Awards Reflect First Stipend Increase for PILI Interns in 10 Years

The Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) has announced that it will make $257,500 in grants to 26 public interest law organizations across Illinois in fiscal year 2016. These grants will provide stipends for 55 PILI Law Student Interns during the 2015-16 academic year and the summer of 2016 through PILI’s Law Student Internship Program. Students apply from law schools across the country to compete for these funded public interest law internship opportunities. Recipients work 400 hours during the summer or 200 hours during the school year serving low-income and underrepresented individuals and families with legal needs.

This year, PILI is raising its summer Intern stipend for the first time in 10 years. Summer Interns will now receive $5,500 for their work, an increase of $500 over previous years. PILI will raise the summer stipend again in 2018, for a total stipend amount of $6,000.
“At PILI, we’re not just funding a one-time service opportunity. We are helping launch the next generation of leaders in public interest law,” explains PILI Executive Director Michael Bergmann. “We committed ourselves to raising the amount of the Intern stipend so that more law students can gain the skills, experience and networks they need to build successful careers in the public interest without adding to their law school debt.”

This is the largest amount of money that PILI has ever committed to Internship funding, and reflects not only the increase in stipend but also new Internship positions in Chicago, Alton and Rock Island.

PILI has been operating its Law Student Internship Program since 1977, and is the only program of its kind that attracts law students from across the country to serve at legal service organizations in Illinois. In addition to providing the funding for Intern stipends, PILI also offers robust educational programming and networking opportunities for Interns. The program helps PILI’s partner legal service organizations serve more clients and increase their impact while also helping law students develop their legal and client interaction skills, build their professional networks, and strengthen their commitment to public interest law and service.

About PILI: 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. PILI envisions a legal community with a deeply rooted culture of service, where law students, lawyers and legal professionals at all stages of their careers engage in public interest law or pro bono work, and remain committed to addressing the unmet legal needs of the poor and underrepresented.