Gonzaga Law students are required to complete thirty (30) hours of public service for graduation. Transfer students must complete twenty (20) hours of public service.
Students may begin work toward completion of the requirement at the beginning of their first term of law school. The public service requirement cannot be satisfied by hours for which the student also receives compensation, other monetary value, academic credit, or hours that are submitted for the Pro Bono Distinction.
Download the Public Service Completion Form
Choosing a Public Service Activity
Students are responsible for selecting a public service activity that will fulfill Gonzaga’s public service requirement.
Students may choose an agency on their own, through Gonzaga University’s Center for Community Engagement, or through the Community Service Fair held on main campus each semester.
How to Report your Public Service activity:
- Complete your hours with approved agency. If you work with the same agency multiple times, you can report all the work on a single form.
- Fill out the Public Service Completion Form and have it signed by a representative of the agency as the Public Service Recipient. (Be specific and detailed on your dates and hours of service. A range of dates is acceptable; no dates is not.)
- Turn in the form to the TWEN submission site, Zags In Public Service (ZIPS) Form.
- Once your hours have been recorded by the law school, you may track them on Zagweb. Click the Law School tile, and then Law Exam Numbers and Service/Pro Bono Hours link. Please note that the system can only record whole numbers, so totals are rounded down until the requirement is met, at which point they will following standard rounding rules.
Summary of the Public Service Requirement
For purposes of the requirement, “public service” shall be broadly interpreted. It encompasses traditional pro bono legal work, but can also be satisfied by any of the following activities, so long as the student received no compensation:
- Volunteering at a nonprofit charitable, civic or community organization (law or non-law related);
- Assisting an attorney or law firm on a pro bono case;
- Any work over and above your required Externship or Clinical Legal Programs hours;
- Serving at a public agency.
The place of service should be in Eastern Washington or North Idaho, with exceptions possible upon approval by the Associate Dean of Students (e.g., a student may fulfill the requirement while out of the area during a term break or distance externship).
Service hours must be submitted within one calendar year of completion.
The Registrar’s Office may refuse to accept incomplete forms, unreadable forms, or forms that do not meet criteria for the Graduation Public Service Requirement.
For satisfaction of this requirement, please complete the Public Service Requirement Completion Form and submit on TWEN ZIPS - Zags In Public Service.
Transcripts will reflect completion of the public service requirement upon graduation.