Pro Bono Attorneys Serve Legal Prep Families and Neighbors in Garfield Park
The Alumni Network Leadership Council of the Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) has partnered with Legal Prep Charter Academy and Chicago Volunteer Legal Service (CVLS) to launch the Legal Prep Community Law Clinic, a community-based clinic for the student families and neighbors of Legal Prep in Chicago’s Garfield Park neighborhood.
Through the Community Law Clinic, Alumni of PILI’s Law Student Internship and Graduate Fellowship Programs volunteer to help families and neighbors of Legal Prep students address critical legal needs. With the support of CVLS staff, these volunteers provide pro bono services on all civil, non-fee generating, non-class action cases. Types of cases might include family law, eviction, consumer debt, foreclosure, adult/child guardianship, and more.
The Community Law Clinic is held on the second Tuesday of every month from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. at Legal Prep. The first clinic took place in January 2015. In addition to organizing the Clinic and recruiting Alumni to volunteer, PILI has invited law firms that offer PILI’s Graduate Fellowship Program to “adopt” a Clinic session. The firm would be responsible for recruiting four to six PILI Alumni from among its attorneys (PILI currently has over 3,600 Alumni, many of whom work in Chicago) to volunteer with the Clinic for that month. Kirkland & Ellis LLP, which has sponsored the largest number of PILI Fellows of any firm, has been the first to sign on and adopt the month of November 2015.