Center for Social Justice

What We Do

The Center for Social Justice provides strategic leadership of social justice activities at the law school and promotes a strong public interest campus culture. The Center’s goal is to help all students find meaningful ways to incorporate justice work into their professional identity and future practice.

UC Law SF has a myriad of opportunities for students to be engaged in work with and for the community—there are so many offerings it can be overwhelming! The Center consolidates, coordinates and communicates about these opportunities, so students can more easily learn about and engage in social justice work and be connected to faculty, staff and other students who engage in social justice programming and education. Key features of the Center are: a Social Justice Speaker Series, a peer mentor program, a wide range of pro bono and community service opportunities, a catalogue of related course offerings, and direction on where to seek academic & career counseling for public interest summer and post-graduate employment and funding.

Annual Reports

What is Social Justice

Social Justice is a value; those acting to further social justice promote access to resources, equity, participation, and human rights. Social Justice lawyers advocate for these concepts in partnership with people and communities that have less structural and political power. There are many means that lawyers use to work towards social justice, including litigation, community organizing, public education and outreach and policy advocacy.

Our College’s motto is Fiat Justicia, translated as Let Justice Be Done. At the Center for Social Justice, we believe that all lawyers can and should participate in the cause of social justice and that law schools play an important role in helping students discover how to integrate this value into their professional identities. We hope to empower and support all students to seek out opportunities to aid the cause of justice. While some lawyers will choose to dedicate the whole or a substantial part of their professional lives to social justice, others will contribute to social justice in other ways, such as contributing resources and/or taking on pro bono clients.