Association of American Law Schools names USD Professor and Law Student to Pro Bono Honor Roll
Professor Thomas Simmons and third-year law student Cameron Morgan were named on the Association of American Law Schools’ (AALS) Pro Bono Honor Roll by the AALS Section on Pro Bono and Access to Justice.
Simmons and Morgan were selected for their exceptional work engaging in and expanding pro bono legal services to support South Dakota.
AALS describes the Pro Bono Honor Roll as a recognition of “the pro bono work of individuals engaging in, expanding, and/or supporting their law school community in providing pro bono legal services. For the purposes of this award, pro bono is defined as work that is primarily legal in nature, supervised by a licensed attorney (for law students), not for pay or academic credit, and of service to underserved individuals, groups, or those with barriers to access to justice.”
Morgan works with several committees within the State Bar Association. Following his first year of law school he took an unpaid internship with the Department of Justice in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. After his second year, he took an unpaid internship with the Yankton County State’s Attorney's Office.
Morgan serves as president of the Health Law Society and the Public Interest Network, and as vice president of the First-Generation Law Society (FGLIS). He has also volunteered with the FGLIS conference and has served on the Vermillion Human Relations Commission and the USD Head Start Association Council, where he worked to help obtain a $2 million grant for the USD Head Start program.
Simmons serves on the South Dakota State Bar's Ethics and Indian Law Committees and is commissioner of the Uniform Laws Commission.
He is a gubernatorial appointee to the Governor’s Task Force on Trust Administration Review and Reform, participates in the annual Ask-a-Lawyer event, assists with the Access to Justice’s Legal Answers program and volunteers with the Veteran Legal Education clinics.
Through his “of counsel” status with the Sioux Falls Thompson Law Firm, Simmons takes on many confidential pro bono matters every year. He also leads the Tribal Wills program, a pro bono practicum that provides students the opportunity to serve South Dakota and earn pro bono hours.
“Offering service is a core value of the law school and the legal profession,” said Dean of the Knudson School of Law Neil Fulton, J.D. “That is particularly true of pro bono service to the citizens most in need of assistance. Cameron Morgan and Professor Simmons are justly honored for their service, and rightly held up as examples of how we all should serve as lawyers.”
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