Welcome to the PILI Alumni Connection, the e-newsletter of the PILI Alumni Program.  The Alumni Connection is intended to provide you with information about the latest happenings at PILI and with the Alumni Program.  We will also spotlight a former Intern and Fellow as well as a PILI-affiliated agency in each edition.  We hope you find it interesting and that you will keep in touch with us here at PILI.

 

Yours truly,

In consecutive summers, Sean Morales-Doyle served as a PILI Intern at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago (LAF) and Roger Baldwin Foundation of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). At LAF, Sean worked on the Housing Law Team, where he conducted legal research, drafted motions and letters, and learned some of the foundational skills involved in litigation, negotiation, and managing client relationships. At ACLU, Sean focused on legal research and wrote thorough memoranda on various legal issues. With helpful supervision and feedback from ACLU attorneys, Sean honed his writing skills, learned how to study and think deeply about legal issues, and how to apply that knowledge to the case at hand. In addition, both agencies provided opportunities to attend court dates, administrative hearings, and press conferences. Following his PILI Internships, Sean worked on juvenile delinquency and school expulsion cases at Northwestern's Bluhm Legal Clinic, and interned at U.S. Senator Barack Obama's Chicago office. Since graduating from Northwestern in 2007, Sean has worked at the Office of the Illinois Attorney General, where he is currently an Assistant Attorney General in the Special Litigation Bureau. Sean works on cases in a number of substantive areas, including consumer fraud, health care, taxation, and false claims. "PILI allowed me to develop my resume with public interest work experiences.  I would not have otherwise been able to afford to work in the places that I worked...I hope that by gaining as much experience as I can in as many areas of public interest law as I can, I will strengthen my understanding of how change occurs, and how I can effect change."

 

Click here to read the full question & answer session with Sean Morales-Doyle.

As a PILI Intern and Fellow, Reena Bajowala performed a wide-range of legal work at the Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation (CVLS) and Roger Baldwin Foundation of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), respectively. At CVLS, Reena conducted daily intake interviews, worked on cases dealing with landlord-tenant, divorce, adoption and guardianship issues, and learned how to manage a case load. Two years later at the ACLU, she performed legal and factual research on projects as varied as the Lesbian and Gay Rights, Reproductive Rights, and Racial Justice programs. Reena's experiences at CVLS and ACLU were profound: "PILI has laid the foundation for a life-long commitment to the public interest...Through PILI, I learned the importance of both helping to secure funding for others to work in the public interest and doing pro bono legal and community service work myself. I was inspired, during my CVLS internship, to see all the individuals who benefited from PILI funding."  Since 2005, Reena has practiced litigation at Jenner & Block LLP. With the support and encouragement of her firm, Reena has made extensive pro bono contributions to asylum and trafficking cases. Reena is also co-chair of the North American South Asian Bar Association's 2008 national convention this June in Chicago. Reena continues to contribute to PILI as chair of the PILI Alumni Ambassadors committee, which recruits and trains PILI Alumni to promote PILI programs and events at their law schools, places of employment, and to serve as mentors to the current year's Interns and Fellows.

 

Access Living is a cross-disability organization governed and staffed by a majority of people with disabilities.  Established in 1980, Access Living promotes the independence and inclusion of people with disabilities, and enhances the options available to them so they may choose and maintain individualized and satisfying lifestyles.  Access Living recognizes the innate rights, abilities, needs and diversity of people with disabilities, works toward their integration into community life and serves as an agent of social change.  Access Living provides all of its services at no charge. In May 2007, Access Living moved into a new, state-of-the-art facility (see photo below left). The ribbon-cutting ceremony was attended by Mayor Richard M. Daley, Maggie Daley, and Attorney General Lisa Madigan, among other civic leaders (see photo below right).

Access Living operates several program teams, each with an advocacy and a service component.  Its Civil Rights Team enforces federal, state and local civil rights laws, counsels persons with disabilities about their civil rights, and provides representation in cases implicating important disability rights issues.  The Housing Team tackles housing issues on local, statewide and national levels through education, community organizing, advocacy and individual housing counseling.  The Community Reintegration Program, which provides Independent Living Counselors for each participant, has helped over 200 people with disabilities transition from nursing homes into the community.  Access Living also offers a wide variety of peer support groups, which are run by and for people with disabilities. The Youth and Education Team strives to develop today's youth with disabilities into tomorrow's disability rights leaders. Finally, the Community and Economic Development Team aims to eliminate barriers to economic opportunity faced by people with disabilities. 

Since 1997, Access Living has hosted 17 PILI Interns and Fellows, who have provided a combined 6,100 hours of pro bono legal assistance to clients in need.  Ken Walden, Team Leader of Access Living's Civil Rights program, has supervised and mentored PILI Interns and Fellows since 2001.  Ken describes the impact of the PILI program:  "The Interns and Fellows always make a big difference.  They enable us to more efficiently manage our caseload and advocacy initiatives.  They bring enthusiasm and energy to the Team and rejuvenate our spirit and commitment."  This summer, Jennifer Marques, a 2L student from University of Wisconsin, will serve as Access Living's PILI Intern.

Several pro bono volunteer opportunities are currently available at Access Living: (1) serve as co-counsel in discrimination cases under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Housing Act, or the Rehabilitation Act; (2) serve on an advisory committee that brainstorms with staff attorneys about pending and/or potential cases; and (3) conduct discrete research projects regarding disability law.  For more information about these and other pro bono opportunities, please visit www.IllinoisProBono.org.
 

Is there a  PILI-affiliated organization that you think should be recognized?  If so, you can send information about that organization to us at alumni@pili-law.org for consideration for a future Agency Spotlight.

phone:  312-832-5127

web:  http://www.pili-law.org/PILIAlumniProgram.htm

 

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