted as MPBH while pro bono hours clocked before 1 April will be considered as VPBH only. No backdating of MPBH will be permitted.

Separately, if you had undertaken an unpaid internship with a lawyer, where you had worked on either LAB, LASCO, or CLAS files, you may also claim MPBH only for the work done with these three types of files.

To create the pro bono opportunity in the portal, submit an application to initiate an opportunity through the following MS Form link: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/f80Zfy0yuy

Upon receipt, CPBCLE will review the submission and create the opportunity in the Pro Bono Portal either:

• as a pre-selected opportunity (no student applications required); or
• as an opportunity open for student applications.

Whenever a new pro bono opportunity is posted, NUS Law students who have subscribed to follow CPBCLE on Telegram will receive announcement messages. Subscribe to our channel here: https://t.me/+tQTs_nRLpi82MDk1 

If you are able to arrange pro bono work directly with the Clinic’s coordinator, please proceed to do so. Do take care to ensure that the clinic coordinator is informed and agreeable to your participation in the clinic’s SILE-approved scope of work, lest they already have pre- assigned/scheduled students who have taken up remaining vacancies.

Students can look out for the various types of pro bono opportunities that the Centre posts regularly on the portal. Do take note that applying for pro bono opportunities is a competitive process and we cannot promise that you will be selected over other student applicants. It is best to apply for opportunities early enough to ensure that you can fulfill your MPBH requirements well ahead of time, before your final Academic Year/Semester.

For guides on clocking your pro bono hours, please refer to the student resources here: https://law.nus.edu.sg/cpbcle/for-students/resources/

Please refer to the user guide for student (coming soon).

At NUS Law, different student groups organise different pro bono projects in which you can participate to clock your MPBH. This includes student-led interest groups such as the Criminal Justice Club (CJC) and the Pro Bono Group (PBG). You may wish to consider joining these student-led groups to be informed of opportunities to participate in as SILE-approved Pro Bono Work”. CJC and PBG usually hold their membership drives during the summer break, in between the academic years. If you are keen to join these groups and would like to find out more about their activities, you may wish to contact them at:

president@nuscriminaljustice.com and secretary@nuscriminaljustice.com and, nus.pbg@nuslawclub.com.