May 5, 2025
For MCR, helping nonprofit organizations is our passion, one we hope to spread throughout the legal community. Every legal externship we facilitate means an opportunity to encourage law students to engage with their communities and leverage their skills in creative ways to support organizations doing work on the ground.
Over the past several months, we hosted Jasmine Thomas, a legal extern from the University of Michigan Law School. As Jasmine wraps up her time with MCR, she took a moment to reflect on what working with us meant to her.
What is your background, professionally and academically?
I earned my bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications. Post-graduation, I worked as a legal secretary at a Florida state prosecutor’s office and an Air Force JAG’s office, along with volunteering as a guardian ad litem for kids in the Florida foster care system.
Why MCR? What drew you to our work?
I’m planning to pursue a career in corporate law and wanted to work at an externship placement that allowed me to do transactional pro bono. At MCR, I got the substantive experience and skills while serving nonprofits who are doing important, impactful work.
What do you think law students and new attorneys get from their experiences at MCR? What can law students do here that they can’t do somewhere else?
MCR provides the unique opportunity to serve local nonprofits by providing information, guidance, and resources related to nonprofit law issues during free, one-hour consultations. Sitting in on these Office Hours sessions has been extremely helpful for me to learn more about the types of legal issues that nonprofits are dealing with in a very efficient way.
From your experience, why is pro bono work important? How can attorneys have an impact and be engaged in the nonprofit sector?
Pro bono work is incredibly important and should be an ongoing practice that all attorneys actively engage in—no matter their area of expertise. Particularly for lawyers working at law firms that provide billable credit for pro bono hours, it is an opportunity to develop substantive skills and engage in direct client interaction while providing legal services to clients who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford hiring a lawyer.
As someone who has spent time in different areas around the country, what stood out about MCR’s work in Detroit and across Michigan? How do you feel MCR's work impacts communities beyond southeast Michigan?
What stood out to me is how deeply connected MCR is to the metro Detroit area, and how MCR uses its intimate understanding of the city’s racial and social history to properly serve its clients. It’s an example of how organizations like MCR should engage with the local community when providing capacity building and legal services.
As an extern who worked mostly remotely, how did working with MCR make you feel about your own community?
Being a remote extern allowed me to leave my Ann Arbor bubble and serve nonprofits that are working to better the metro Detroit area and other communities in need.
As a woman of color who grew up poor and is studying at an elite institution, working remotely with MCR helped me feel like I could reconnect with other underrepresented and under-served groups that I identify with.
If money wasn’t a concern, what would you be doing? What would your life look like?
I would live my crazy cat lady dream of running a cat sanctuary that would provide a permanent home for cats that are feral or can’t be rehomed. I'd do this while working to reduce the local homeless cat population through trap-neuter-release and rescue efforts.
Thank you, Jasmine, for your service to MCR!
To learn more about our legal services for nonprofits, visit our Legal Programs page.
If you are an attorney interested in volunteering your time pro bono to support nonprofits in need of transactional legal services, visit our Attorneys page.
