During and around the week of October 20th to 26th, PILI participated in the national celebration of Pro Bono Week. Celebrated annually and organized nationally by the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service, Pro Bono Week is intended to inspire even greater pro bono participation by the legal community throughout the nation.

From L to R: PILI Attorney Program Manager Arthur Surratt and Intake & Program Support Associate Lexi Korn at the CBA/CBF Pro Bono Fair

PILI celebrated with a variety of events across the state over the course of several weeks, bringing together hundreds of pro bono advocates. We also recognized nine local attorneys and one courthouse staff person through several of our Judicial Circuit Pro Bono Committees for their outstanding pro bono work during events held throughout the week. Congratulations to our award recipients! Our team was on hand in Chicago as well for the CBA/CBF’s 31st Annual Pro Bono & Community Service Fair.

We also celebrated Pro Bono Week with some of our partners by doing pro bono! In conjunction with our Eleventh Judicial Circuit Pro Bono Committee and our partners at Prairie State Legal Services, we held a Criminal Records Relief Clinic in Bloomington the Friday before Pro Bono Week. PILI also held several Illinois Free Legal Answers clinics across the state, including Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner & Wells Fargo, Chapman and Cutler,  DePaul University College of Law, GE HealthCare, State Farm, SIU Simmons Law School and the University of Chicago Law School. Through these clinics, over 70 civil legal questions from those in need were answered, which makes a big difference.

In the Third Judicial Circuit, Deanna Litzenburg Received the Pro Bono Service Award and Stephanie McSparin Received the Judge Barbara Crowder Pro Bono Champion Award

From L to R: PILI Executive Director Michael Bergmann, Stephanie McSparin, Justice David Overstreet, Deanna Litzenburg & PILI Attorney Program Manger Andrea Schrader

With decades of experience in the Third Judicial Circuit, Deanna Litzenburg has established herself as a trusted lawyer dedicated to serving others in the community. Deanna actively participates in the annual Wills and POA Clinic for veterans and seniors. She never hesitates to take a pro bono case outside of clinics, and has handled several pro bono matters in the last year. Her diligent advocacy exemplifies a commitment to justice and underscores the vital role that generosity plays in transforming the legal industry.

Stephanie McSparin has served as a Madison County Court Security Officer for eighteen years and has gone above and beyond her duties to ensure everyone that comes into the courthouse is safe and treated with respect. Stephanie goes out of her way to make patrons feel welcome and improve their contact with the justice system by giving directions and helping them find forms and information. Stephanie is always there and willing to assist. The award is presented to a courthouse staff person or member of the judiciary who demonstrate their support for pro bono in the courthouse on a regular basis. It is named after Judge Barbara Crowder (Ret.) who served as chair of PILI’s Third Judicial Circuit Pro Bono Committee from its launch in 2011 until her retirement.

In the Fifth Judicial Circuit, Billie Constant Received the Pro Bono Service Award and Kaye Dent was Recognized as Outgoing Chair

From L to R: Outgoing Chair Kaye Dent, Pro Bono Service Award Recipient Billie Constant, Illinois Appellate Court Justice Craig DeArmond & Chair Angel Wawrzynek

Billie Constant is a partner at Constant, Wawrzynek & Grove, LLC in Mattoon. She is generous with her time and lends her skill set to assist those in need by providing pro bono assistance in family law matters and as the GAL in Cumberland County. She goes above and beyond, especially with her pro bono clients, to provide guidance and encouragement to ensure success for their families. Billie has also provided pro bono assistance through Illinois Free Legal Answers and in criminal records relief cases.

Lisa “Kaye” DeSelms Dent of Dent Coulson Elder Law was also recognized for her service as the chair of PILI’s Fifth Judicial Circuit Pro Bono Committee. Kaye has served on the committee since its inception in 2013, and she has served as its chair since 2016. She also enjoys accepting pro bono cases referred from various non-profit agencies, finding the experience a very rewarding part of the practice of law.

In the Sixth Judicial Circuit, Lauren Aronson, Marie Casteel & Mia Hernandez Received the Community Legal Services Award

From L to R: Chair Mark Palmer with the 2024 Community Legal Services Award recipients Mia Hernandez, Lauren Aronson & Marie Casteel

Lauren Aronson is a Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Immigration Law Clinic at the University of Illinois College of Law. She conducts pro bono immigration legal consultations through the New American Welcome Center (NAWC). Lauren also goes to local high schools to provide free immigration legal consultations as well as Know-Your-Rights presentations to minors. Additionally, she became a guardian ad litem (GAL) to provide pro bono service to Spanish-speaking community members as there were no other Spanish-speaking GALs in the county.

Marie Casteel owns Casteel Law, LLC and practices in the area of family law. She is a certified mediator and Guardian ad Litem. Marie was nominated and is being recognized for her work on one particularly extensive case through Land of Lincoln’s Pro Bono Program. She has dedicated over 50 hours of her pro bono time within the last twelve months to support her client in her ongoing long legal battle.

Mia Hernandez is a shareholder at Webber & Thies, P.C. She has served as a Guardian ad Litem in several complicated guardianship cases over the past several years, representing her client’s pro bono. Mia goes above and beyond in her pro bono representation of the best interests of minors and disabled adults, and she provides countless hours of valuable service to the community through her excellent work.

In the Tenth Judicial Circuit, Judge Michael Brandt (Ret.) Received the Joseph A. Dailing Pro Bono Service Award

From L to R: Chair Judge Lisa Wilson, Illinois Appellate Court Justice Amy Lannerd & Judge Alicia Washington

Michael Brandt was a Circuit Judge in the Tenth Judicial Circuit for over 20 years, including holding the position of Chief Judge from 2011 to 2013. After retiring from the bench, he continued his law practice and is also an avid pro bono volunteer. He has provided countless hours of service through Prairie State Legal Services and through the Public Interest Law Initiative. Through PILI, Judge Brandt has volunteered with the Conflict of Interest Pro Bono Referral Panel, and the Self-Represented Litigant Help Desks in Peoria and Tazewell County Courthouses. Judge Brandt is also a member of the Tenth Judicial Circuit Pro Bono Committee.

In the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit, Jim Ryan Received the Pro Bono Service Award

L to R: PILI Senior Managing Attorney Jessica Schneider, Award Recipient Jim Ryan & Kim Thielbar of Prairie State Legal Services

Jim Ryan is a partner at Roberts & Caruso. In 2009, Jim was instrumental in putting together the Guardianship Pro Se Help Desk in Courtroom. He brought the idea to the DuPage County Bar Association, assembled a roster of volunteers and created the help desk training video for volunteers. Even now, Jim continues to volunteer at the desk regularly. Due to Jim’s leadership and the assistance provided through the Help Desk, Self-Represented litigants are getting help that they would not otherwise have access to, the court process moves faster and smoother, the time in front of the bench is more efficient and more informative, and the return trips to court are reduced dramatically. Jim is also a member of the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit Pro Bono Committee.

In the Twenty-Third Judicial Circuit, Nicole Sartori and Rick Turner Received the Pro Bono Service Award

From L to R: Rick Turner & Nicole Sartori

Nicole Sartori is a partner at McAdams & Sartori, LLC. She believes in doing pro bono work to increase access to justice for individuals that otherwise could not afford assistance.  She is a former president of the Kendall County Bar Association, and she is a member of PILI’s Twenty-Third Judicial Circuit Pro Bono Committee. Nicole also uses her expertise in family law to assist and represent individuals on a pro bono basis, regularly volunteering with PILI and Prairie State, including at the Criminal Records Relief Clinics in multiple counties and for the Lawyer in the Lobby program in Kendall County.

Rick Turner is a partner at Turner Law Group. He is passionate about being involved in the local community and using his skills as an attorney to increase access to justice for those who are not able to afford assistance. Rick is a founding member of the PILI Twenty-Third Circuit Judicial Pro Bono Committee. He has also volunteered at several clinics in the circuit, including the PILI Illinois Free Legal Answers Clinics and the PILI & Prairie State Criminal Records Relief Clinic. Rick also volunteers for the Lawyer in the Lobby program.

As we wrap up Pro Bono Week 2024, we want to say an enthusiastic “THANK YOU!” to all of PILI’s pro bono volunteers from across the state through our pro bono opportunities, including our Self-Represented Litigant Help Desks, Illinois Armed Forces Legal Aid Network, Illinois Free Legal Answers and Conflict of Interest Pro Bono Referral Panel. Through the efforts of these volunteers, PILI has helped nearly 4,000 low-income Illinoisans over the last year with their civil legal issues.

Learn more about how to Get Involved with PILI and how to Support our Work.

Check out the October 2024 PILI Post

Check out the September 2024 PILI Post

PILI began its new fiscal year on September 1st and in the budget adopted by its Board of Directors, PILI will fund its largest number of Law Student Interns ever in the year to come. PILI will grant $442,000 to fund 80 Law Student Interns at 33 public interest law agencies across Illinois in the coming year. For the 2024-2025 school-year, PILI will fund 24 Law Student Interns, 12 per semester for 200 hours with the school-year stipend set at $3,250. In Summer 2025 PILI will fund 56 Law Student Interns for 400 hours with the stipend set at $6,500. PILI previously increased its stipend amounts over the prior two fiscal years.

PILI’s Law Student Internship Program remains at the center of PILI and provides a start for a new generation of lawyers to learn about and commit to public interest law and pro bono service. Over the last year, our community of Law Student Interns and Graduate Fellows have collectively provided an additional 32,700 hours of legal assistance to those in need. PILI has operated its Law Student Internship Program since its founding in 1977, and it is the only program of its kind that attracts law students from across the country to serve at public interest law agencies in Illinois.

While PILI is a funding source for stipends, PILI still works closely with Interns to ensure quality placements, supervision and continuing education through extensive programming along with networking opportunities for Interns to connect and learn from each other. The program helps PILI’s participating public interest law agencies serve more clients and increase their impact while also helping law students develop their legal and client interaction skills, build their professional networks, and strengthen their commitment to public interest law and service. Over 5,000 former Law Student Interns and Graduate Fellows make up PILI’s Alumni Network to maintain a careerlong connection to PILI, to each other and the public interest law community.

“PILI’s Law Student Internship Program is our flagship program, remaining just as critical today as it was when PILI was founded in 1977,” said PILI Executive Director Michael Bergmann. “This program ensures that law students have the opportunity and support to gain invaluable practical experience in the public interest law sector while assisting in the critical work of PILI’s participating agencies across Illinois.”

See a full list of agencies in Illinois approved to host PILI Law Student Interns here »

Learn more about PILI’s Law Student Internship Program »

With the start of our new fiscal year, we are excited to welcome four new members of our Board of Directors!

Christopher A. Hall

Jones Day

Chris is a partner at Jones Day where he focuses his practice on data privacy, class action defense, commercial disputes, trade secret and unfair competition. He is a first chair trial lawyer and also an experienced appellate advocate and has argued in multiple Circuit Courts, resulting in several published opinions. Chris has led defense efforts in multiple nationwide class actions, including claims under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the Sherman Act. Chris has spearheaded and assisted with strategic defense efforts that successfully eliminated repeated claims by members of the consumer rights plaintiffs bar. He has also obtained favorable outcomes for clients in claims involving breach of contract, trade secret misappropriation, unfair competition, and Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).

Chris also devotes substantial time to pro bono work including representing tenants in eviction defense cases, participating in Jones Day’s immigration work in Laredo, Texas, and representing asylum seekers elsewhere as well. He also served as an AmeriCorps Vista from 2010-2011.

Michael Kozlowski

Esbrook P.C.

Mike is a Partner at Esbrook P.C. who counsels individuals and entities on a variety of complex litigation matters including commercial litigation, insurance litigation, class actions, data privacy litigation, environmental litigation including CERCLA, RCRA, and OPA, breach of fiduciary duty, disputes arising out of corporate transactions, and business law. He has successfully served as trial counsel for clients in high-stakes litigation and has experience in both state and federal courts. He leverages his complex litigation experience and serves as outside general counsel to several businesses in a variety of industries.

Mike serves on the Board of Managers for the Chicago Bar Association and will be one of their representatives on PILI’s Board of Directors. While in law school, he volunteered to provide legal help to disadvantaged women working with the University of Illinois College of Law’s Domestic Violence Legal Clinic. In addition to serving as a teaching and research assistant throughout law school, he is a graduate of the Mirza Trial Academy.

Hope Tone-O’Keefe

Jenner & Block LLP

Hope is as an Associate at Jenner & Block with a focus on business litigation, class action, ERISA cases and aerospace and defense. She leverages her experience in all phases of litigation to help her clients achieve their goals. When global corporations face disputes, from class action complaints to government contracts proceedings to complex ERISA matters, Hope is a trusted advisor. She makes a thorough analysis of the matter and offers strategies for success, be they litigation or other tools for resolution.

Hope maintains a diligent pro bono practice, with a focus on civil rights and immigration issues. In partnership with the National Immigrant Justice Center, Hope has secured asylum for a number of clients. In 2020, NIJC named Hope a “Rising Star” for providing high-quality pro bono service to clients with complex immigration cases. She serves on the NIJC’s Associate Board and the board of Catholic Charities Legal Assistance. Hope is a “Double PILI” having served as a PILI Law Student Summer Intern at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2016 and then as a PILI Graduate Fellow at Catholic Charities sponsored by Jenner & Block.

Reid Smith

Winston & Strawn LLP

Reid is a partner at Winston & Strawn focusing his practice on complex civil litigation and has a broad range of experience in federal, state, and appellate disputes. He has extensive experience managing class action, multidistrict, and other high-stakes commercial litigation. He has represented clients in a wide variety of industries, including agribusiness, pharmaceuticals, technology services, financial services, and insurance. Reid has experience briefing critical motions at the trial court level and has also briefed disputes at every level of federal and state appellate court. He has also argued critical motions, including several successful arguments on case-dispositive motions and one argument in favor of class certification.

Reid devotes a substantial amount of his time to his pro bono practice. Before joining Winston & Strawn, Reid completed a PILI Graduate Fellowship with Ascend Justice. There, he assisted Ascend Justice in their advocacy work for families who have been wrongly threatened with losing their child in the child welfare system. Reid continues to work with Ascend Justice through Winston’s pro bono program. He is also a member of Ascend Justice’s Young Professionals Board.

Bide Akande of the Office of the Cook County Public Defender will serve as the 2024-2025 Chair of PILI’s Young Professionals Board

Established in 2017, PILI’s Young Professionals Board (YPB) is a group dedicated to empowering PILI through fundraising and by serving as PILI’s ambassadors in their communities. YPB members are emerging leaders who have begun their professional careers in the past fifteen years.

With the start of PILI’s new fiscal year on September 1st, new leaders took the helm of the YPB. Bide Akande of the Office of the Cook County Public Defender will serve as Chair and is joined by Anthony Lewis of Kovitz Shifrin Nesbit who will serve as Chair-Elect and Brandon Knop of Molson Coors who will serve as Vice Chair.

As he begins his role as Chair, Bide said, “I am looking forward to building on the great work of our prior chairs and our excellent YPB!  I’m excited to make the Arcade for Legal Aid even more of a success, and I’m looking forward to increasing the number of pro bono opportunities for young professionals.”

Bide is currently working as an Assistant Public Defender with the Office of the Cook County Public Defender handling a variety of matters for clients with limited means. Previously, Bide was a Senior Associate at Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP where he focused his practice on litigating reinsurance claims, commercial contract disputes and product liability claims. Bide graduated from the University of Illinois School of Law and was a member of the Student Bar Association, Phi Alpha Delta Mock Trial Team, International Law Organization as well as the American Civil Liberties Union. Bide has been an active member of the Young Professionals Board for several years, most recently serving as Chair-Elect and being instrumental in the fundraising and planning of Young Professionals Board events.

Jill Roberts of the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts will serve as the 2024-2025 Chair of PILI’s Alumni Network Leadership Council

PILI’s Alumni Network consisting of nearly 5,000 former PILI Law Student Interns and Graduate Fellows is led by the Alumni Network Leadership Council, a group of PILI Alumni committed to staying connected to PILI and public interest law, and to giving back to their community.

With PILI’s new fiscal year beginning on September 1st, PILI welcomed new leadership for the Alumni Network Leadership Council. Jill Roberts of the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts assumed the position of Chair and is joined in leadership by Chair-Elect Kimberly Mills of the Office of the Cook County Public Defender and Vice Chair Casey Nelson of McGuireWoods.

When asked about what she is looking forward to in the upcoming year, Jill had this to say, “I am looking forward to working with this great group of PILI Alumni on the Council, as well as welcoming the newest class of PILI Alumni into the fold.  I’m hoping to maintain our programming levels and explore how to engage alumni who haven’t been active with PILI lately.”

Jill started her career as a legal aid lawyer and decided to pivot away from litigation and look for public interest related jobs where she felt she could make a larger impact. She now works in the Access to Justice Division of the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts as Deputy Director. This division specifically focuses on reforming the civil court system from the inside through a wide variety of initiatives from language access to statewide forms. Jill oversees the Court Navigator Network with circuit clerk and court staff representatives from across the state as well as distributing Access to Justice Commission grant funds for local jurisdictions to improve access to justice.

Jill graduated from Chicago-Kent College of Law in Chicago and served as a PILI Law Student Intern at Lawyer’s Committee for Better Housing (now called Law Center for Better Housing). Having a 711 license, Jill got to do every part of cases from intake to building visits to representing tenants in court.