Pro-bono Centre

Recruitment Process

How to sign up for Pro Bono Placements?

To sign up for any pro bono placements, students must apply through PBC’s recruitment email. Students must not contact the organisations directly. Pro bono service hours done without following the PBC recruitment process, or that is not through one of the YPHSL student club projects with pro bono service hours, will not be recognised.

Before applying for any pro bono placements, students need to complete the online Pro Bono Guidelines on eLearn. The guidelines set out the pro bono requirements and procedures. You will also need to complete the Community Service e-Briefing beforehand.

PBC will send an email to all Year 1 students in Term 2 to complete the Pro Bono Guidelines on eLearn (see the sample email below). Students will be automatically enrolled in the eLearn module.

Only students who have completed the Pro Bono Guidelines can apply for pro bono placements. Recruitment emails for the pro bono placements will be sent out by PBC after the Year 1 Term 2 examinations. The Pro Bono Guidelines must be completed before the recruitment period begins. Students who finish the Pro Bono Guidelines on or after the start of the recruitment period will have to wait for a month before they can apply for pro bono placements in the next recruitment period.

  1. PBC will send a recruitment email to all students that contains all available pro bono opportunities in a single email (see sample below) and students are expected to read through the email carefully. If students are interested in any of the placements, they may click the corresponding URL link to apply for the placement. 

  2. Recruitment Timeline: 

    • If the recruitment opens on a Monday, the deadline for applications is on Wednesday, 9am

    • If the recruitment opens on a Wednesday, the deadline for applications is on Friday, 9am 

    • If the recruitment opens on a Friday, the deadline for applications is on the following Monday, 9am

  3. After the deadline for applications, a computer balloting exercise will be conducted, and only successful applicants will be notified by e-mail with more details of the pro bono placement. Although priority is given to students in their final year, there have been cases where students found it difficult to complete their pro bono service requirements if they did not apply for pro bono placements earlier. In order to be fair to all students, PBC does not interfere with the computer balloting process.

  4. A confirmation email will be sent to students who have successfully secured the pro bono placement (see sample below). If the round 2 (R2) recruitment begins and you have not received the confirmation email, you have not been successful.

  5. As soon as you get the confirmation email, you MUST apply on OnTRAC immediately to register for the pro bono placement. You will not be awarded any pro bono service hours if you fail to meet the deadline. This is an SMU system requirement and it is not possible to register on OnTRAC retrospectively.

OnTRAC Instructions

  1. Log on to OnTRAC II (Pro Bono Centre) - HERE.

  2. You do not have to upload any documents for the application.

  3. Click on Pro Bono Placements > Search > to search for the respective Project title or ID, and click on “Apply” button.

  4. Please note that if you fail to apply on OnTRAC before the deadline, no pro bono service hours will be awarded.

Blacklist System 

  1. You will be blacklisted if you withdraw without a valid reason from the pro bono placement that you have successfully applied for. Examples of valid reasons are a medical certificate covering the placement period or a death in the family during the period (certificate of death must be produced).

  2. Students who are blacklisted will not be allowed to ballot for pro bono placements for two months and will not get priority in their final year of law studies against non-graduating students.