Kimberly Emery has been the Law School's assistant dean for pro bono since 2004. Formerly, she was the assistant dean for public service and founder and director of the Mortimer Caplin Public Service Center. Emery coordinates and administers pro bono programming for law students, counsels students and graduates regarding pro bono and public interest opportunities, develops and fund raises for new service projects, oversees the Law School's Pro Bono Challenge and hosts the annual Pro Bono Award Ceremony. Pro bono projects coordinated by Emery include: the Hunton & Williams Pro Bono Partnership that allows law students to volunteer for a year with attorneys from the firm’s Richmond office to represent indigent clients in the areas of domestic violence/family law and immigration/asylum law; the Child Health Advocacy Program (CHAP), which is a collaborative effort among the Law School, the University of Virginia Children’s Hospital, and the Legal Aid Justice Center; the No Fault Divorce Project which pairs student volunteers with local attorneys to handle no-fault divorce cases for the Central Virginia Legal Aid Society; and the Legal Outreach Project, in which students conduct client intake at soup kitchens, homeless shelters, and low-income housing projects for the Legal Aid Justice Center.Under Emery's direction, the Pro Bono Program in a typical year coordinates pro bono projects with more than 100 employers nationwide, from work with full-time public interest lawyers to pro bono efforts undertaken by private practitioners.
Emery received her B.A. magna cum laude in 1986 from Carleton College. In 1991 she received her law degree from the Law School, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif. Prior to returning to Virginia in 1992 to develop its public service programming, Emery worked as a staff attorney at the Charlottesville law firm of Michie, Hamlett, Lowry, Rasmussen & Tweel. She is a member of the Virginia Bar and the Charlottesville-Albemarle Bar Association and serves as a member of the Firms in Service Committee. Emery was a board member for the Legal Aid Justice Center for over 15 years and was recognized in 2000 as the organization's Volunteer of the Year. She is currently a board member of the Mediation Center of Charlottesville where she also serves as a family certified mediator.