Law Students from Across the Country Serve at 25 Legal Aid Organizations in Illinois

The Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) has announced its Law Student Internship Class of 2013, a group of 47 Interns representing 18 law schools from across the country. These PILI Interns have been selected out of the nearly 400 law students from over 70 law schools who applied. Each PILI Intern will serve 400 hours at one of 25 legal service organizations over the summer, together contributing 18,800 hours of legal services on behalf of thousands of low-income individuals and families. PILI provides supplemental educational, networking and mentoring opportunities. New this year, PILI is funding two internship positions in Illinois outside of Chicago, where the need is great but resources are few. These two new PILI Internships are in Peoria at Prairie State Legal Services, and in Champaign at Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation. View the complete list of 2013 PILI Interns on PILI’s website at http://pili-law.org/2013PILIinternslist.htm.

Of PILI’s 47 Interns, 13 are Named or Honorary Internships, created by special funding commitments from individuals and groups dedicated to promoting public interest law. Many Named Internships support a specific cause. For example, the ISBA Young Lawyers Division has for years sponsored one PILI Intern through its Children’s Assistance Fund to address the legal welfare of children. Other PILI Interns are named in honor or memory of Chicago-area champions for service and philanthropy to the legal aid community, including Kimball & Karen Anderson of Winston & Strawn LLP, Jerome Gilson of Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione, and Nikki Will Stein of the Polk Bros. Foundation. View the full list of PILI’s special Named & Honorary Interns at http://pili-law.org/namedinterns.htm.

PILI's mission is to cultivate a lifelong commitment to public interest law and pro bono service within the Illinois legal community to expand the availability of legal services for people, families and communities in need. Since PILI’s founding in 1977, PILI has funded or supported over 3,500 law students and graduates who have participated in PILI’s Law Student Internship Program or parallel Graduate Fellowship Program.