Alumni Spotlights

PILI Alumni Spotlight: April Faith-Slaker, 2006 Law Student Intern
“It was very humbling to be put in the position where people were looking to me for help, and having the responsibility to then figure out how I could best help them.”

PILI Alumni Spotlight: Jajah Wu, 2010 Graduate Fellow
“The work I did through my PILI Fellowship gave me the tools to start off on the right foot in my legal career. More importantly, my work as a PILI gave me an internal compass, and a sense that I was truly making a difference in the lives of the children I served.”

PILI Alumni Spotlight: Colleen Bisher-Fry, 2009 Law Student Intern
“Interning at CGLA was my first opportunity to be in court, standing before the bench, asking for dates and arguing motions.”

PILI Alumni Spotlight: Cara Hendrickson, 2001 Graduate Fellow
“PILI is a very good model for cooperation between the private bar and the public interest, and I’ve drawn on that model in the rest of my career.”

PILI Alumni Spotlight: Anita Weinberg, 1984 Intern
“My PILI Internship introduced me to a large network of lawyers committed to public interest law, I’m extremely proud to be a part of this network and community.”

PILI Alumni Spotlight: Lyman Welch, 1993 Graduate Fellow
“PILI let me experience how public interest lawyers make the world a better place and encouraged me to devote my career to public interest law to protect the environment.”

PILI Alumni Spotlight: Liz Tracy, 2014 Intern
“Because of PILI, I was able to make a meaningful impact in the lives of families with children with disabilities, obtain practical experience in education law, and meet accomplished attorneys, judges, and future attorneys.”

PILI Alumni Spotlight: Taylor Whitten, 2014 Fellow
“It felt like I was a part of justice in action and it made me certain that practicing law was not only a privilege, but an honor, a wonderful avocation that could truly affect people’s lives.”

2014 Fellow Alumni Award: Andrew Vail
Andrew co-chairs Jenner & Block’s Pro Bono Committee, and has dedicated more than 5,000 hours to pro bono matters, including work on several high-profile wrongful conviction cases.

2014 PILI Intern Alumni Award: Matthew Jenkins
Matt handles and tries complex, significant and high-profile cases, and he is proud of the work he does on behalf of those clients. He is equally as proud of his cases that don’t make headlines, involving those often without a voice and without access to quality legal representation.