Caravans | Columbia Law School

Caravans

The Spring Break Pro Bono Caravans are an immensely popular part of the pro bono program at Columbia.

Groups of Columbia Law School students spend their spring break week working at legal services and public interest organizations across the U.S. and, sometimes, abroad. They work intensively with one another, new colleagues, and new communities to provide much-needed legal assistance.

Not only do students report life-changing and rewarding experiences, but host organizations are able to attend to more clients and complete more cases in a week than they are sometimes able to accomplish in a year.

In March 2019, thanks to the generosity of the following donors, over 100 students participated in caravans for 23 different host organizations around the country and abroad. Many thanks to the following for their support:

• Columbia Law School Public Interest Law Foundation
• Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma
• Patricia Nimsey and family
• Riverwind Casino 
• Sidley Austin LLP

How to Apply

The 2020 Caravans and how to apply to them information is now available. Please visit http://bit.ly/Caravans2020 for the complete list of the caravans and to access the application materials. 

Please note, if you are a 1L and plan on attending a Caravan, the work may count towards the New York State pro bono requirement but will not count towards the Columbia mandatory pro bono graduation requirement. Work that counts towards the Columbia mandatory pro bono requirement must be completed after the first year of law school and before March 1 of the third year. You can read more about the various requirements here. 

• For a list of the 2020 Caravans and application instructions, click here.

How to Get Involved

• If you are a student interested in organizing a caravan, please email [email protected]. Planning meetings will occur in the fall semester, so keep an eye out for emails.
• If you are a student interested in participating in a caravan, please keep an eye out for emails during the fall semester.
• If you are an organization who would like to host students for a caravan, please email [email protected].edu.
• If you or your law firm would like to sponsor a caravan, please email [email protected].