Roisin Duffy-Gideon, ’18 named October's Pro Bono Volunteer of the Month

Editor's note: The Pro Bono Board, a student group committed to expanding pro bono knowledge and opportunities to students, names a Pro Bono Volunteer of the Month. The October honoree is Roisin Duffy-Gideon, ’18. Stephanie Spiro, a member of the board, wrote this story on her work. For more information on pro bono work, visit the Pro Bono Service Initiative website or contact Shehnaz Mansuri in the Office of Career Services.

Roisin Duffy-Gideon, ’18, began her pro bono engagement at the Law School through the first-year orientation pro bono training. She attended Instituto del Progreso Latino’s session on how to participate in the organization’s citizenship application assistance program. During monthly workshops held in communities across Chicago, volunteer attorneys and law students help screen legal permanent residents for citizenship eligibility and complete portions of the citizenship applications. Roisin believes Nancy and Ambrosio from Instituto del Progreso Latino did a great job preparing the students to participate in the workshops. It was exciting for her to leave the training feeling like she could do something practical with her newly gained knowledge. During last month’s citizenship workshop, Roisin enjoyed helping the applicants as well as building relationships with people from outside the law school.

Roisin first developed an interest in public interest law through working for the New York City Bar Association’s City Bar Justice Center. She worked on housing issues including homelessness and foreclosure prevention. In the Legal Clinic for the Homeless, she coordinated pro bono opportunities for firm attorneys at public benefit clinics in homeless shelters. Her role involved helping attorneys develop a rapport with their clients. According to Roisin, the project provided “a good opportunity for the attorneys to get out of their offices and to see another side of New York that people working at big firms don’t always get exposed to.”

A graduate of Harvard with a bachelor's degree in Social Studies, Roisin wrote her thesis on religious practice in Venezuela. Roisin speaks Spanish and studied and conducted research in Venezuela as an undergraduate student. After college, she spent a year working for a small nonprofit in Chiapas, Mexico. In law school, she plans to explore public defense. Roison hopes to continue doing pro bono work throughout her legal education. Doing pro bono reminds her of why she came to law school in the first place. As she puts it, “I've quickly seen that it's easy to get buried in school work and have trouble seeing the forest for the trees.”