In each edition of the PILI Alumni Program's quarterly e-newsletter, the PILI Alumni Connection, a former Intern and a former Fellow will be spotlighted.  Below are interviews with the former Intern and former Fellow spotlighted in the the April 2008 edition of the PILI Alumni Connection. 

REENA BAJOWALA, 2003 PILI Intern & 2005 PILI Fellow

PILI: Which agencies hosted your PILI Internship and Fellowship? Please briefly describe the legal work you performed during your Internship and Fellowship.

RB: Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation (CVLS) hosted my PILI Internship, and the Roger Baldwin Foundation of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) hosted my PILI Fellowship. At CVLS, I assisted with a set of cases dealing with landlord-tenant, divorce, adoption and guardianship issues. In addition, I took daily intake interviews and prepared recommendation memoranda to assess whether CVLS should take the case. At the ACLU, I got a chance to perform legal and factual research on projects as varied as the Lesbian and Gay Rights, Reproductive Rights, and Racial Justice programs.

PILI: What have you been doing since your PILI Internship and Fellowship?
RB: Since my PILI Fellowship, I have been practicing litigation at Jenner & Block LLP. My most recent extra-curricular projects include co-chairing the North American South Asian Bar Association’s 2008 national convention this June in Chicago and preparing seventh-graders at Bell Grade School for a mock trial for the Constitutional Rights Foundation.

PILI: How have your experiences as a PILI Intern and Fellow enhanced your career as an attorney?
RB: I was exposed to different workplace atmospheres, areas of the law, styles of management, administrative agencies and courts, and sizes of cases. This has immensely enriched my understanding and experience as an attorney.

PILI: What career skills did you develop as a PILI Intern and Fellow that you could not have obtained otherwise?
RB: I developed witness interview and client relationship skills, and I feel like I had a crash course in managing expectations. I learned the value of seeking input from managers and colleagues, how to manage a case load, and work as part of a legal team. Lastly, I learned how to apply legal research to case facts in a practical way; with the limited resources of many public interest organizations, assessing the likelihood of success becomes an integral part of choosing which cases to bring.

PILI: What is your fondest memory (thus far) from participation in the PILI program?
RB: Well, this “memory” is recent and recurring. It is having the opportunity to help found the PILI Alumni board, and getting a chance to reconnect with former Interns and Fellows to share experiences and stories about what we’ve done and what we can do in the future to serve the public interest.

PILI: How has your commitment to the public interest manifested itself thus far in your legal career? How do you anticipate it will influence your career in the future?
RB: Through PILI, I learned the importance of both helping 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. Before I graduated from law school at the University of Michigan, I established a Public Interest Fellowship for 1Ls in the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association who intend to pursue a career in the public interest. I am proud to say that $27,000 worth of fellowships has been given out since then. Also, I have made it a point to spend a significant portion of my career doing pro bono work -- mostly asylum and trafficking work thus far -- and participating in community organizations -- such as Apna Ghar (“Our Home”), a domestic violence shelter and advocacy organization that primarily serves South Asian women and children. PILI has laid the foundation for a life-long commitment to the public interest.

SEAN MORALES-DOYLE , 2005 & 2006 PILI Intern

PILI: Which agencies hosted your PILI Internships? Please briefly describe the legal work you performed during your Internships.

SM-D: I was hosted as a PILI Intern by the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago (LAF) my first summer and the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois (ACLU) my second summer. At LAF, I worked on the Housing Law Team and did a wide variety of work. I conducted legal research, drafted motions and letters, and participated in meetings where we represented public housing residents during the Chicago Housing Authority’s Plan for Transformation. I was also given the opportunity to attend court dates and administrative hearings. At ACLU, my work was more focused on legal research. I wrote memoranda on interesting legal issues, and was given a chance to hone my writing skills with helpful feedback from ACLU attorneys. As at LAF, I was able to attend court dates, as well as a press conference.

PILI: What have you been doing since your PILI Internships?
SM-D: Since I always knew I wanted to spend my career in public interest law, I looked for opportunities to gain practical experience in law school as well. After my first PILI Internship, I worked on juvenile delinquency and school expulsion cases at my law school’s clinic. After my second PILI Internship, I interned at U.S. Senator Obama’s Chicago office. Since graduation, I have been working at the Office of the Illinois Attorney General, where I am an Assistant Attorney General in the Special Litigation Bureau. I work on cases in a number of substantive areas, including consumer fraud, health care, taxation, and false claims. Generally speaking, my work involves civil investigations of and lawsuits against corporations who defraud or take advantage of the State or its citizens. Recently, I have also had the opportunity to serve as a lobbyist at the State General Assembly on a bill related to one of my cases.

PILI: How have your experiences as a PILI Intern enhanced your career as an attorney?
SM-D: First of all, my experiences as a PILI Intern taught me a lot about working in a professional environment, as I had little professional work experience up to that point in my life. My time at LAF also gave me the insight to know what is required in managing a caseload and balancing time. I learned some of the foundational skills involved in litigation, negotiation, and managing client relationships. My time at the ACLU helped me learn how to think deeply about legal issues, how to study them, and how to apply that knowledge to the case at hand.

PILI: What career skills did you develop as a PILI Internship that you could not have obtained otherwise?
SM-D: 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. As a result, I began my search for permanent employment with experience in direct legal services and impact litigation. My experience not only helped in convincing potential employers of my qualifications, but also helped me understand what type of law I wanted to practice. It confirmed for me that I wanted to practice public interest law, and helped me shape my career goals. While I am still unsure about where exactly my career path is headed, my experiences as a PILI Intern have made me more confident in taking my first steps down that path.

PILI: What is your fondest memory (thus far) from participation in the PILI program?
SM-D: While it is difficult to point to just one memory, it is easy to say that the fondest PILI memories are those which made me feel as though I was taking part in creating positive change. For instance, I remember much of the time I spent participating in meetings regarding the redevelopment of Chicago’s public housing fondly. Of course there were many letdowns in those meetings given that we were fighting an uphill battle on behalf of a marginalized population. There were also times when I felt as though I made a valuable contribution to a meeting, however, and that the interests of public housing residents were that much more likely to be served as a result.

PILI: How has your commitment to the public interest manifested itself thus far in your legal career? How do you anticipate it will influence your career in the future?
SM-D: My commitment to the public interest drives and guides my legal career in virtually every way. Of course, I cannot claim to ignore my own self-centered interests completely as I move forward in my career. I do plan to always focus my work on the public interest though, and I will try to use my skills to make change in the best way I know how. 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.

Is there a  former PILI Inter or Fellow you think should be recognized?  If so, you can send information about that alum to us at alumni@pili-law.org  for consideration for a future Alumni Spotlight.

For more information: Contact PILI by e-mail or at 312-832-5127.