Jody Adler, 1979 Intern

Jody Adler never thought of going to law school and becoming a lawyer. But in her work as a community organizer on landlord tenant issues in the 1970s, she often found herself accompanying tenants to housing court to complain about living conditions in their buildings. Going up against the lawyers of their landlords or against the City Corporation Counsel, the tenants rarely had lawyers of their own. “Every month, I sat in housing court with tenants who wanted to testify about the building conditions in their apartments,” says Adler. “Every month, I saw attorneys for landlords who owned many multi-unit buildings get continuances to correct building code violations. Sitting there, I realized the power of a law degree and decided to apply to law school.”

In law school at DePaul University College of Law, Adler was not interested in the firms that came to campus to recruit or in the clerking jobs her classmates undertook. “Working for a firm or a corporation was not why I went to law school. I was one of those idealistic people who went to law school to change the world, or at least a tiny part of it.” When sign-up sheets came around for such interviews at the job placement office, Jody did not sign up.

But when Adler heard about PILI Law Student Internship Program, she did apply, and was awarded an internship with the Better Government Association in 1979. Adler credits her PILI Internship as a major factor in keeping her in law school. She was inspired by her coworkers and clients. “I met attorneys who were doing legal work to right the scales of justice,” she says. At the BGA, she had colleagues who worked to uncover government corruption and create more transparency, and she got to know other law students who were committed to and passionate about public interest law.

After law school, Adler worked as an attorney/advisor in the Chicago District Office of the US Small Business Administration. “I tried not to stray too far from being the lawyer I envisioned when I was in Housing Court and during my PILI internship,” says Adler, who was involved in many different programs including a loan program for Certified Development Companies doing work to improve communities.

But when an opportunity became available at The Law Project of the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, Adler left her secure government job to work part time for less pay, less benefits and less security – “I was clearly not following the book on how to advance your legal career,” she says. Now the Director of The Law Project, Adler says she knows she made the right career choice. She still works with community based organizations and supervises staff working with first time homebuyers and low income entrepreneurs. She still works with lawyers at law firms who believe in the importance of doing pro bono work and who make a difference every day in the lives of their pro bono clients. “Working at The Law Project is the job I envisioned when I was sitting in housing court with tenants, the job that I saw a glimpse of that summer at BGA,” Adler remarks. “I really enjoy the work I am doing.”

Siobhan Albiol, 1992 PILI Intern

Without her PILI Internship, Sioban Albiol wonders whether she would have pursued a career in public interest law. But thanks to that experience, Albiol has worked in public interest since she was sworn in as an attorney. “I feel extremely lucky to have had that opportunity, which I owe in part to my start as a PILI Intern,” she says. Since 2001, Albiol has been a Clinical Instructor and Coordinator of the Asylum and Immigration Law Clinic at DePaul College of Law (one of several law school clinics that hosts PILI Fellows).   Reflecting on her PILI Internship experience, Albiol notes “I really benefited from being able to observe and learn from truly knowledgeable and dedicated advocates. I saw that being a good attorney meant more than doing a good job on the cases assigned, but also seeing how you could help your colleagues in the field, and what steps you could take to advocate at the local or national level for better laws and policies.”  Albiol was a PILI Intern for two years with the agency formerly known as Travelers and Immigrants Aid (now National Immigrant Justice Center, or NIJC). She presented her first asylum case in immigration court as an Intern, and remembers the support she had from her supervisor and co-workers who came to see the hearing. Following law school, Albiol worked as a staff attorney at Prairie State Legal Services before returning to Travelers and Immigrants Aid. Today, Albiol’s work is public interest focused and concentrated on serving the same population and communities as when she was doing large volume direct services work. “In the Clinic, we are committed to improving access to legal services to low-income immigrants and refugees and ensuring that they receive quality legal services,” Albiol explains. “In my current position I have the added benefit of seeing so many students who are committed to public interest work and to immigrant and refugee rights, and these future lawyers fill me with optimism about what impact they might have on the individuals and communities they serve.”

Reena Bajawola, 2003 Intern and 2005 Fellow

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.

Barbara R. Barreno, 2011 Fellow

Barbara recently graduated from Vanderbilt University Law School and spent her summer serving as a PILI Fellow at the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) while studying for the bar. “I had a terrific experience working at NIJC,” says Barbara. “From the first day of my Fellowship, I was given a great amount of responsibility and had access to clients so I could immediately apply my skills to the organization's cases.” Her work included conducting new and returning client intake, preparing U Visa applications, drafting letters requesting prosecutorial discretion to the Department of Homeland Security, preparing applications for employment authorization and drafting affidavits for applications for immigration relief. She also conducted research on drug cartels in Mexico and helped prepare a client for an asylum interview. Barbara has maintained a longtime interest in immigration law. Before starting law school, she worked as a law clerk at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles processing citizenship and U Visa applications, and while in law school she led the National Latina/o Law Student Association, which supported the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act as its Policy Initiative. For Barbara, a rewarding part of her work at NIJC was the opportunity to learn from other immigrant rights advocates. “The attorneys and staff at NIJC provided guidance and expertise which enabled me to provide the best possible advice to the individuals who came to their office for assistance,” says Barbara. “They are extremely helpful and deeply passionate about their work, which inspires me to continue serving immigrant communities in the future.”

Prior to her PILI Fellowship, Barbara worked as a summer intern at the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Global Women's Issues, where she drafted a report to Congress on Department programs addressing sexual and gender-based violence, assisted the Office with public outreach and identified language addressing women in House and Senate appropriations bills. She also worked as a summer associate at Sidley Austin LLP, during which time she assisted with a pro bono asylum case and volunteered at Cabrini Green Legal Aid as an intake interviewer. Barbara has recently started as a new associate in Sidley’s Labor, Employment and Immigration Group, and she was selected from among many applicants to be the 2011 Fellow Representative on PILI’s Board of Directors. “I want to play an active role in encouraging more law firms to establish a relationship with PILI,” she says. Barbara hopes to maintain her connections with NIJC moving forward as well. “The agency is very amenable to us taking cases with us to work on a pro bono basis,” she explains. “It is an amazing opportunity.”

Sarah Biehl, 2002 & 2003 PILI Intern

As a PILI Intern at the National Center on Poverty Law (2002) and Legal Assistance Foundation (2003), Sarah Biehl assisted with an arbitration trial in a Cabrini Green public housing lawsuit and researched payday lending, education and children's law issues.  She also worked on a project to make food stamp information and applications more accessible to non-English speaking populations in Chicago and represented Cook County wards in school expulsion and special education cases.  After clerking for a federal judge in Ohio for a year, Sarah was awarded a prestigious Skadden Fellowship for which she designed and coordinated a legal clinic inside North Lawndale College Preparatory High School (NLCP) on the west side of Chicago.  At NLCP, she advised and represented students and their families in a wide variety of areas, including juvenile court abuse and neglect proceedings, utilities cases, landlord-tenant disputes, orders of protection, public benefits questions, and child custody disputes.  Upon completing her Skadden Fellowship, she joined LAF as a staff attorney.  In January 2008, Sarah moved back to her home state of Ohio and now works as a state support attorney at Ohio State Legal Services Association, providing support, resources, and leadership for all of Ohio's legal aid programs on education law issues.  She is currently engaged in several projects to reform Ohio's laws affecting foster children's education rights, establish connections between legal aid attorneys and the Ohio Department of Education, improve the education of children in juvenile justice facilities in the state, and improve procedural rights for children and parents in special education and school discipline situations.  Resolutely committed to a career of service, Sarah is also a past recipient of the Kimball R. and Karen Gatsis Anderson Public Interest Law Fellowship.

Paul Brown, 1992 PILI Fellow
During the summer of 1992, Paul Brown was sponsored by Kirkland & Ellis as a PILI Fellow at the Legal Assistance Foundation's Uptown Neighborhood office. Paul explains that he had an interesting mix of work including obtaining orders of protection for abused women, assisting tenants in disputes with their landlords, and helping clients with a variety of consumer and family law matters. Prior to joining Kirkland in September 1993, Paul served as a law clerk for Sixth Circuit US Court of Appeals Judge James Ryan. In 2002, Paul left Kirkland to accept an in-house position as Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for BlueCross BlueShield Association (BCBSA), which is the national trade association for the 39 separate Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans. At BCBSA, Paul manages the day-to-day operations of a 30 person law department and, along with the General Counsel, provides legal counsel to BCBSA’s senior officers, board of directors, and board committees. Paul says that "because of my positive PILI Fellowship experiences, when I entered private practice I did quite a bit of pro bono work at Kirkland, including the extended representation of a client in a multi-year prisoner civil rights case and have continued doing pro bono as an in-house lawyer." Paul also notes that “a few years ago I also drafted—with assistance from PILI—a corporate pro bono policy for BCBSA. My interest in pro bono began as a PILI Fellow.”

Nichole Cain, 2005 PILI Intern
PILI Alumni, Nichole Cain, was a 2005 PILI Intern at the Sargent Shriver Center for Poverty Law. At that time, her work, and that of the Shriver Center, was focused heavily on housing issues, as well as PayDay loan legislation. After graduating from law school, Nichole joined the law firm of Pinzur, Cohen & Kerr, where she was an associate until 2008, when she joined the Illinois Department of Human Rights. While at Pinzur, Cohen & Kerr, Nichole handled civil rights and family law issues as well as a significant amount of small claims and personal injury cases. Nichole’s commitment to public interest law, however, motivated her to pursue her latest position. According to Nichole, “my PILI Internship solidified my inclinations that I ultimately wanted to be a public interest attorney. It was my first experience actually interacting with clients, researching issues for public interest legislation, and witnessing a large class action.” While in law school, Nichole served as Northern Illinois University’s Black Law Students Association (BLSA) President and also served as a PILI Intern Representative on the PILI Board of Directors as former Intern. She has also been an active volunteer with First Defense Legal Aid Volunteer for several years. About her experience as a PILI Intern, Nichole further explains, “I was able to actively participate in the research and drafting of legislation that was going to be sponsored. This was a very hands-on experience in the legislative process that did not present itself in any other capacity while I was a law student.”

Kathy Clark, 1997 PILI Intern

At our 2011 Annual Awards Luncheon PILI presented a Distinguished Alumni Award to Kathleen K. Clark, Executive Director of Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing, who served as a PILI Intern in the spring and fall of 1997 at the Roger Baldwin Foundation of the ACLU and at the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. Kathy was a non-traditional law student, having decided to go to law school after 20 years working in family and community services. She graduated cum laude from the John Marshall Law School, and practiced fair housing and civil rights law, joining LCBH in 2000. LCBH believes that all persons have a right to safe, decent, and affordable housing on a non-discriminatory basis, and they work to promote the availability of and access to such housing in Chicago through legal representation, individual and public advocacy, supportive social services and education. The day of the 2011 PILI Annual Awards Luncheon marked Kathy’s 11 year anniversary as their executive director, and several members of LCBH’s staff and board of directors were in attendance to congratulate Kathy and celebrate with her.

Kathy’s career has been marked by a strong commitment to making safe, affordable housing a reality for low-income individuals, children and families. At LCBH, she has expanding and strengthened their core programs while instigating creative new programs in response to changing community need in the face of the recent housing crisis. She is recognized as a spokesperson on behalf of low-income tenants, and her strong leadership has kept LCBH at the forefront of tenant advocacy issues in Chicago. In addition to her legal work with LCBH, Kathy is involved in many other community organizations and causes. She currently serves as the Vice President of the Chicago Fair Housing Alliance, and she served for ten years on the board of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. Kathy is also involved with the Foreclosure Prevention and Mitigation Working Group for the Illinois Housing Task Force, and with the Unity Temple in Oak Park and the Rich Township High School Board of Education. PILI was pleased to honor Kathy for tireless and successful efforts on behalf of low-income tenants. Her career exemplifies an inspiring and impactful commitment to public interest law.

Susan DeCostanza, 2007 PILI Intern

During her PILI Internship, Susan DeCostanza worked at Chicago Volunteer Legal Services (CVLS). In

this role, Susan worked with clients on family law matters including both adoption and dissolution of marriage, representing the best interests of children in probate court, completing intake interviews and working with CVLS attorneys on housing law cases. After graduating from law school, Susan worked with a civil rights law firm and spent time directing the Pro Bono and Community Service Initiative at DePaul. Currently, Susan is a Career Counselor in Chicago-Kent’s Career Services Office, where Susan addresses career and professional development issues with students and alumni who are interested in pursuing a career in the public service/public interest community. Susan noted that “my fondest memory from participation in the PILI programs is generally the relationships that I built. It was inspiring to work with dedicated attorneys and I have also kept in touch with the other law students with whom I interned.” From her experience as a PILI Intern, Susan believes that “the greatest skills that CVLS helped me develop were practical skills in client interactions and client service, navigating the court system and generally learning to stand up and represent a client in court. These are skills that I was not taught in law school and my PILI internship really helped me both feel confident in my ability to lead clients through a case as well as become a conscientious attorney.”

Katie Deibert, 2004 PILI Fellow
Katie is an Associate at Mayer Brown LLP, where she works in the firm’s banking and finance practice and also spent a year working in Mayer Brown’s Frankfurt, Germany office. She was a PILI Fellow at the downtown office of the Chicago Legal Clinic, working primarily on matters related to bankruptcy and domestic issues. Katie now serves on PILI’s Board of Directors and is a leader in PILI’s Alumni Program. Katie believes that her experiences as a PILI Fellow have offered her a unique perspective and firsthand insight into the public interest side of Chicago’s legal community. Although she is a transactional attorney and does not necessarily use the specific legal skills she developed as a PILI Fellow, Katie believes that the introduction to so many people in the Chicago legal community is something from which she continues to benefit. Katie explains, “PILI provides connections to both the public and private sectors of legal service in Chicago and I think it’s important to understand how both can work together.” She also recognizes the importance of PILI’s mission of cultivating a lifelong commitment to public interest law. Katie states, “I believe an important part of being a lawyer is protecting the rights and interests of those who often do not have the resources to be heard. As a law student I participated in pro bono activities and worked with asylum seekers and refugees through my school’s immigration clinic. In private practice I have represented an asylum applicant and also worked on financing supportive housing projects.”

Stephanie Dykeman, 2004 PILI Fellow

For Stephanie Dykeman, her PILI Fellowship was just the beginning of a career with an emphasis on pro bono service. Now a litigation associate at Winston & Strawn, Dykeman describes her summer at the Chicago Legal Clinic as “truly a one-of-a-kind experience.” She is grateful for the exposure to areas of law she was unlikely to encounter in a large law firm. “I was afforded the unique opportunity to be an advocate right out of law school – and before I had even passed the bar,” says Dykeman. “I was taught to stand up on my own two feet, to make strategic decisions and to zealously advocate for my clients who desperately needed the legal help.”   Dykeman’s most meaningful pro bono experience has been a federal court trial where she successfully represented a Lake County African-American family in their suit against three Neo-Nazi Skinheads who assaulted and threatened the family. The family won a judgment of $230,000. “Not only was it an incredible experience for me as a lawyer, as I was able to do a direct examination and the closing argument, it was also incredibly personally rewarding to assist a family in turmoil with such a difficult matter,” recalls Dykeman. Dykeman worked on the case with The Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law while she was an associate at Kirkland & Ellis.  “I have always made pro bono work a priority in my practice,” says Dykeman. “I don’t just do the minimum – I commit myself to taking on meaningful, long-term pro bono matters that have a real impact.” Dykeman is currently leading a project (through a partnership between Winston & Strawn and the Center for Disability and Elder Law) assisting Jewish elderly with powers of attorney and living will declarations. She is also active with Winston & Strawn in helping Jewish elderly pursue their Holocaust reparations claims for lost property and slave labor during World War II.  Reflecting on her PILI Fellowship, Dykeman notes “I met some incredibly dedicated people who continue to inspire me today. I was able (and lucky) to be part of an organization that was going out there and doing the work to make Chicago a better place.”

Rachel Fleischmann, 1998 PILI Intern
Rachel was a PILI Intern with the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Following her graduation from law school, she worked for four years at Life Span Legal Services, assisting low income domestic violence victims with orders of protection and divorce and custody case. Rachel now practices in federal court as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Illinois. Her work focuses on constitutional law questions, such as the First Amendment, false arrest and excessive force and the Commerce Clause. Rachel explains, “Working as a PILI Intern was an overall very positive experience that encouraged me to continue in public interest. It also exposed me to a different type of public interest work than I had previously experienced, so it showed me the diversity of choices available in the public interest legal world.” She believes that the lunchtime lectures were one particular way that PILI helped expand her horizons regarding the types of legal careers public interest lawyers could have. Rachel also enjoyed the conversations that she had with all of the other Interns and Fellows at her placement. She fondly recalls, “we would talk about a lot of interesting legal, social and political topics and it was great to learn from a diverse group of very intelligent law students.” Rachel has dedicated her entire career to public interest – representing low income domestic violence victims and now representing government employees. Her hope is that her career will always be dedicated to one type of public service or another.

Johnny Frevert, 2010 PILI Intern

Although he will not graduate from Valparaiso University School of Law until May, Johnny Frevert is already deeply committed to the public interest. Frevert, the 2010 Intern Representative on PILI’s Board of Directors, was hosted by CARPLS for both a summer Internship and a fall school-year Internship where he advised pro-se litigants at CARPLS Collection, Divorce and Municipal Advice Desks.

Reflecting on his two PILI Internships, Frevert is grateful for the “invaluable amount of real-world and real-time experience dealing face-to-face with clients and their legal issues.” He was particularly affected by one client he was advising at the CARPLS Collection Desk on how to get her bank account unfrozen. “The client’s assets were all exempt from collection under Illinois law, which really put her at ease. Near the end of our consultation, she wanted to know if CARPLS had a website so she could donate money to help us continue assisting people like herself. While I was very touched that someone with little to no assets would be willing to contribute to CARPLS, I simply told her, as I had told many clients before, that that is what we (CARPLS) are here for, and that she should concern herself with getting herself back on her feet.”

Frevert began working as a volunteer with the CARPLS hotline when he was a 1L, and his dedication to the public interest has profoundly influenced his career path. “I decided to move to Chicago and practice law in Illinois for the very reason that there are so many gifted attorneys committed to the goal of making sure that everyone has access to the law and not just those who could afford a retainer agreement,” Frevert remarks. “The externships which I have chosen come from a desire to serve the wider public good, and the career paths I have been investigating do not stray far from public service.”
In addition to his experiences with CARPLS, Frevert has externed in the Special Litigation Division of the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, and he is currently an extern with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office in the Narcotics Division.

Frevert’s goal is to either find a position in state government or continue working in the legal aid community with an Illinois legal aid organization. “My hope,” says Frevert, “is that some day in the future I can give PILI more than just my time so that they may continue granting this invaluable experience to other worthy candidates.”

Patrick Gallagher, 2007 PILI Fellow
As a PILI Fellow at Health and Disability Advocates, Patrick Gallagher assisted with HDA’s programs to improve healthcare access and services for children, people with disabilities, and low-income adults. HDA provides direct client services to low-income children and adults to ensure they have access to appropriate health care benefits and services. HDA also works with many state governments to develop sensible healthcare policies, and develops its own initiatives to improve access to healthcare. For example, Patrick assisted HDA staff with the development of the Chicago Medical-Legal Partnership for Children, a program designed to address any legal barriers to positive health outcomes for children. After finishing his Fellowship at HDA, Patrick joined Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell in the IP Pharmaceutical Patent Practice Group and the Appellate Practice Group. Most of Patrick’s practice involves patent litigation in the chemical and biotechnology industries, including Hatch-Waxman pharmaceutical patent litigation. As a member of the appellate practice group he has assisted on a diverse range of appellate cases in addition to appeals for patent cases. According to Patrick, “working with the people at HDA showed me that diligent caring lawyers can have an enormous positive impact on the lives of many people and that many lawyers really do love their jobs. I also have enjoyed the opportunity to meet the many dedicated and talented lawyers affiliated with PILI.” Since joining Locke Lord, Patrick has remained in contact with the lawyers at HDA and continues to volunteer with them. He has also participated in Locke Lord’s Saint Procopius Legal Aid Clinic, offering legal services to members of the Pilsen community. Patrick is also currently serving on the PILI Board of Directors as a Fellow representative.

Charles Golbert, 1990 PILI Fellow

After graduating from the Northwestern University School of Law in 1990, Charles P. Golbert served as PILI Graduate Fellow at the Cook County Office of the Public Guardian, sponsored by the law firm now known as Katten Muchin Rosenman. After working as an associate at Katten, Charles returned to the Public Guardian in 1991, where he has continued to serve for more than 17 years, first as a trial attorney in its juvenile court division, then as a Supervising Attorney in its special litigation division, and then as the head of the appellate division, where he successfully litigated and supervised hundreds of appeals on behalf of the office’s adult wards and on behalf of abused and neglected children. Today, Charles is the Deputy Public Guardian in charge of the adult guardianship division.  He oversees the operation of the office’s guardianship services for its 800 adult wards with disabilities, including legal and social services and management of more than $70 million in collective ward assets. He has been lead or co-lead counsel in numerous financial exploitation lawsuits that have achieved the recovery of millions of dollars in assets stolen from persons with disabilities. He has also litigated and supervised numerous complex matters on behalf of the office’s wards in the areas of health care surrogate decisions, probate and guardianship. He is the primary author of legislation, now law, to protect persons with disabilities from financial exploitation.

Justin Heather, 2001 PILI Fellow

Justin Lee Heather received PILI’s Distinguished Alumni Award at our 2011 Annual Awards Luncheon in recognition of his remarkable pro bono achievements. Justin served as a PILI Fellow in 2001 at Northwestern University School of Law’s Bluhm Legal Clinic, having received his J.C. cum laude from Northwestern that year. Sponsored by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meager & Flom LLP, he spent his Fellowship working on behalf of the wrongfully convicted in both federal habeas and state post-conviction proceedings. Justin went on to work at Skadden for several years as a complex commercial litigator, and recently founded his own full-service firm, Korey Cotter Heather & Richardson, LLC.

The American Bar Association recommends that lawyers aspire to engage in 50 hours of pro bono service each year. Justin, in his 11 years of practice, has logged an overwhelming 5,700 pro bono hours, more than ten times this recommended amount. Much of his work has focused on death penalty cases, though he has also represented other types of clients, including a group of Togolese citizens who suffered political persecution as well as clients in race and disability discrimination suits. Justin helped create and now leads Serving Our Seniors, the ABA Young Lawyers Division 2011-2012 Public Service Project. Serving Our Seniors is a national program that provides estate planning advice to low-income seniors. In addition to his professional and pro bono work, Justin participates extensively in several professional associations. He is the current Chair of the Chicago Bar Association Young Lawyers Section, and he is a member of the Young Professionals Boards of the Chicago Bar Foundation and the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago. Justin has also been involved in PILI’s Alumni program. Justin’s career embodies PILI’s mission to cultivate a lifelong commitment to public interest law and pro bono work, and we were proud to present him with a Distinguished Alumni Award in recognition of his strong leadership in the legal profession and his extraordinary dedication to pro bono.

[an earlier Justin Heather spotlight]

As a PILI Fellow at the Northwestern University School of Law's Bluhm Legal Clinic, Justin Heather worked on behalf of the wrongfully convicted in both federal habeas and state post-conviction proceedings, and prepared for successful oral argument before the Illinois Supreme Court on behalf of a mother wrongfully convicted in the death of her child. His work at Bluhm Legal Clinic "fostered an enduring sense that, as a lawyer, I have a moral responsibility to provide legal services to those whom cannot otherwise afford such representation." As a PILI Fellow, Justin learned first-hand the responsibilities of a young lawyer maintaining a rigorous case load: "I like to think of my PILI Fellowship as providing a seamless transition from law school to the practice of law." Since his PILI Fellowship, Justin has been an associate with the Chicago office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in its general litigation department. He has represented numerous clients in litigation, arbitral and bankruptcy proceedings covering a wide range of matters, including breach of contract and related corporate matters, consumer fraud actions, regulatory investigations and franchise matters. Justin has also worked on a number of pro bono cases, with the full support of the firm, including representing clients in federal habeas and state post-conviction proceedings, asylum proceedings and discrimination lawsuits. Currently, Justin and several of his Skadden colleagues are representing a Mississippi death row prisoner in federal habeas proceedings.

Arturo Hernandez, 2011 PILI Intern

The Illinois State Bar Association Young Lawyers Division sponsors a PILI Intern each summer to focus on issues of particular relevance to children and youth. This summer, Arturo Hernandez was the recipient of this PILI Named Internship position, and his work at the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless embodied the spirit of the ISBA YLD Children's Assistance Fund. A major part of Arturo’s work this summer was to help homeless children and families whose school was being closed by Chicago Public Schools because of low enrollment. “I have read literature about what happens to children who move from school to school,” says Arturo. “Homeless children lose about six months of development, and there is also anxiety, depression, and a feeling of not fitting in at the new school. Seeing this first hand, however, was a lot more eye-opening.” The instability that these children already experienced in housing and in their family lives they also now had to deal with at the educational level. “Hearing these children discuss how devastated they were by having their school close was a humbling experience. It made me realize the importance of the work we do and brought our work to life.”

While there was nothing that Arturo and CCH could do to prevent the school from closing, there was nevertheless a lot they could do to help support the children and preserve their legal rights during their school transition. They ensured that students would get the same services at their new school that they had had at their old school, including special education, transportation, fee waivers, and other services provided by law to homeless children. Arturo worked with large groups of children and families, enabling CCH to render high-quality assistance to more clients than they otherwise would have been able to reach. “My experience confirmed that I want to work in the public interest sector,” says Arturo. “It was truly a rewarding and humbling experience.”

Arturo is currently in his third year at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago. Deeply committed to public interest law, he has worked and volunteered with several children and family-focused organizations, among many other causes. Arturo is also a veteran of the armed forces, having served in the United States Army. As the 2011 Intern Representative on PILI's Board of Directors, Arturo hopes that the diversity of his perspective will be an asset to PILI. And, his experience as a PILI Intern continues to inspire him. “I will never look at the work we do the same, it will always remind me of the families I met,” he says. “I will never forget that these families are truly counting on us."

LaShonda Hunt, 1995 Fellow

Sixteen years into her career as a lawyer, LaShonda Hunt has been an inspiration to her fellow PILI Alumni, to her colleagues, and to her community. After graduating from the University of Michigan Law School in 1995, Hunt worked as a PILI Fellow at Legal Assistance Foundation representing clients at their Northwest office who sought orders of protection, and at unemployment compensation hearings and eviction proceedings. Now working in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Hunt believes that the skills and experiences she gained as a PILI Fellow still impact her work today.

“I was struck early on in my career by the dedication of legal professionals who were working with the most needy and vulnerable population on issues that many would have considered mundane,” says Hunt. “I realized then the importance of using my legal skills to make a tangible impact on society and I have taken that attitude into each role.” Through the many twists and turns her legal career has taken since her time as PILI Fellow, Hunt has maintained a steadfast orientation toward service.

Hunt first worked as a litigation/labor and employment associate at SNR Denton (then Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal), her PILI sponsor firm, where she handled a range of pro bono matters, including asylum cases and a death penalty appeal, as well as a case she had brought over from LAF. She then clerked for several years, serving as a Staff Attorney for the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and as an elbow clerk to the Honorable William J. Hibbler, and then as a civil litigator at the U.S. Attorney’s Office. After leaving the U.S Attorney’s Office, she joined Just the Beginning Foundation, a nonprofit, as the Schools Project Director responsible for developing programs to interest underserved high school students in legal careers. She was named a top 40 Under 40 lawyer in 2006.

In 2007, Hunt took at job at Exelon as an in-house litigation lawyer. Here she was appointed the Pro Bono/Community Service Chair for Exelon Legal, creating opportunities for her colleagues to engage in pro bono work. She was instrumental in launching the Wills for Heroes program in Illinois, which provides essential legal documents free of charge to our nation’s first responders. Hunt was also involved in her community, facilitating programs at neighborhood middle and high schools and inspiring students to consider the possibility of a career in law. While at Exelon in 2007, Hunt received a PILI Distinguished Alumni Award for her outstanding contributions to public interest and pro bono work, and in November of 2008 she was named IllinoisProBono.org’s “Pro Bono Attorney of the Month.” Now back at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Hunt continues to give her time to working with future lawyers on mock trial programs. She is involved in PILI’s Alumni Program and is a frequent speaker at events for PILI Interns and Fellows, for PILI Alumni, and for PILI’s Pro Bono Initiative.

Hunt maintains that her remarkable career has been guided by the notion that finding purpose and meaning in the work she does is key, and that the best way to find that sense of purpose and meaning is through continued involvement in pro bono work and community service. On top of being a highly skilled lawyer, Hunt’s passion for helping others, her strong sense of mission and her aptitude for forming meaningful relationships with the people she serves makes her a powerful force in the pro bono world.

Gail Kim, 2002 Intern & 2004 Fellow

Gail Kim carries the distinction of being a “double-PILI,” having served both as a PILI Intern in 2002 at Cabrini Green Legal Aid, and as a PILI Fellow in 2004 at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago. “My interest in public interest law started in law school, and PILI gave me a vehicle to exercise that interest,” says Kim. Kim is now the Program Director and Director of Operations at the Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms, contributing her experience and passion to the Chicago Committee’s mission to foster racial and ethnic diversity in the Chicago legal community, impacting the broader legal profession.

After completing her PILI Fellowship in 2004, Kim was awarded a Katten Muchin Rosenman Public Service Fellowship and worked at the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee For Civil Rights Under Law in their Fair Housing Project for one year.  Then in September 2005, she started as a second year associate at Katten in the litigation department. “My experience as an Intern actually led me to want to be a litigator,” states Kim. “I found the everyday tasks involved in my work – from managing the case load to talking and advising the clients and drafting motions and letters – were really satisfying and realized that I could really be a lawyer.”

Kim credits her PILI Internship and Fellowship with giving her a leg up when she started at Katten. They gave her an opportunity to develop her skills in multitasking, problem solving and decision making, and allowed her to grow her passion for her work and her confidence. “After my fellowship, I tried to regularly be involved in pro bono cases to enhance my own professional development and skill set,” says Kim.

Elizabeth Gibbons Lewis, 2006 PILI Fellow

After graduating from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 2006, Elizabeth served as a PILI Graduate Fellow at Loyola’s ChildLaw Clinic, sponsored by the law firm of McDermott, Will & Emery. Since her Fellowship’s conclusion, she has remained extremely dedicated to public interest work and community service and serves as a member of McDermott’s Pro Bono and Community Service Committee and as the liaison and coordinator in Chicago for McDermott’s Kids First Initiative. In just a few short years, and with all of the many pressures of a young associate at a large law firm, Elizabeth has, in the view of her colleagues, “shown an exemplary commitment to disadvantaged and underrepresented children and families.” She has developed a long-standing and unparalleled commitment to providing support and pro bono legal services to at-risk children and families as a means of bridging the social justice gap. She remains steadfastly committed to positively impacting the lives of the most vulnerable populations throughout the Chicago community. Since joining McDermott only three years ago, she has logged hundreds of pro bono hours in the most challenging and necessary of matters such as high conflict custody matters, child protection matters, Hague Convention disputes, special education representation, and matters involving school discipline and child abuse and neglect. In addition to her dedication to providing pro bono legal services, Elizabeth has also provided meaningful contributions to disadvantaged children through tutoring and community education. PILI proudly recognizes her work and lauds her pro bono commitment.

Ruth Lopez, 2007 & 2008 PILI Intern
Ruth Lopez was a “Double PILI,” serving as a 2007 spring and summer PILI Intern at the Chicago Legal Clinic and as a 2008 summer PILI Intern at the Legal Assistance Foundation in their Westside neighborhood office. At the Chicago Legal Clinic, Ruth worked with clients seeking a change in immigration status, immigration waivers, and citizenship applications. According to Ruth, “on my first day at the CLC I helped an attorney in a deportation case which we won and, as a result, the family was not torn apart. By the end of my first day, I knew that public interest work was the only type of work for me.” At LAF, she worked with attorneys on a variety of cases such as domestic violence, divorce, housing, unemployment, and bankruptcy. Being exposed to so many areas of law helped Ruth appreciate the work that legal aid attorneys do and helped her understand the interdependence between various legal issues that arise in low income communities. Since the summer of 2008, Ruth has focused on completing her final year of law school at Chicago-Kent Law School, working with LAF as a law clerk and, currently serving on the PILI Board of Directors as an Intern representative. Ruth believes that as a PILI Intern, she was exposed to real legal issues faced by Chicagoans everyday, something she could not have experienced in the classroom. Ruth recalls that as a PILI Intern at LAF, “I worked with a young Latina woman who was a victim of domestic violence and needed to get out of her marriage before her and her children’s lives were in serious danger. Because I speak Spanish, I was very involved in the case and was able to help her get a two-year order of protection as well as file for a divorce. The process moved me because I was part of helping this young woman and her children escape a bad situation and create a new life for themselves.”

Anna Lusero, 2008 Intern & 2009 Intern

Anna Lusero entered law school knowing she wanted to do public interest law. In particular, Lusero knew she wanted to serve immigrant communities. Also a double-PILI, Lusero completed two summer Internships, one in 2008 at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, and the second in 2009 at the Legal Aid Bureau. At LAF, she worked with the Illinois Migrant Legal Assistance Project doing outreach to migrant farm workers and landscape workers to educate them about their labor rights and to assess their legal needs, and at the Legal Aid Bureau she worked primarily with Spanish-speaking survivors of domestic violence on family law issues such as divorce, orders of protection and child custody. While in law school and after her Internships, Lusero also worked at Working Hands Legal Clinic on wage and hour litigation for low wage workers. She is active on nonprofit boards, including PILI’s Board of Directors, where she is serving for two years as an Intern Representative to the board.

Lusero was awarded a prestigious Equal Justice Works Fellowship after her graduation from Chicago-Kent College of Law in 2010. Her fellowship is with the Legal Assistance Foundation, where she served her first Internship, and focuses on finding immigration remedies for immigrant workers who have been victims of employment-related crimes, such as sexual harassment, intimidation, and involuntary servitude.

Remaining committed to her primary goal of serving immigrant communities, Lusero appreciates how her PILI Internships, through the summer educational programs, exposed her to new areas of law such as the Agricultural Workers Protection Act (AWPA), and family law, an area of law in which she had not previously worked. “I gained extensive outreach experience and was able to develop my skills in doing outreach with the community, collaborating with community organizations, and presenting to large groups,” says Lusero. “I did many ‘Know Your Labor Rights’ presentations in English and Spanish to groups of immigrant workers throughout Northern Illinois.” After completing her Equal Justice Works Fellowship, Lusero intends to remain working in public interest law.

Sean Morales-Doyle, 2005 & 2006 PILI Intern
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."

Monica Mosby, 2004 PILI Fellow

As a PILI Fellow at the Federal Defender Program, Monica Mosby was both excited and scared on her first day of work when an attorney sat several large case files in front of her and said, “We go to trial in two weeks; get yourself up to speed.” Mosby described her time as a PILI Fellow as “absolutely amazing.” During her Fellowship, she was thrown into the mix of the office right away when she was staffed as part of a trial team. Mosby attended strategy meetings and client meetings and sat at the defense counsel table at trial. In addition to this unique experience so early in her career, Mosby also participated in various other matters, sitting in on new client and intake meetings as well as settlement and proffer meetings with Assistant U.S. Attorneys prosecuting the cases. A litigation associate at Katten Muchin Rosenman since her graduation from law school, Mosby is the Co-Chair of the firm’s Minority Associates’ Committee and a Co-Editor of the firm’s diversity newsletter. Mosby continues to devote time to pro bono work, most notably with the Legal Assistance Foundation and the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee, all while being a mother to a four-year-old son and one-year-old twins (a son and a daughter). She also served on the PILI Board of Directors as the Fellow Representative from 2004-2006. Reflecting on how her PILI Fellowship influenced her career, Mosby notes, “To act as trial counsel right out of law school was priceless. I got to see early in my career the art of advocacy, whether in front of a jury at trial or negotiating a plea deal with the Assistant U.S. Attorneys. Although my practice is primarily civil defense, the ability to advocate my client’s position is an essential skill.”

Jesus Perez, 1992 PILI Intern
A 1992 PILI Intern at Chicago Volunteer Legal Services (CVLS), today Jesus Perez runs his own law firm in the Brighton Park neighborhood of Chicago. Ever since his Internship’s conclusion, he has remained extremely dedicated to serving his community. The youngest of eight children born to Mexican immigrants, Jesus overcame many obstacles to achieve his goal of becoming an attorney. Today, he serves the people of his community, helping them overcome challenges and reach goals of their own. All the while, he remains committed to a vibrant pro bono practice. Immediately upon graduating from the University of Illinois College of Law, he joined the CVLS panel referral program. Fluently bilingual, Jesus’ language skills, combined with his legal ability and generosity of spirit, have made him extremely valuable as a volunteer attorney. Known for never saying “no” to requests for help, all while juggling his own private caseload, Jesus also provides expert assistance to many CVLS volunteers. In addition to taking cases and mentoring other volunteers, Jesus has served on CVLS’ Board of Directors from 1999 to 2005, and as its Financial Vice-President. Even during his board years, as he worked on committees and helped with the oversight and fundraising that is expected of all board members, Jesus continued to take cases and help other CVLS volunteers. Incorporating pro bono into every part of his busy practice, Jesus epitomizes PILI’s ideals and mission by his professionalism, his public spirit and, of course, his excellent work as a lawyer.

Kate Pomper, 2006 PILI Intern

Kate Pomper’s career has been marked by a commitment to public interest law at every stage. A current Assistant Attorney General with the Office of the Illinois Attorney General, Kate got her first experience working in public interest law as a PILI Intern at the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law. She spent most of her summer there working on a lawsuit to enforce a contract for Section 8 housing for elderly and disabled individuals. The following summer she interned at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago in their South Side office, and in 2008, after receiving degrees from the University of Michigan's Law School and Ford School of Public Policy, she was awarded a Polikoff-Gautreaux Fellowship at Business and Professional People for the Public Interest (BPI).

While at BPI, Kate’s work was dedicated to addressing compelling issues of social justice and quality of life in the Chicago region. She participated in the representation of the Inspector General of the City of Chicago in a lawsuit to enforce a subpoena for documents sought in an investigation of possible government misconduct.  She also represented BPI on working groups for the redevelopment of four public housing developments into mixed-income communities and participated in the development and implementation of legal and policy strategies to ensure that new mixed-income communities created under the Plan for Transformation were both viable and inclusive.

Kate intends to keep public interest law the focus of her career moving forward.  Currently, at the Office of the Illinois Attorney General, her work focuses on affirmative complex litigation with a public policy impact for the State of Illinois. She is also the co-founder of the Chicago Young Public Interest Lawyers Network, an organization that aims to help public interest lawyers in Chicago in their first ten years of practice achieve their career goals while making a significant impact in the communities they serve, by providing networking, information, and training. Kate remembers her PILI Internship as giving her a chance to learn from talented and dedicated lawyers at the Shriver Center while working on compelling public interest cases and also providing her an invaluable introduction to Chicago's broader public interest community. “My PILI internship with the Shriver Center was my first opportunity to take what I was learning in law school and try to use it to address important issues in society, as I hoped to do after law school,” says Kate. “I couldn't have had a better start to my public interest legal career.”

Lonneke Purucker, 2010 PILI Fellow
Lonneke Purucker’s experience as a PILI Fellow provides her with a grounding reminder of why she became an attorney. Purucker, the 2010 Fellow Representative on PILI’s Board of Directors, worked at the downtown office of the Chicago Legal Clinic (CLC) where she handled the intake, evaluation and preparation of Social Security Disability claims. “Working for underserved clients with ‘real life’ problems, such as an inability to pay a heating bill or feasibly obtain critical mental healthcare, is a tremendous source of perspective when the seemingly insurmountable demands of professional life begin to kick in,” observes Purucker.

While at the CLC, Purucker had the opportunity to learn the basics of an entirely new area of law and the practical process of administrative hearings as well as work management skills. Purucker is grateful for developing “the lost art of uni-tasking,” particularly when she was under added pressure with the bar exam constantly in the back of her mind. She explains: “Assignments were effectively compartmentalized, both in distribution and in practice. This uni-tasking skill, although not always realistic in corporate firm life, is a very effective tool for tuning out distractions and comprehensively prioritizing and managing individual matters.”

In addition to serving on PILI’s Board, Purucker continues to seek out pro bono opportunities. Following a recent PLI conference, she is exploring ways to assist the underserved veterans community. “Ultimately,” says Purucker, “I would like to provide the vast majority of my pro bono services to U.S. Servicemen and Servicewomen of limited means.” Now an associate in Mayer Brown’s Real Estate practice where she focuses primarily on representing institutional investors, Purucker began her career at Chapman and Cutler (which sponsored her Fellowship).

Purucker credits her PILI Fellowship with introducing her to a tremendous mentor in Greta Doumanian as well as “the smart, gracious, diverse and caring staff at the CLC. Working in such a civil and open environment was an invaluable experience.” Further reflecting on her time at the CLC in contrast to large law firm life, Purucker reiterates, “The PILI gift of perspective is a powerful career-enhancer.”

Jay Readey, 2004 PILI Fellow

As a PILI Fellow at Business and Professional People for the Public Interest (BPI), Jay Readey analyzed drafts of state legislation concerning an affordable housing trust fund, as well as various national models of inclusionary zoning laws.  He also fondly recalls a unique opportunity in which legendary BPI attorney, Alex Polikoff, allowed him to read and critique a draft of the critical chapter in which Polikoff made the main argument of his now published book, Waiting for Gautreaux.  Following his PILI Fellowship, Jay practiced corporate law for two years at Jenner & Block, and then affordable housing and community development finance at Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal for the last two years.  With Sonnenschein's support, Jay has moved to hourly status as a lawyer while founding a nonprofit organization, NeighborScapes, as a pro bono project of the firm.  NeighborScapes is a neighborhood services organization in Chicago's south suburbs, devoted to job training, entrepreneurship and leadership development for teen and young adults.  "From day one, I was interested in doing pro bono work at the firms, to continue what I had started in my PILI Fellowship and to validate the importance of pro bono work that I had learned there...As a newcomer to Chicago when I graduated from law school, PILI gave me a jump on mapping the civic side of Chicago's legal community; I gained an awareness of organizations, leadership and personalities that would have taken me two years to develop working with my head down and nose to the grindstone as a new associate; that mapping work now forms the foundation of the wider civic community that I consider to be at the heart of a network that is essential to my personal and professional advancement.  I don't think there's another experience that could have exposed me as fully to Chicago's public interest legal community in such a short time."

Rachel Shapiro, 2005 PILI Intern

As a PILI Intern at the Legal Assistance Foundation's Disability Law Project, Rachel Shapiro handled cases involving foster children who were not receiving the appropriate special education services or who were facing expulsion from school.  At LAF, she gained valuable experience in direct representation of students with disabilities at expulsion hearings and various school meetings. Following her PILI Internship, Rachel graduated from the Ohio State University Moritz School of Law and was awarded an Equal Justice Works (EJW) Fellowship at Equip for Equality, where she currently represents low-income students with disabilities in various special education matters, including Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings, expulsion hearings, mediations, due process hearings, and more.  She also provides special education training to probation officers, public defenders, and other people who come into contact with youth with disabilities in the juvenile court system.  Although her EJW Fellowship will end next month, Rachel will continue her project as a Staff Attorney with Equip for Equality.  Rachel is committed to a career in public interest law and endeavors to further expand her project by teaming with pro bono attorneys to represent as many students with disabilities involved in the juvenile court system as possible.  Rachel credits PILI with helping her find her niche in public interest law:  "Without my summer PILI Internship, I would not have developed the necessary relationships and substantive legal knowledge to do the work I do today.  I networked with numerous public interest agencies throughout the summer; ultimately with Equip for Equality, and based upon my experiences as a PILI Intern, I developed my EJW project." 

Patrick Spangler, 2006 PILI Fellow

Patrick Spangler’s experiences as a PILI Fellow at Chicago Volunteer Legal Services (CVLS) drove home the point that pro bono legal services can impact a person’s life in a way that goes beyond the simple result in a case or proceeding. Spangler explains, “Working at CVLS and with PILI helped me to understand the significant gap between the need for basic legal services and access. Through my experiences at PILI and CVLS, I have come to appreciate a commitment to the public interest as an obligation of every attorney and not just something we choose to do when we have time.”   As an attorney at Vedder Price P.C., Spangler practices in the labor/employment and benefits groups and continues to work with and support a number of pro bono and public service agencies, including CVLS. Spangler has a broad pro bono practice, ranging from immigration to child custody to school expulsion cases. He serves on the boards or junior boards of CVLS, Metropolitan Family Services, the PILI Alumni Circle and the Chicago-Kent Young Alumni Council. In addition, he and his wife co-chair a scholarship fund for their alma mater, Illinois Wesleyan University.  Spangler also looks forward each year to working at the annual Race Judicata event – a tradition that started during his summer as a Fellow, working alongside the other CVLS Interns and Fellows. While a Fellow at CVLS, Spangler primarily handled divorce, custody and adoption cases, including taking several cases from intake to conclusion. Spangler believes one of the unique benefits of his Fellowship was the opportunity to work inside a public interest law agency – one that most attorneys pursuing a career in private practice will never have again. “Just being inside the walls of CVLS was a worthwhile experience for me because I now better understand the issues involved with running a non-profit – fundraising, resource limitations and the incredible people who sacrifice financial success for helping people,” says Spangler.

John Thurmond, 2002 PILI Fellow

John Thurmond was a PILI Fellow at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago in the summer and fall of 2002. Working with Richard Wheelock in LAF’s Housing Law Initiative, he helped provide high-quality civil legal services to low-income and disadvantaged people and communities. “The highlight of my time at the LAFMC was helping a single mother move from the Cabrini Green housing project to ‘scattered site’ housing elsewhere in the city,” recounts John. “It was a wonderfully educational and rewarding experience!” After completing his PILI Fellowship, John worked in private practice with a specialty in transactional real estate law for several years at Kirkland & Ellis LLP and SNR Denton LLP; he is now a legal recruiter for Lateral Link, placing highly qualified associate and partner level attorneys in law firms and corporate legal departments.

Throughout these career changes, however, Thurmond has maintained a strong commitment to public interest law. He currently serves on the Associate Board of the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, which he co-founded and previously chaired. “Working with the Shriver Center has greatly expanded my personal network and allowed me to develop leadership and management skills working with other young professionals in the City of Chicago,” says John. He has also helped with pro bono and fundraising projects that directly benefit the Shriver Center and its mission of advocating for social and economic justice. In addition to his work with the Shriver Center, John volunteers with the Notre Dame Club of Chicago, the American Youth Soccer Organization and his church, and he coaches youth soccer with FC Drive, a nonprofit youth soccer program.

Being a PILI Fellow has opened doors for John, both professionally and personally. In addition to transactional pro bono opportunities, like helping a small church on the South Side acquire property from the City of Chicago for the expansion of their facilities, being a PILI Fellow Alum led to networking and leadership opportunities. “Most importantly it has given me perspective on the ever present need for we highly educated and fortunate professional attorneys to provide access to legal services to those less fortunate than us,” says John. “Whether in private practice or otherwise, there are always ways to give back.”

Laurie Wardell , 1985 PILI Intern

A 1985 Intern at Roger Baldwin Foundation of the ACLU, today Laurie A. Wardell is the Director of the Employment Opportunity Project at the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, where she herself is now a popular supervisor of PILI Interns and Fellows. The Project combines law reform litigation and advocacy to improve employment opportunities for women and people of color. Her current work includes pro bono representation of workers in federal court and in Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) mediations, class litigation in federal court of race discrimination in hiring and of racial harassment cases, and providing training and advice to appointed counsel in federal court. Since graduating from the University of Illinois College of Law in 1986, Laurie has specialized in civil rights law, first as a trial attorney with the EEOC, and later in private practice, where she handled class and individual discrimination cases. Prior to joining the Lawyers’ Committee in 2000, she was a partner in the firm of Futterman & Howard, and associate with Meites, Frackman, Mulder & Burger (now Meites, Mulder, Mollica and Glink) and a clerk for U.S. District Court Judge James F. Holderman. She has spoken and published extensively on civil rights litigation and on various aspects of pro bono practice.

Allison Willis Singer, 2005 PILI Fellow

As a PILI Fellow with the Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation (CVLS), Allison Willis Singer managed a caseload of family law, probate and bankruptcy matters.  At CVLS, she honed her research, writing, interview and trial skills, and was given the opportunity to work on most of her cases from start to finish.  "As a PILI Fellow, I learned the importance of developing rapport with a client at the earliest possible stage of representation.  My PILI Fellowship helped me develop those skills much earlier in my career than I could have otherwise, given the sheer number of clients I interacted with on a daily basis."  Allison's PILI Fellowship was sponsored by Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP, where she was a litigation associate before leaving the private sector to pursue public interest law full-time.  While in private practice, she developed relationships with several of Chicago's public interest law agencies by working on pro bono cases.  In 2007, Allison re-joined CVLS as a Staff Attorney.  Today, she primarily works on the Access to Justice program---a partnership between the Chancery Division of the Circuit Court, the Chicago Bar Foundation, and CVLS---where she is appointed by the Court to represent defendants in foreclosure cases, declaratory actions and cases on administrative review.  Allison plans to spend the balance of her legal career in the public interest, and is thrilled to have "found my home as a legal aid attorney."  Allison remains connected to PILI as an active member of PILI's Alumni Program and as a member of the Alumni Circle, the program's leadership core.

Holly Snow, 2008 PILI 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.

Snow’s fondest memory as a PILI Intern was a time when a client came in with an emergency case: she was the defendant in a foreclosure action and she had a court call within the next few days that would have a substantive impact on her homeownership. Snow was the one asked to conduct research and draft a summary of issues relating to the client’s case as quickly as possible. “Not only was I able to conduct the research, but we found a material issue with her case,” Snow recounts. Less than 48 hours from when she started the research, the judge had vacated the judgment and the plaintiff was put back at square one. It is victories like this that exemplify the work of PILI Interns and Fellows and empower low-income individuals and families to stand up and claim their legal rights. “It was, and still is, a great feeling!” says Snow.

Beyond her ongoing relationship with LAF and her continued involvement with pro bono work, Snow feels that her experience as a PILI Intern helped her develop other important skills. “HOPP gave me confidence as a young associate that I otherwise would not have been able to attain,” says Snow. With her team’s support, she learned to be comfortable asking questions and digging into legal issues in order to fully understand her tasks and to best support her clients. She also learned valuable time management skills and people skills. “Given that our clients were often desperate to keep their homes, I learned to calm their fears and let them know that they had options and often, more importantly, the legal system provided them with time to work through their home ownership issue.”

Andrew Vail, 2003 PILI Fellow
Sponsored by Jenner & Block where he is now an Associate, Andrew was a PILI Fellow at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago during the summer of 2003. Andrew has truly maintained his commitment to public interest law since completing his Fellowship, dedicating over 3,600 pro bono hours since his Fellowship concluded and over 1,000 hours in the last year alone. His pro bono matters have spanned a wide range of issues, from wrongful convictions, Guantanamo, death row representation, Section 1983 and voting rights cases – just to name a few. In recognition of his extraordinary pro bono efforts, Andrew was recently honored by the Chicago Bar Association and Chicago Bar Foundation with its 2009 Maurice Weigle Exceptional Young Lawyer Award, annually given to a Chicago young lawyer who has demonstrated exceptional contributions and initiative in the profession, the organized bar, and the community. Most recently, Andrew devoted significant efforts to the pro bono representation of Juan Rivera in a widely-watched murder trial. Serving as one of the lead trial lawyers on a Jenner & Block team that included Partners Tom Sullivan and Terri Mascherin and that worked with a team of attorneys from the Center on Wrongful Convictions, Andrew helped provide Mr. Rivera with the very best defense possible, and he personally handled key witnesses on direct and cross examination at trial. Andrew has also worked with the Center on Wrongful Convictions on several other significant pro bono matters over the years. Due to his extensive knowledge and experience with wrongful conviction matters, Andrew is frequently called upon to speak at national conferences on the issue of criminal justice reform. At several recent programs, Andrew has provided attorneys with practical advice for litigating wrongful conviction cases, and has addressed issues including custodial interrogations, false confessions and eye-witness identification. In addition, Andrew spent nearly two years assisting Jenner & Block Partner Terri L. Mascherin's work on the Criminal Law Edits Alignment and Reform Initiative (CLEAR) Commission, which was charged with reviewing and reforming the Illinois Criminal Code and Code of Corrections to make them more readable, understandable, consistent and just. On April 10, 2009, the Commission’s recommended rewrite of the Code of Corrections was signed into law.

Maria Woltjen, 1987 PILI 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: "I got to work on immigration issues with Susan Gzesh and Roy Petty, small business projects with Susan Kaplan of the Community Economic Development Project, and employment issues with Roslyn Lieb, who was the Executive Director," recalls Woltjen. "I loved working with fellow PILI Fellows and Interns—some were going on to clerk for federal judges, others to work for Chicago law firms. We got the chance to meet other terrific lawyers doing civil rights work and we heard from other PILI Interns and Fellows about the work they were doing at the various public interest agencies."

Woltjen's Fellowship gave her the chance to not only to get to know the public interest community in Chicago, but also to work with clients and to build her skills as an attorney. "I was given cases to work up on my own," says Woltjen, "which was an amazing experience for a law school grad, especially since I was going to work in a law firm where associates traditionally work on big cases and don’t have the autonomy to make decisions." She felt fortunate to be able to spend a summer that would have otherwise been "lost studying for the bar exam" doing legal work on behalf of Lawyers Committee clients.

After her PILI Fellowship, Woltjen worked at Coffield Ungaretti Harris & Slavin for four years until she took at job back at the Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, directing their Children’s Advocacy Project. Their work focused on juvenile justice issues, mental health and lead poisoning in Chicago public housing. After five years there, Woltjen took some time off to start a family while continuing to consult with the American Bar Association’s Juvenile Justice Center. She then spent two years at the Loyola University School of Law ChildLaw Center working on their community lead initiative. Woltjen now works on guardian ad litem issues for unaccompanied children in immigration removal proceedings, first through the Immigrant Child Advocacy Project and now at the Legal Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School, which she joined in 2007. She and her colleagues serve unaccompanied children here in Chicago and in locations around the country, including the border in Harlingen, Texas, where nearly 400 unaccompanied children are detained.

Woltjen treasures her experience as a PILI Fellow. In her capacity at the University of Chicago Law School, she now serves as a supervisor for PILI Interns and Fellows. "It’s exciting to work with law students who are planning to work for law firms here in Chicago and across the country, and I look forward to seeing what they do with their law degrees, whether it’s pro bono work or joining the public interest world." She continues to enjoy working in public interest and being a part of Chicago's public interest law community. "I’m sincerely thankful to the PILI program for giving me my first taste of public interest lawyering," says Woltjen. "I can’t imagine doing anything different with a law degree."

Cathy Yu, 2006 PILI Intern
Cathy Yu received the 2006 Thomas L. Nicholson Memorial Internship, generously funded by Jerome and Jamie Gilson in honor of their friend and esteemed PILI founding member. At the Environmental Law and Policy Center (ELPC), Cathy performed legal research on a variety of topics including interpretations of the Clean Water Act, eminent domain issues related to the Peotone Airport, pollution permits, and migratory bird law. Detailed feedback from ELPC's supervising attorneys helped Cathy develop her legal research and writing skills: "By the end of the summer, I was very confident in my legal writing abilities, which proved to be very helpful my 2L year and for my 2L summer job." Seeing ELPC's attorneys engaged in litigation also helped Cathy decide she wanted to be a litigator. Since her PILI Internship, she has continued her studies at University of Chicago Law School, volunteered at the Lawyers' Committee for Better Housing and Mandel Legal Aid Clinic, and worked as a summer associate at DLA Piper US LLP. When Cathy expressed her strong interest in public interest work, the firm invited her to participate in several pro bono projects. She will join DLA Piper next fall. Cathy currently serves on PILI's Board of Directors as an Intern Representative. Her commitment is clear: "I plan on continuing to do as much public interest work as I can in the future regardless of what path my legal career takes."

Amy Zimmerman, 1989 PILI Intern
Currently, Amy is an attorney at Health & Disability Advocates and directs the Chicago Medical-Legal Partnership for Children (CMLPC). Her public interest law career began early in law school when she worked as a PILI Intern at the American Jewish Congress after her first year at Northwestern University School of Law. Amy has practiced law since 1991, and has spent her legal career focusing on issues that impact children. From 1991 until 1997, Amy served as a neighborhood and project attorney at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago. From 1997 until 2004, she worked as the assistant director of the Children’s Health and Education Project at the Chicago Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Prior to joining HDA, Amy served from June 2004 until September 2006, as the Children’s Policy Advisor to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. Fairly new to Chicago when she began her PILI Internship, Amy reflects “I am thankful for my PILI experience as it introduced me to Chicago’s dynamic public interest community and helped to solidify my commitment to serving the underserved.” Today, Amy is also the PILI Supervisor at HDA, welcoming the future of the public interest law sector. Amy’s commitment to social justice was obvious prior to her going to law school, having spent her college summers working for the United States Agency for International Development. She spent her junior year in the University of Pennsylvania’s Honors Program, traveling and studying cultural anthropology in Kenya, Egypt and Israel, and living with families in each country.