PILI Announces Spring Semester Law Student Interns

The Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) has announced the names of eight law student interns who will work at public interest law agencies in Chicago during the spring semester.

Interns work 200 hours part-time during the semester, with PILI providing a living stipend, as well as ensuring quality supervision by experienced attorneys and providing extra educational, networking, and advising opportunities.  

This program helps interns launch successful public interest law careers, while also helping the intern’s agency increase their impact. PILI interns work on a wide and diverse range of issues, depending on the agency where they serve and the issues that agency addresses. In addition to direct client services, PILI interns also work on transactional matters, such as policy development and analysis, advocacy, impact litigation, and more.  

Spring 2019 PILI interns:

• Mary Castro from Depaul University College of Law at Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing
• Joby Celoza from the University of Chicago Law School at National Immigrant Justice Center
• Joan Hayner from University of Michigan Law School at Roger Baldwin Foundation – ACLU
• Amy Lenz from Loyola University Chicago School of Law at CARPLS
• Joanna Martin from Chicago-Kent College of Law at MALDEF
• Christina Mendoza from Loyola University Chicago School of Law at Chicago Legal Clinic
• Natanya Pope-Sohel from Chicago-Kent College of Law at Cabrini Green Legal Aid
• Emma Smith from Loyola University Chicago School of Law at LAF 

Four of the spring semester internship placements are made possible by special funding commitments from organizational champions for public interest law: 

Baker McKenzie Intern 
Natanya Pope-Sohel from Chicago-Kent College of Law is the Baker McKenzie Intern at Cabrini Green Legal Aid. Baker McKenzie has a longstanding commitment to ensuring access to justice for all of those in need, and funding a school-year internship placement at Cabrini Green Legal Aid through PILI further supports this tradition of service. 

Chicago Bar Foundation Intern
Emma Smith from Loyola University Chicago School of Law is the Chicago Bar Foundation Intern at LAF. As the charitable arm of the CBA, the Chicago Bar Foundation brings the legal community together to improve access to justice for people in need and make the legal system more fair and efficient for everyone. 

Lagbac Intern
Joby Celoza from the University of Chicago Law School is the LAGBAC (Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago) Intern at the National Immigrant Justice Center in their LGBT Immigrant Rights Initiative. The LAGBAC Foundation’s mission is to improve access to the legal and judicial system for all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, intersexed and questioning persons by giving law students the opportunity to learn valuable, practical legal skills while giving back to our community. 

Mary C. Russo Memorial Intern
Joanna Martin from Chicago-Kent College of Law is the Mary C. Russo Memorial Intern at MALDEF. This internship is funded by Mary’s children to honor the memory of their mother who died in 2014. Mary was the consummate volunteer, contributing to her community in many ways, including forming the Office of Volunteer Resources for her city, Virginia Beach, Virginia. She served as director of this office for 37 years, and also chaired many volunteer initiatives focused on education, mental health, drug abuse, and the court system, among others.