Thoughts on PBSC?

[ellewoods2.0]

Hi everyone, 

I was wondering what people's thoughts were in terms of getting involved with your school's Pro Bono Students Canada Chapter in 1L as either a volunteer or 1L representative? The responsibilities outline that it is 3-5 hours/week. I know everybody's routines and study habits are different but does that sound manageable? I'm just a bit worried about taking on too much in 1L. Does anyone have any experiences to share? 

Thanks 🙂

Edited July 7, 2022 by ellewoods2.0

[Whist]

I volunteered with my school's chapter and likely will again with a different division this upcoming year. Our chapter lets us negotiate our time commitments somewhat, but regardless, 3-5 hours sounds pretty doable. Only caveat would be if you've overloaded your 1L with a bunch of other commitments as well. 

This advice may not be universal so don't take it as written in stone, but I was told that unless you have another practical experience that obviously took its place, employers will ask why you didn't volunteer at PBSC (if you choose not to).

[Hoping2transfer]

I found it depends on your chapter as well as topic, some people in the program in my class loved the experience but for me my supervisor disappeared after one zoom meeting and it was a total sh** show

[ellewoods2.0]

1 hour ago, Whist said:

I volunteered with my school's chapter and likely will again with a different division this upcoming year. Our chapter lets us negotiate our time commitments somewhat, but regardless, 3-5 hours sounds pretty doable. Only caveat would be if you've overloaded your 1L with a bunch of other commitments as well. 

This advice may not be universal so don't take it as written in stone, but I was told that unless you have another practical experience that obviously took its place, employers will ask why you didn't volunteer at PBSC (if you choose not to).

Right now this is the only thing I have planned to do so I think the workload will definitely be doable then. It's nice to hear your chapter has been so flexible with the time commitment. I'm not sure if it applies to all chapters but I appreciate how they state that you will not be required to do any work during the exam months.

In terms of employers, do you think they would prefer you be a volunteer rather than a 1L rep in regards to practical experience since the executive committee can't work on projects?

1 hour ago, Hoping2transfer said:

I found it depends on your chapter as well as topic, some people in the program in my class loved the experience but for me my supervisor disappeared after one zoom meeting and it was a total sh** show

That's a fair point, I'm sorry you had a negative experience with it! 

[Ramesses]

I never did it, but it's a good conversation piece for interviews since most people did it. 

[Whist]

On 7/7/2022 at 7:07 PM, ellewoods2.0 said:

Right now this is the only thing I have planned to do so I think the workload will definitely be doable then. It's nice to hear your chapter has been so flexible with the time commitment. I'm not sure if it applies to all chapters but I appreciate how they state that you will not be required to do any work during the exam months.

In terms of employers, do you think they would prefer you be a volunteer rather than a 1L rep in regards to practical experience since the executive committee can't work on projects?

Ours also ended in both semesters around when the last day of class was before exams, so I imagine most schools must do it then. 

They'd likely prefer the volunteer experience, especially if it's hands-on, although I can only speak for my own summer position at a smaller office. They did ask about my PBSC volunteering when I interviewed, but didn't lean very heavy on it. Someone who was a 1L rep would have more insight into what you could do in that position to compare. You could probably manage both PBSC and 1L rep, but if you had to pick just one or are worried about overcommitting, my advice would be to just do PBSC. 

[Chief Keef]

On 7/7/2022 at 8:02 PM, Whist said:

This advice may not be universal so don't take it as written in stone, but I was told that unless you have another practical experience that obviously took its place, employers will ask why you didn't volunteer at PBSC (if you choose not to).

This is definitely not universal.

[Ryn]

On 7/7/2022 at 8:02 PM, Whist said:

This advice may not be universal so don't take it as written in stone, but I was told that unless you have another practical experience that obviously took its place, employers will ask why you didn't volunteer at PBSC (if you choose not to).

There are so many things to do in law school (many of which are arguably not “practical experience”) that I can’t see this advice applying in the vast majority of cases. I certainly was never asked about why I didn’t do PBSC in any of my OCIs. 

I suppose if you did literally nothing outside of class, you might be asked why you didn’t do something, “like PBSC”. But outside of that context, which I presume is not something most people have to worry about, I don’t think it matters if you never did PBSC.

My advice to OP is that they should only do PBSC if it’s a real interest (which it sounds like it might be). Otherwise, just doing it for a resume item is not doing you or the rest of the PBSC team any favours. 

[ellewoods2.0]

Thanks for all of the advice everyone! I am definitely really interested in PBSC as I enjoy the more community-service oriented extracurriculars (that's what I mainly did throughout undergrad). Plus the time commitment sounds manageable based on what I think I can handle so I definitely would love to be a part of PBSC. I think one of my larger concerns was that the 1L rep does not get to work on projects like volunteers do so I was worried about it not being as meaningful of work or as hands-on. But after reading up more on the rep's responsibilities, I believe it would still be a great experience as you get to assist 1L volunteers throughout the process of finding projects they are interested in while also helping other committee members which is similar to a role I had in undergrad🙂