Law and Public Service

Mercer University’s Law and Public Service Program (LPS) is a comprehensive program that cultivates and supports an ethic of public service in its students. The University-wide program is housed at the Law School and offers opportunities for interdisciplinary cooperation between law students and students in other schools and colleges of Mercer University. Mercer students work together to find creative and holistic solutions to client needs, focused on clients and communities whose legal and other needs would otherwise go unmet. In all its activities, the Law and Public Service Program builds upon Mercer’s emphasis on ethics, professionalism, vocation, and service.

The heart of the program is learning through experience and service. In clinical courses and in the public interest practicum, law students work on real cases and receive academic credit as they reflect on their experiences and develop an understanding of law practice as public service. In addition to the curricular offerings, the program encourages and coordinates volunteer community service and pro bono legal work by students and encourages and supports public service employment.

Other Program Goals

Support for Public Service Employment:

  • Through career counseling and mentoring, the program encourages students who plan careers in public service and engenders a commitment to pro bono service by all law graduates.
  • The program helps students find public service employment in the summer and offers stipends for summer placements in public service legal offices.
  • Graduates who obtain full-time positions in public service are eligible for loan repayment assistance to ease the burden of debt repayment obligations.
  • Each year, Mercer Law School offers three full-tuition scholarships to incoming students who have demonstrated a commitment to public interest legal work.

Support for Student Volunteer Service:

  • Working closely with the Student Volunteer Legal Aid Association, the Program provides opportunities for pro bono legal services through agencies such as the Georgia Legal Service Program and Court Appointed Special Advocates.
  • Works with student organizations on projects and events to raise money for summer public interest fellowships.

Interdisciplinary Service Opportunities

  • Students from the College of Liberal Arts serve as interns and receive academic credit for their work in the office of the Law and Public Service Program.
  • Law students work with faculty from the School of Medicine in the new Bibb County Mental Heath Court and with clinical faculty and medical students in the Palliative Care Unit of the Medical Center of Central Georgia.

Results:

  • At least half of the Class of 2007 law graduates who participated in the courses offered by the program in the 2006-07 academic year are now working in full-time public service legal jobs, including with judges, public defender offices, and the Georgia Legal Services Program.
  • Students in the Habeas Project and in the Pubic Defender Clinic have had a remarkable level of success in their cases, winning favorable outcomes for their clients at a much higher rate than do attorneys in practice.
  • Hundreds of indigent clients have been served by students working in the Program.

Law Course Offerings:

  • The Habeas Project: This clinical course is the only effort in Georgia to provide pro bono representation in non-capital state post-conviction matters. Students engage in all levels of appellate advocacy, from issue-spotting to researching to brief-writing and client counseling, and qualified third year students can sign briefs before the appellate court and participate in hearings.
  • In the Public Defender Clinic, students assist in the defense of felony and juvenile cases, including the actual representation of clients in court. In addition to practical experience, students also take part in weekly case rounds, learn about fundamental criminal law issues, and discuss issues of ethics and professionalism.
  • The Capital Defender Clinic allows students to assist in the defense of death penalty cases. The Clinic is housed at the Office of the Capital Defender, the state agency responsible for all indigent death penalty cases in Georgia.
  • Public Interest Practicum I and II: These courses offer credit for practical work experience in public interest field offices. In addition to case work, the course includes weekly reflective journals and weekly classroom meetings with reading and reflecting on the practice of law as a worthy calling.

How Do I Get Involved?

Any first year law student may participate by volunteering through the Legal Aid Volunteer Association or through other service-oriented student organizations. Any interested second and third year students may participate by enrolling in the Program’s course offerings or by volunteering in pro bono programs offered through the LPS program. Undergraduate students interested in participating should contact Sarah Gerwig-Moore gerwigmoor_s@mercer.edu or (478) 301-2195.

Faculty and Staff Contacts

Timothy Floyd
Director, Law and Public Service Program and Professor of Law
(478) 301-2631

Sarah Gerwig-Moore
Assistant Professor of Law
(478) 301-2195

Courtney Dickey
Program Coordinator
(478) 301-5023