Record $801,000 in Grants Awarded to 167 Students Working in Public Interest This Summer

With help from a record $801,000 in grants, 167 University of Virginia School of Law students will work in public service roles this summer.

The Law School’s Mortimer Caplin Public Service Center awarded $761,000 in UVA Law Public Service Summer Grants to 136 first-year and 31 second-year students. The grants are funded by gifts from alumni and other donors. First-year students receive $4,000 and second-year students receive $7,000.

The grant program was previously a partnership with the student-run Public Interest Law Association, but this year PILA shifted its fundraising efforts toward PILA+, a program offering additional money to grant recipients who will live in areas with high costs of living and receive little other financial assistance, other than the UVA Law grant. PILA raised $40,000 for the PILA+ program this past year, benefiting 37 students who received $700 each.

“We’ve set a new record for the Law School’s public service funding this year,” said Assistant Dean for Public Service Annie Kim ’99, director of the Mortimer Caplin Public Service Center and Program in Law and Public Service. “With the Law School funding 100% of the baseline Public Service Summer grants and additional funding coming through PILA+ grants, UVA Law students now have more options than ever for pursuing public service and judicial internships.”

Grant recipients are required to apply and qualify for the funding by volunteering their time for pro bono work — 40 hours per grant. Grantees must also have secured a public service or judicial internship position and agree to work at least 320 hours for their summer employer(s). This year, students volunteered over 9,262 hours, an average of 55 per student grantee.

To be eligible for PILA+ funding, a student must first receive a Public Service Center grant.

“We are so thankful to the outgoing board for their leadership while we transitioned to the PILA+ grant program,” said PILA President Mary Merkel ’23, a Claire Corcoran Award recipient who will work at the Advocates for Children of New York this summer. “Because every dollar we raise through our fundraising now goes directly to a student working a public service internship, we are hopeful that the PILA+ grants will help enable more students to be able to pursue public interest work.”

Here’s a look at what four of the fellows have planned. (See full list of jobs and locations)

Scott Chamberlain ’23

Hometown: Canton, Massachusetts

College/education: Boston College, bachelor’s degree in history and sociology

Summer job: U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee

What he’ll be doing: I will help senators and their staff prepare for nominations, oversight hearings and legislative hearings. Specifically, I will research nominees and pending legislation, and write briefs and questions for members of the Judiciary Committee in advance of hearings. 

Goals: I hope to gain a greater understanding of the legislative process and apply the research and writing skills I’ve learned in law school to the work I’ll be doing this summer. 

Ruby Cherian ’23

Hometown: Sunnyvale, Texas

College/education: University of Texas, bachelor’s degrees in biology and government

Summer job: The Bronx Defenders 

What she’ll be doing: I will be working in the Civil Action Practice. The Bronx Defenders prides itself on a providing holistic defense, and CAP addresses the civil consequences that arise from a criminal conviction. 

Goals: I’m looking forward to learning more about the holistic model of defense and working with a team to address the totality of a client’s interaction with the legal system. I also look forward to learning more about economic justice through housing, employment and property forfeiture work. 

Sydney Merritt ’24

Hometown: Miami

College/education: George Washington University, bachelor’s degree in public health and psychology; Johns Hopkins University, master’s degree in public health in health policy

Summer job: U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Fraud Section

What she’ll be doing: I will be working directly with DOJ attorneys to support investigations on a variety of cutting-edge legal issues related to a range of economic crime enforcement priorities.

Goals: I hope to gain deeper insight into health care fraud investigations, as well as experience drafting litigation documents and analyzing policy proposals.

Taleena Nadkarni ’24

Hometown: Naperville, Illinois

College/education: New York University, bachelor’s degree in journalism

Summer job: The Center for Reproductive Rights, New York

What she’ll be doing: I will be working on a variety of projects with the center’s State Policy & Advocacy Team, including monitoring, tracking and analyzing state legislation and policy developments related to reproductive rights. I will also help create policy and advocacy materials and conduct legal research.

Goals: I want to spend this summer protecting the fundamental rights of all people to make informed, personal decisions about their bodies and their health. My goal is to advance the center’s mission of expanding access to reproductive care, to learn more about what it takes to become an effective health advocate and to contribute what I can to the reproductive justice movement — particularly at the state and local level — in this critical moment.