PILA Provides $378,000 to Fund Summer Public Service Work 2011 PILA Grantees

The Public Interest Law Association will distribute about $378,000 to students working in public service jobs this summer, according to PILA organizers.

PILA raised about $91,000 for the summer grants, according to organization president Peggy Nicholson.

The total is up from last year and reflects a growing interest in public service work, said PILA president Peggy Nicholson '11.

We've really got an abundance of people here who are interested in public service," Nicholson said. PILA's next big challenge will be to figure out how to accommodate that growing community, and that's a great problem to have."

The organization will distribute approximately 81 grants to first- and second-year students. First-year recipients will each get $3,500 and second-year recipients will get $6,000.

PILA raised about $91,000 through various events. The Law School Foundation and Dean's Office contributed more than $209,000 and the Program in Law and Public Service contributed about $63,000. The remainder came from PILA's reserves and donations directed to PILA through the Law School Foundation.

PILA was able to increase its fundraising total for the year despite continuing difficulties presented by the economic downturn, Nicholson said. Though some fundraising efforts that have traditionally been fruitful were less so this year, others were much more successful, she said.

The fundraisers that provide a service to students, like the book sales, exploded this year," Nicholson said. The fundraising team worked really hard on the book sales, and it's also something we can really promote to students by saying 'You're getting a discount on the book, and you're helping PILA.'"

Leily Faridzadeh

Second-year law student Leily Faridzadeh will use her PILA grant to help fund her summer work in Tanzania with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

It's something that I've always wanted to do, and now I have the opportunity," Faridzadeh said. I will be working with international judges on the cases of people who committed genocide throughout Rwanda."

The work will include helping judges with opinions, as well as attending trials and working on legal research and writing, Faridzadeh said.

I am very interested in the international law field, so I think this will give me some concrete practical experience," she said.

First-year student James Allred will use his PILA grant to work with the American Cancer Association's Cancer Action Network in Washington, D.C., splitting time between their legal and policy arms.

James Allred

He plans to help the legal office draft proposed legislation that would govern cancer treatments and nanotechnology, and to help the policy arm develop amicus briefs related to the assorted judicial challenges to the Affordable Care Act.

It wouldn't have been possible without the PILA grant," he said. It's so helpful to have a grant that can help support my housing needs while I'm there."

First-year law student Gloria Mak will work in the Boston office of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, where she plans to work on alleged violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disability Act and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.

I previously interned in the Massachusetts state agency for employment discrimination, and currently I'm taking Employment Discrimination with Professor Kim Forde-Mazrui," she said. It's definitely an interest of mine and it's exciting to see it from a different perspective on the federal side."

Gloria Mak

Mak will begin her 10-week position in May, shortly after the end of the semester, and said she looks forward to the experience.

Without the PILA grant, I don't know how I could have afforded to do it," she said.

Nicholson said organizers worked this year to make the process more transparent, developing a rubric for how to gauge applications and making applicants more aware of how the process works.

As always, Dean Mahoney, the faculty and the Public Service Center have been incredibly supportive of PILA's efforts," Nicholson said. As president, I wasn't really sure what to expect from this process, but it's actually been kind of a breeze because of the law school community's support of PILA."