Wake Forest Law Student Receives Smith Anderson Pro Bono Award for Exceptional Service

Wake Forest University School of Law student Daniel Wilkes has been honored as the recipient of the 2024 Smith Anderson Pro Bono Award for Exceptional Service. Daniel received the award at Wake Law’s Pro Bono Honor Society Induction & Community Outreach Appreciation Event on Friday, April 26.

Wake Law annually honors an outstanding law student who, through their pro bono service, exhibits passion, creativity, dedication and commitment to serving people in need. The award is named after Smith Anderson in recognition of its prominent role in funding the establishment of the Smith Anderson Office of Community Outreach at Wake Law, which houses the Pro Bono Project and the Public Interest Law Organization.

Daniel is a graduate of The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, and is completing his third year at Wake Law, where he is a member of the Wake Forest Law Pro Bono Honor Society. He also serves as chair of the Wake Forest Law Honor Council, president of the Society for Criminal Justice Reform, and vice president of the Wake Forest Law Trial Bar.

He leads the project’s Teen Court Project, which gives teens accused of minor offenses a chance to stay out of North Carolina’s court system to resolve their cases.

"Each project I have volunteered with, alongside the Teen Court Project I help lead, shows me that every client’s case is important to them," Daniel said. "Each case has something that irks the soul of a law student volunteer. That is why, while volunteering with the Pro Bono Project, I have worked to help create a communal atmosphere for our Wake Law student volunteers and community partners … volunteering in Wake Forest Law’s Pro Bono Project has been the highlight of my legal career thus far, and hopefully provides a backdrop to what I hope to be a lifetime career in public service."

To be an eligible candidate for the Smith Anderson Pro Bono Award for Exceptional Service, a student must:

• Be a 3L Wake Law student
• Be a Pro Bono Honor Society member, or have 75 hours of pro bono service within one academic year or 100 or more pro bono hours within three years.
• Exhibit the passion, creativity, dedication and commitment to serving those in need in a way that results in demonstrated impact or increased access to legal information among an underserved population.

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