PILI Interns (first or second year law students) and PILI Fellows (recent law school graduates) work in and learn about public interest law, and begin what PILI hopes is a lifelong commitment to public interest law and pro bono work. Below is the latest news about PILI's Internship and Fellowship Programs. Visit PILI's website to learn more about the Internship and Fellowship Programs.

2011 PILI Summer Educational Program Schedule is Announced

Each summer, as part of our Internship and Fellowship Programs, PILI organizes educational and skills-building seminars during the lunch hour for Interns and Fellows on a variety of substantive law and professional development topics.The 2011 Summer Educational Series will launch with the Kick-off Luncheon on Wednesday, June 1st at which Honorable Edmond E. Chang, United States District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois and a 1994 PILI Fellow will address this year's class of PILI Interns and Fellows. Read more on our website at www.pili-law.org/summereducationalprogram.htm.

Summer Internship and Fellowship Program Update

Thirty-six Interns and 33 Fellows from around the country will take part in PILI's Summer Programs this year. They will be working at our Participating Agencies across the Chicagoland area. Last year's Interns and Fellows worked a combined 26,000 hours providing direct client service, staffing legal clinics, representing clients in court, performing policy and case research and more, and the substantive law topics on which they focused covered a range of public interest concerns and included immigration law, family law, disability law, health law, public benefits, foreclosure, discrimination and civil rights. PILI looks forward to seeing what our 2011 Interns and Fellows will accomplish over the next 3 months!

PILI's 2011 Named Internships

In addition to the dozens of law student Interns that PILI is able to fund out of its general fundraising efforts with law firms, foundations, individuals and corporations, PILI also is able to designate a number of Named and Honorary Interns each year. These Named and Honorary Internships are made possible thanks to special funding commitments from individual and organizational champions for public interest law. PILI is proud to have 9 Named Interns for the summer of 2011. To see a list of our 2011 Named and Honorary Internships, please visit our website at www.pili-law.org/2011namedinternships.htm.

Alumni: Update Your Address with PILI!

Are you a PILI Alum? Do we have your most current email and physical mailing address? Are you sure? PILI's Alumni Program has some new programming and events coming down the pipe, including our Second Annual PILI Alumni Reunion Reception this fall, and we want to make sure you are in the know. Send us an e-mail or give us a call today at 312-832-5127. Thank you!

Alumni Spotlight: Maria Wjolten, 1987 Fellow

Maria Woltjen's commitment to working in public interest law began before she ever heard of PILI. Raised in a family steeped in the heritage of the Catholic Worker tradition, she remembers her father telling stories of going after discriminatory real estate agencies in his job at the Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities. The summer after graduating from law school, Woltjen served as a PILI Fellow at the Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, hosted by Coffield Ungaretti Harris & Slavin, the firm where she had been hired as a Litigation Associate. Woltjen's PILI Fellowship served as her introduction to the public interest law community in Chicago. Click here to read more.

 

Alumni Spotlight: Holly Snow, 2008 Intern

For Holly Snow, her connection with the Legal Assistance Foundation has extended far beyond the fall of 2008, when she worked as a PILI Intern in their Home Ownership Preservation Project (HOPP) doing client intake, conducting legal research, reviewing discovery documents, drafting memos, motions, and letters and going to court to argue motions on behalf of her clients. In fact, Snow continued working in HOPP until December of 2009, and now as an Associate in the corporate debt finance group at Paul Hastings LLP and a Pro Bono Coordinator for the firm, she continues to serve as an advocate for LAF, encouraging the firm to take pro bono matters for them and for other agencies.  She also serves on LAF's Young Professionals Board and acts as the Board's Co-Liaison to LAF. Click here to read more.