S.J. Quinney College of Law

JoLynn Spruance didn’t know exactly where her career path would lead her as a child growing up in California, but one thing mattered in all of the options to consider: finding a way to give back.

For the past 13 years, Spruance has done exactly that in serving as director of the College of Law’s Pro Bono Initiative. The program has left a lasting impact on numerous College of Law graduates who’ve received real-world lawyering experience while volunteering to provide services for some of the most vulnerable and underserved populations in Utah under the watchful guidance of licensed attorneys.

Under her leadership, the program grew from a model where the college helped students find pro bono placements with attorneys in the community on a one-on-one basis, to a more robust organization that currently operates sites year-round that are staffed by our volunteer students and volunteer lawyer supervisors in Salt Lake City and Ogden. “PBI has developed and trained some of our most important future leaders that are committed to pro bono service and continue to solve these hard emerging legal problems because they have learned the importance of giving back,” said Spruance, who will leave the College of Law to pursue new opportunities. at the close of the spring semester.

“Our legal community in Salt Lake City is tight knit. We all try to support and help each other,” she added. As PBI prepares for a new era, those who’ve worked closest with Spruance emphasize the legacy she will leave behind as a skilled mentor able to bring out the best in law students and as a community organizer adept at bringing people together to achieve a goal of helping underserved populations.

“Having provided non-profit legal services for 30 years, it has been my experience that it doesn’t matter how great the idea or the service, if you don’t have the right person to administer the program it will never be successful. JoLynn was the “right” person to run the Pro Bono Initiative. I have worked with JoLynn since the inception of the Pro Bono Initiative and worked with her to make the family law clinic and the rainbow clinics a success. JoLynn is eternally optimistic and delight to work with – anytime an issue came up with a clinic, she worked with all the stakeholders to reach a resolution. She is a “tiger” when it comes to supporting and advocating for the students who volunteer for our clinics,” said Stewart P. Ralphs, executive director of the Legal Aid Society of Salt Lake, who is a mentor of Spruance’s and a close partner in the college’s PBI efforts.

“JoLynn has enthusiastically encouraged countless students to sign up for our clinics and tirelessly recruited hundreds of attorneys to volunteer to supervise at the clinics. The result is that thousands of people have received free legal services and advice, students have gained tremendous knowledge and confidence to practice law and we attorneys have been able to “give back” to students and pro se litigants – not a bad legacy at that,” he said.

A PATH TO ADVOCACY FOR PRO BONO SERVICE

Spruance grew up in Paradise, California, where her father practiced water law. A family connection in Salt Lake City prompted her to consider the University of Utah for college, where she graduated with a degree in family and consumer studies. Her initial work experiences were back in California, working with an organization called Loaves and Fishes that provides assistance to those experiencing homelessness in the Sacramento area. Spruance worked at the organization’s Mustard Seed School, an initiative designed to keep kids’ education consistent while their families were between permanent housing. Later, Spruance pursued a master’s degree in gerontology at the University of Utah. Her career interests were piqued by an ad for an opening for a coordinator position at the College of Law under former Dean Scott Matheson.

Her father encouraged her to couple her passion for non-profits with the law, a place where there is often access to justice shortages for much of the population. She started with PBI at a time when there were two on-site clinics and a grassroots volunteer placement program. Dean Hiram Chodosh continued to expand legal sites for the program during his tenure from 2006 to 2013 as did former Dean Bob Adler, whose deanship ended last year.

Today, PBI sponsors several sites in Salt Lake
City and Ogden that focus on specialty areas of law including American Indian law, debtors counseling, expungement, family law, medical legal help, rainbow law, street law and general community legal sites. The program’s mission has evolved to encompass three goals: to provide skill building legal opportunities for students under the direct supervision of attorneys; to develop placements where alumni can volunteer, network and serve as mentors to law students; and to demonstrate the professional responsibility of those in the legal profession to provide pro bono legal services to the underserved in the community who otherwise would not have access to the justice system.

PBI provides an unparalleled opportunity for students to engage with and serve the community, while building valuable lawyering skills including cli-ent counseling, legal research, and document drafting. The College of Law strongly encourages all students to perform at least 50 hours of volunteer service during their law school careers. Students who meet this benchmark are presented with a Certificate of Service at graduation. PBI compliments the College of Law’s changing experiential learning program, which students can enroll in for credit, versus the non-credit volunteer experience that comes with being a part of the PBI. The program has grown in funding and in community participation, in part due to Spruance’s efforts, said Brett Ellsworth, manager of immigrant services for Latter-day Saint Charities, and the Welfare Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“One of our immigrant services is an immigration and family Law legal clinic. Our collaboration with PBI and JoLynn is with Welfare Square, Sugarhouse and Ogden. Our legal clinics provide brief legal counsel and advice to immigrants and their families through a combined effort of law students, pro bono attorneys, and support/funding from the LDS church, said Ellsworth. He noted the strong impact the program has made on the immigrant population, noting the services fill a gap in the community and that a feeling of trust is fostered with immigrant families.