ANN ARBOR—Students trained at the University of Michigan Law School receive more than just a thorough recitation of the law: they learn how to serve their community at what the American Bar Association recently named the best public interest law school in the country.

The U-M Law School’s public interest office, headed by Robert Precht, was awarded the 2001 American Bar Association Law Student Division’s Judy M. Weightman Memorial Award for excellence in public service.

According to Precht, students deserve the credit for the award. “The students are remarkably committed and idealistic in the best sense of the word,” he says. “While the Law School can provide the structure and the opportunities, in the end, it’s about whether there’s student commitment and energy.” Noah Leavitt, a student, headed the group that prepared the award nomination.

Precht’s office runs numerous programs to advance students’ careers and interest in not-for-profit law. They include internship placements in government agencies or public defenders offices, internships abroad in countries like South Africa or Cambodia, and various job shadowing and career counseling from U-M graduates employed in the public sector.

“I view the public interest office as a bully-pulpit for advancing not only the social value of doing public service, but also the satisfaction lawyers can derive from doing public service,” Precht says. He adds that the Law School’s program is unique.

“U-M is one of the few law schools in the country that has an office devoted to doing public service,” he says.

Although it has been fast to gain recognition, the public interest program at U-M is relatively new.

“We basically started from scratch in 1995,” Precht says, when impetus for the program came from Dean Jeffrey S. Lehman. Since then, the students’ devotion and enthusiasm have kept Precht rejuvenated.

“It makes me have a great deal of hope for the next generation of lawyers,” he says.

Law Schoolpublic interest officeJeffrey S. Lehman