Public Interest Law Foundation
The Public Interest Law Foundation provides many resources to help students practice in the public interest. Each year, PILF provides scholarships for 10-15 students who are working in public interest jobs over the summer. The group also gives students opportunities to work with local attorneys on pro bono cases, organizes trips to Chicago and DC job fairs, hosts guest speakers, and assists students in finding employment in public interest fields. In addition, PILF sponsors many social events including a softball tournament, and Singing for Summer Salaries (see the list of last year's winners), a fundraising program in which a law professor of the students choice performs Karaoke for the students.
The purposes of the Public Interest Law Foundation are to provide (1) moral and financial support for public interest law; (2) a forum for exploring public interest concerns, including career opportunities; and (3) fellowships for law students to work in public interest positions.
Executive Board
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Neal McHenry - President
I am going into 3L year still pondering my public interest future. I enjoy working in a legal services setting where you can help clients solve their legal problems one-on-one, but I also have some aspirations of working with a larger non-profit in more of a policy setting and advisory role. My particular areas of interest are working with children, international aid projects, and hurricane relief. I hope PILF can help law students tap into the wider community opportunities and gain both experience and rewarding opportunities to help people who need assistance navigating the legal system. I also hope to reach out to the student body interested in pro bono or other public interest activities though they may not be interested in a public service career. -
Christina Clark - Vice President
My interest in a legal career developed shortly after a volunteer experience I had in Oradea, Romania. Bringing supplies to dilapidated orphanages and dimly lit hospitals full of abandoned infants prompted my interest in the legal profession. Reports of human rights violations and other atrocities at these institutions infuriated me and provided the foundation for my legal studies. My mission in life is to assist disadvantaged and oppressed populations. Public interest work is a privileged tool that I feel responsible to use and promote most efficiently. My pursuit of this goal at Indiana University has included volunteering with PILF in Biloxi and New Orleans, as well as, volunteering my 1L summer for a legal unit at the Jerusalem Center for Women, in East Jerusalem. My hope for this organization and our student body is that everyone at IU law will have an opportunity to experience and explore public interest work during their law school experience. -
Blair Johnson - Vice President
I hitched my wagon to the public interest law train a year ago with three years' experience as a non-attorney disability representative advocating on behalf of Social Security disability claimants and four years' paralegal experience in criminal, family, probate, and worker's compensation matters in tow. Working with low income folks on a daily basis to help win them benefits and alleviate their burdens gave me an insight into how high the cards are stacked against them and how much red tape keeps them from the assistance they rightfully deserve. There is no shortage of need in this world, but, in my personal opinion, there is also no shortage of goodwill to meet that need. I hope to use my law degree to make that opinion more a reality. -
Eva Koestel - Secretary
I've been somewhat interested in public interest work since I started law school, but my perspective really changed dramatically when I went on the PILF trip to New Orleans on the Winter '07 trip. I saw up-close the problems that stem from callousness and indifference to problems like poverty and homelessness. I also saw what a difference it can make when people get together and contribute some of their time and energy. I love being part of PILF because it's an organization that helps make it possible for law students to actually get involved in legal work that changes lives - the lives of both the people who are receiving help and the people who are giving it. -
Valerie Ferreira - Treasurer
My start in the public interest world actually came from working in the big corporate law firm world. Before coming to law school I was a paralegal at a big firm in Boston in the trusts and estates department. I was fortunate enough to work closely with an attorney who did a great deal of work on charities and foundations. The firm also afforded me to do the opportunity to do pro bono legal work with a local homeless shelter. These experiences led me to join the PILF team at Indiana Law and in seeking out my summer employment at the IU Foundation. Public interest is a noble field and I strive to make known the plethora of ways one can incorporate it into any area of law they become involved in.