$572,800 in PILA Grants Awarded to 143 Students Working in Public Interest This Summer

The University of Virginia School of Law’s grant program supporting summer public interest work is giving out more money to more students than ever before this year. Taking on such problems as international terrorism, gang violence and the problems low-income children face, 143 students will receive $572,828 in funding.

The grants, which will benefit 126 first-year students and 17 second-year students, are awarded through a partnership between the Law School’s Mortimer Caplin Public Service Center and the student-run Public Interest Law Association. The Mortimer Caplin Public Service Fellowships and the Linda Fairstein Public Service Fellowships are the primary sources of funding. First-years receive $3,750 and second-years $6,500.

Student recipients are required to apply and qualify for the funding by volunteering their time for pro bono work — 40 hours for first-year students and 80 hours for second-year students. Grantees must also have secured a public service position and agree to donate hours back to PILA, which founded the grant program.

PILA holds a series of fundraising events each year, including an auction and book sale, to help raise money for grants.

“PILA is incredibly proud to provide grants to help take some of the financial burden off of students and to thereby make their public service goals that much more attainable,” said PILA President Cameron Duncan ’19. “And the arrangement is mutually beneficial. Students are able to give their intelligence and abilities to organizations that are often underfunded and understaffed and do real, meaningful work for those organizations and their clients.”

This year, students volunteered 9,149 hours, an average of 58 per student grantee.

“We pay for the things we value. We make sacrifices of our time and comfort,” said Annie Kim ’99, assistant dean for public service and director of the Mortimer Caplin Public Service Center. “There’s no better statement of how UVA Law values public service than the work we do together as a community to fund PILA grants each year — PILA board members, PILA grantees, our generous alumni. This collective work has given thousands of students over the years their first chance to help others with the powerful legal skills they develop here.”

Over the summer, students will work in 46 U.S. cities, and one student will work internationally, in Johannesburg. Here’s a look at what four of the fellows have planned. (Full List)

Manal Cheema ’20

Hometown: Sharon, Massachusetts

College/education: Tufts University

Summer job: U.S. Department of Defense, Office of Military Commissions, Washington, D.C.

What she’ll be doing: I will complete a wide variety of projects in the office, including legal research and writing on issues of criminal, international and constitutional law arising in military commissions cases; historical research on the use of military commissions; drafting legal briefs, motions, memoranda and other documents; and assisting with moot courts, press inquiries and professional training. I will be assisting trial teams and the motions and appeals section with legal research and writing projects involving international terrorism and law-of-war prosecutions. 

Goals: Working at the Office of Military Commissions, I hope to develop my knowledge of international law as it applies to armed conflict and war, and further my path into the practice of national security and international law. This internship will be critical in helping me decide between the civilian law route or the military law route after graduation, through exposure to practice.

Blythe McCoy ’19

Hometown: Davidson, North Carolina

College/education: Cornell University, bachelor’s in policy analysis and management

Summer job: U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Washington, D.C.

What she’ll be doing: The Organized Crime and Gang Section works to combat organized crime by prosecuting significant organized crime groups operating in the U.S. Many of the prosecutions are under the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations and Violent Crimes in Aid of Racketeering statutes. This summer, I will be doing legal research and writing, involving topics such as criminal procedure, evidence and application of the RICO statute.

Goals: My goal is to pursue a career in criminal prosecution, and that goal is what led me to law school. During this summer, I hope to gain insight on the specific area of federal criminal law relating to organized crime and gangs. 

Erin Seagears ’20

Hometown: Gainesville, Virginia

College/education: University of Virginia, B.A. in political and social thought

Summer job: Legal Aid Justice Center, Charlottesville

What she’ll be doing: I will be working in the JustChildren program helping low-income children who have unmet needs in the educational, foster care and juvenile justice systems. In addition to aiding in the free legal representation, I will also be working on JustChildren's reform efforts, like RISE, which focuses on getting children out of juvenile detention centers and back in their homes, receiving rehabilitation and support from community structures.

Goals: I want to serve the Legal Aid Justice Center by providing good and effective work, to help improve the lives of low-income children and families in need in Charlottesville, and to gain skills and experience that will better equip me to one day be an impactful and compassionate lawyer and advocate for vulnerable children and youth. More generally, my goals can be summed up in my life verses: Psalm 82:3-4, "Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked."

Nathan Vanderpoel ’19

Hometown: Fairfax, Virginia

College/education: Wheaton College (Illinois)

Summer job: Colorado State Public Defender’s Office, Brighton

What he’ll be doing: With my second-year practice certificate, I will be given several of my own misdemeanor criminal cases to manage myself from first appearance through trial. Beyond that, I will be assisting on other attorneys’ cases, conducting client interviews and doing legal research.

Goals: My main goal is to become comfortable standing up in court and speaking on the record regularly. Hopefully, I can get a few trials under my belt so that I am fully prepared to take all of my own cases going into a job next year as a public defender.

PILA Grant Employers, Summer 2018