PILI Alumni Spotlight: David Scriven-Young, 2003 PILI Fellow

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PILI is grateful to David Scriven-Young who has been serving as Chair for our Alumni Network Leadership Council for the last year. Dave was a 2003 Graduate Fellow at the Lake Michigan Federation (now known as the Alliance for the Great Lakes) and is now Senior Counsel at Peckar & Abramson, P.C.

What have you been up to since your PILI Fellowship concluded?

Since my PILI Fellowship concluded, I developed an expertise in environmental law and have developed a national commercial litigation practice. Currently, I am with Peckar & Abramson, P.C., which is recognized as the largest law firm serving the construction industry, with 115 lawyers and 10 offices around the U.S. I have also kept a fairly robust pro bono practice, serving individuals, environmental nonprofits and arts-related nonprofits and schools. 

What was your favorite thing about being a PILI Fellow? 

My favorite thing about being a PILI Fellow was being part of a community that wanted to make a difference in the world. I did my Fellowship at Lake Michigan Federation (now known as Alliance for the Great Lakes), and it was great working with folks who had a true passion for protecting the environment and utilizing the Great Lakes as a resource. I also enjoyed PILI’s summer educational opportunities and meeting the other students who were doing an Internship or Fellowship.

How has your commitment to service played a role in your life and career?

Beyond doing pro bono work, I have consistently been in leadership for service and professional-based organizations. These include the American Bar Association, where I served as an officer of the Young Lawyers Division and currently serve in the Litigation Section as host of the podcast “Litigation Radio”, and the Chicago Bar Association, where I was on the Board of Managers and currently serve as chair of the Commercial Litigation Committee and co-chair efforts to expand legal education for the public. Also, during the last election cycle, I was elected as Tax Collector for my local township government. I believe it is critical for lawyers to be involved in their community and to give back in gratitude for the opportunities we have received.

Why do you like serving on the Alumni Network Leadership Council?

I serve on the Alumni Network Leadership Council and stayed involved with PILI for two reasons. First, every time I attend a PILI meeting, I am inspired by my colleagues and am reminded of my own commitment to do pro bono work. Second, PILI meetings and events are fun — great people and interesting conversations. I encourage PILI Alumni to become more involved! See you at the next event.

Read more Alumni Spotlights »

Michael Bergmann is Special Guest Columnist for Illinois Courts Connect

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Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Anne M. Burke invited PILI Executive Director Michael Bergmann to be a special guest columnist in the August 2021 edition of Illinois Courts Connect, the monthly newsletter of the Illinois Judicial Branch. The article was entitled, “Expanding Our Understanding of Access to Justice for All.”

Read the article at IllinoisCourts.gov»

PILI Partners with the Illinois Judges Association on Pro Bono

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Retired Madison County Judge Barbara Crowder took the reigns of the Illinois Judges Association (IJA) as its president in June 2021. As one of her presidential initiatives, Judge Crowder established the IJA Pro Bono Committee. Under the leadership of Justice Thomas Kilbride (Ret.) and Judge Julie Katz, the IJA Pro Bono Committee is meant to highlight the great unmet need for pro bono legal services across our state, and to highlight ways in which sitting judges can support and encourage pro bono and retired judges can provide pro bono service.

Neither pro bono nor PILI were new to Judge Crowder. She has been an advocate for pro bono and access to justice throughout her legal career. Most recently, Judge Crowder served as the inaugural chair of PILI’s Third Judicial Circuit Pro Bono Committee from its launch in 2011 until her retirement from the bench in 2018. Through the IJA Pro Bono Committee, Judge Crowder intends for the IJA to recruit retired judges to assist in providing legal advice on cases and will also explore ways that sitting judges can make litigants feel more comfortable in the courtroom, help them to better understand the legal process and ensure they have access to legal resources.

“As members of the legal system, judges help people resolve conflicts and get through tough times while treating them fairly and with dignity,” Crowder said. “As a statewide organization, the IJA  has the ability to make a significant impact across the state and ensure Illinoisans have access to justice, regardless of their financial situation.”

Likewise, those she tapped to lead the effort share her career-long commitment to pro bono and access to justice. Former Illinois Supreme Court Justice Tom Kilbride began his legal career as a legal aid attorney, setting the stage for his lifelong commitment to access to justice. He went on to build a successful private practice representing a broad range of clients, including pro bono clients, before his election to the Illinois Supreme Court in 2000. Justice Kilbride served on the Court for 20 years, and during his tenure as Chief Justice he spearheaded the formation of the Illinois Supreme Court’s Commission on Access to Justice.

St. Clair County Judge Julie Katz’s legal career has also featured a commitment to pro bono and access to justice. Prior to her judicial service, Judge Katz was a regular pro bono volunteer through Land of Lincoln Legal Aid. She also served on and ultimately chaired the Illinois State Bar Association’s Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services. Judge Katz has been serving as chair of the Twentieth Judicial Circuit Pro Bono Committee since it was established in 2018.

“PILI is thrilled to partner with the IJA on this very important project,” said PILI Executive Director Michael G. Bergmann. “The vast unmet need for civil legal services that exists in Illinois, especially as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, requires the whole of the legal community to come together to ensure equal access to justice for all.”

Over the next year, the IJA will spotlight sitting judges who support pro bono and retired judges who perform pro bono legal services. The IJA will also promote Illinois Free Legal Services as a pro bono opportunity that is available in all 102 counties in Illinois to retired judges who are IJA members and encourage them to become active volunteers through the site. The committee is also planning an event to commemorate the national celebration of Pro Bono Week in October 2021.

For more information about this effort, contact Michael Bergmann by email or at 312-832-5129.

Learn more about the IJA’s efforts on pro bono »

Make a Donation to Help Ensure Equal Access to Justice

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We have been so impressed at how the legal community has stepped up during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Seeing the power of the PILI network – our Interns, Fellows, volunteers and supporters – coming together to help those in need has kept us inspired and anchored over this last year. When Illinois shutdown, we made sure the gateway to justice remained open. We should all be proud of what we have accomplished in the past year, but our work is far from over.

While we are all excited to get back to life after the pandemic, we cannot forget our vulnerable neighbors. Many of the protections shielding them during this difficult time are expiring; the eviction moratorium is being rolled back and debt payments will soon come due. Civil legal aid helps to ease these burdens in our communities. Pro bono attorneys can work to keep families housed and help clients access the resources available to them. Through pro bono work, we can help right some of the wrongs faced by the poor and underrepresented in our state and undo some of the injustices in our society.

In Illinois, PILI is the gateway through which the legal community serves. PILI converts gifts of time and money into system-wide positive impact, whether that is by introducing law students and recent graduates to legal aid through our Law Student Internship and Graduate Fellowship Programs, ensuring their ongoing connection to public interest law through the Alumni Network, or mobilizing the legal community and providing pro bono opportunities through our Pro Bono Program.

Help ensure equal access to justice during this important time by donating using the enclosed envelope or online at www.pili.org/donate. Coming together, working together, we are opening the gateway to justice ever wider, and we cannot do it without you by our side.

Make a Donation

PILI Guest Post: 31st Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Its Integration Mandate

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Cristina Headley Headshot

This is a guest post from Cristina Headley, a Staff Attorney and the Illinois ADA Project Manager at Equip for Equality. Cristina is also a PILI Alum and serves on PILI’s Alumni Network Leadership Council. This post was published on the 31st anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

July 26th, 2021 marks the 31st anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This comprehensive civil rights law prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, state and local government, public accommodations, commercial facilities, transportation, and telecommunication. At the time of its signage in 1992, Professor Arlene Mayerson wrote

“The ADA is based on a basic presumption that people with disabilities want to work and are capable of working, want to be members of their communities and are capable of being members of their communities, and that exclusion and segregation cannot be tolerated. Accommodating a person with a disability is no longer a matter of charity but instead a basic issue of civil rights.”

After 31 years, people with disabilities are closer to the goals of equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency as defined by the law. Nonetheless, many people who want to live, work, and receive services integrated in the community wait for state and local governments to provide those opportunities as mandated by title II of the ADA and the Supreme Court’s decision in Olmstead v. L.C., 527 U.S. 581 (1999). In Olmstead, the Supreme Court held that title II prohibits the unjustified segregation of individuals with disabilities and that public entities must provide community-based services. The court explained that “confinement in an institution severely diminishes the everyday life activities of individuals, including family relations, social contacts, work options, economic independence, educational advancement, and cultural enrichment.”

The COVID-19 pandemic amplified the importance of enforcing and funding the ADA’s integration mandate. It showed that living outside of institutions not only provides individuals with disabilities with an opportunity to participate in community life, but also can mean a difference between life and death. People with disabilities who live in congregate facilities and the people who provide their services have experienced high rates of infection and death. One study with “data from eight states representing about one-third of the U.S. population found that people with [an intellectual or developmental disability] who leveraged community-based services were no more likely than members of the general population to contract the coronavirus.”

Despite enormous benefits of community living and the dangers of institutional living, Illinois remains reliant on large public and private institutions. There are currently 1,650 individuals living with IDD in Illinois state-operated developmental centers. In contrast, Wisconsin had 307 people in 2020, and Indiana and Michigan have none. Moreover, unlike its neighbors, Illinois has a large system of private IDD institutions (ICD-DDs), with more than 200 ICF-DDs serving more than 3,700 people.

Especially in Illinois, we must invest more into home and community-based systems so that people with disabilities can live safe and fulfilling lives in their homes and communities as the ADA requires.

Five Volunteers Named to PILI’s 2021 Pro Bono Volunteer Honor Roll

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As part of our 2021 virtual Annual Pro Bono Reception, we celebrated those named to PILI’s Pro Bono Volunteer Honor Roll. Those recognized through our Honor Roll have been chosen by PILI staff for their volunteer contributions through the pro bono opportunities available through PILI’s Pro Bono Program. We are so grateful to these extraordinary volunteers whom we regularly rely on to help individuals, families and communities in need.

Five volunteers have been named to the 2021 Honor Roll.

Reuben Bernick

Illinois Free Legal Answers

Reuben is a volunteer with Illinois Free Legal Answers. Illinois Free Legal Answers is a virtual legal clinic where low-income Illinois residents can submit a question online to ask a lawyer for help with a civil legal issue. Reuben has answered over 750 questions from clients in need and has volunteered for our Illinois Free Legal Answers for Civil Appeals project as well.

Judge Michael Brandt (Ret.)

Conflict of Interest Pro Bono Referral Panel

Michael Brandt has helped with a lot of pro bono projects since retiring from the bench, including our Conflict of Interest Pro Bono Referral Panel. This panel, which is piloted in Peoria provides a referral source for participating legal aid agencies to send potential clients who have been denied service due to a conflict of interest.

Sabreena El-Amin

Legal Prep Community Law Clinic

Sabreena is a PILI Alum and YPB Member, as well as a volunteer with our Legal Prep Community Law Clinic, a monthly community-based clinic at Legal Prep Charter Academies in the Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago. She has also recruited volunteers to participate in the clinic.

Jeremy Heiple

Self-Represented Litigant Help Desk

Jeremy Heiple not only volunteers at our Self-Represented Litigant Help Desks, but helped to to pilot a virtual model in Tazewell this year. These help desks utilize volunteers to meet with self-represented litigants for 30-minute appointments to help them understand and navigate the legal process, fill out forms and answer questions. While we have established Help Desk in the Champaign, Macon, Madison, Peoria and Tazewell County Courthouses.

Gail Rogers

Illinois Armed Forces Legal Aid Network

Gail Rogers has worked with clients through the Illinois Armed Forces Legal Aid Network, or IL-AFLAN. IL-AFLAN provides civil legal services across Illinois to veterans, active duty military and their spouses and dependents and as an IL-AFLAN member, PILI refers pro bono matters in the 101 counties outside of Cook County.

Watch the event »

PILI Announces its 2021 Pro Bono Recognition Roster

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The 2021 Pro Bono Recognition Roster will be recognized at the 2021 Annual Pro Bono Reception: Pro Bono Virtual Tour on June 16th at 12:00 noon.

On June 16, 2021 as part of our Virtual Annual Pro Bono Reception, PILI recognized the 47 law firms and corporations named to the 2021 Pro Bono Recognition Roster.

The Pro Bono Recognition Roster honors law firms and corporations that have made significant commitments and contributions to pro bono throughout the state of Illinois to provide legal assistance to individuals, families and communities in need. 

Congratulations to those named, whose substantial pro bono contributions are making a difference in addressing the legal needs of low-income and underrepresented Illinoisans!

2021 PRO BONO RECOGNITION ROSTER

Allstate Insurance Company
Baker McKenzie LLP
Barnes & Thornburg LLP
Boodell & Domanskis, LLC
Brinks Gilson & Lione
Chapman and Cutler LLP
Charles River Associates
Dechert LLP
Deere & Company
Dent Law Offices, Ltd.
Dentons
DLA Piper
Exelon
Faegre Drinker
Foley & Lardner LLP
Haynes and Boone LLP
Jenner & Block
JPMorgan Chase and Co.
Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP
King & Spalding
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Lane & Waterman LLP
Latham & Watkins LLP
LexisNexis
Mayer Brown
McDermott Will & Emery LLP
McDonald’s Corporation
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Much Shelist
Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg LLP
Nixon Peabody
Paul Hastings LLP
Pepping Balk Kincaid & Olson, LTD
Perkins Coie LLP
Reed Smith LLP
Ropes & Gray LLP
Salvatore Prescott Porter & Porter
Schiff Hardin LLP
Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Sidley Austin LLP
State Farm
Steptoe & Johnson LLP
Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP
Thompson Coburn LLP
United Airlines, Inc.
Winston & Strawn LLP
Zurich North America

Click here to see past Pro Bono Recognition Rosters »

Meet the 2021 Class of Summer Interns and Fellows

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PILI is excited to welcome the 2021 class of summer Interns and Fellows! This year, 46 summer Law Student Interns and 63 Graduate Fellows will provide 37,300 hours of legal services.

Summer 2021 Law Student Interns include rising 2Ls and 3Ls. They will each provide 400 hours of legal services at 30 legal service agencies, for a total of 18,400 hours served. Meet the 2021 Summer Interns »

A number of those Interns are made possible by special donations for Named & Honorary Interns. This year, we are grateful for two new such Internships including the Christopher J. Horsch Memorial Intern and the Zurich North America Named Intern. Meet all the Named & Honorary Interns »

Additionally, our 2021 Graduate Fellows are sponsored by area law firms. They will each provide 300 hours of legal services between graduation and joining their firm, for a total of 18,900 hours served at one of 60 legal service agencies. Meet the 2021 Graduate Fellows »

Each summer, PILI organizes the Educational Seminar Series for Interns and Fellows. This year, these seminars will be virtual and they are open to any intern working in public interest law or at a government agency, regardless of whether they receive PILI funding. You can find more information and receive updates about these programs here.

Learn more about the Law Student Internship Program »

Learn more about the Graduate Fellowship Program »