Participating Agencies
Below is the complete list of the 60 public interest law agencies in Illinois that have been approved to participate in PILI's Graduate Fellowship Program. Please do not contact the agency directly to apply for a Fellowship, as all applications must be made through PILI's online application system. Learn more about how to apply for a PILI Fellowship.
Interested in doing your Fellowship at an agency not on this list? PILI approves placements outside of this list on a case-by-case basis, when a Fellow is planning to live outside of Illinois between graduation and starting at their firm, or when a Fellow’s interests are in a particular area not represented in our current Participating Agencies. Contact PILI's Program Associate Alex Schumacher by email or by phone at 312-832-5130 to discuss this option.
ACLU of Illinois
The ACLU is devoted to protecting and expanding the civil liberties and civil rights of all Americans. The Roger Baldwin Foundation is the litigation arm of the ACLU of Illinois.
Administer Justice
Administer Justice is a national legal aid that works with churches across the country to help them establish and maintain volunteer-run monthly legal advice clinics (“Gospel Justice Centers”) in their communities. For 23 years, Administer Justice has led the way in providing a simple model for churches, attorneys, and clients to seek justice and find […]
Ascend Justice
Ascend Justice provides free legal assistance to survivors of gender-based violence and families impacted by the child welfare system. We strive to help people achieve safety and stability through holistic legal advocacy and system reform. We work with clients in the following practice areas: Economic Justice, Family Defense, Family Law, Immigration, Incarcerated Survivors, and Order of Protection.
Beyond Legal Aid
Beyond Legal Aid (“Beyond”) is a nonprofit legal services organization that works alongside community activists in a collaborative pursuit for justice. Through our model of Community Activism Lawyering, Beyond seeks to transform legal aid from a transactional service into an empowering process that places decision-making power in the hands of impacted communities. Beyond operates 29 community-located, community-operated, and community-directed programs in partnership with 24 community organizations across Illinois.
Bluhm Legal Clinic, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
The Northwestern University Bluhm Legal Clinic is the legal clinic of the Northwestern University School of Law. The Clinic serves low-income persons with civil, juvenile and criminal legal problems. PILI Fellows work under the supervision of Clinic faculty on a variety of matters, including juvenile justice, immigration, civil matters, entrepreneurship/economic development issues, and death penalty and criminal cases.
Cabrini Green Legal Aid
Cabrini Green Legal Aid (CGLA) is powered by a mission to seek justice for individuals and communities who have been uprooted and disrupted by the criminal legal system. Founded in 1973 to address the urgent legal needs, the criminalization of poverty, and systemic racial inequity in the Cabrini Green community, CGLA has since expanded beyond its neighborhood roots. Today, CGLA serves as a city, county, and statewide leader in providing critical legal support to low-income individuals and communities disproportionately affected by the criminal legal system.
CARPLS
CARPLS is a legal aid hotline that provides advice, information, and referrals to low-income residents of Cook County. Our mission is to increase access to the legal system for low-income people through our hotline work, as well as through Self-Help Projects, which include written and web-based pro se and client education materials, and our court-based advice desks, which prepare clients to represent themselves on pro se matters.
Center for Conflict Resolution
The Center for Conflict Resolution (CCR) is a Chicago-based organization founded in 1979. In the past three decades, CCR has grown to become one of the nation’s premier not-for-profit providers of mediation services and training.
Center for Disability and Elder Law (CDEL)
The Center for Disability & Elder Law (CDEL) is a not-for-profit, pro bono Chicago law firm, serving low-income elderly and disabled persons since 1984. With 1,100 volunteer attorneys from throughout Chicago’s distinguished legal community, CDEL handles cases in many practice areas, including estate planning, housing, consumer claims and dissolution of marriage.
Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE)
Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE) envisions our community free from all forms of sexual exploitation and seeks to achieve that by addressing the culture, institutions, and individuals that perpetrate, profit from, or support sexual violence. Our work includes prevention, policy reform, community engagement, and legal services. CAASE is the primary legal referral for all […]
Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts
Chicago Appleseed is a social impact research and advocacy organization which uses multidisciplinary research to identify community injustices, and to develop and advocate for practical solutions. We focus on the areas of Criminal Justice Reform, Civil Courts Reform, improving access to Justice, and building a new generation of lawyers advocating for social justice through our Future Justice Lawyers of Chicago program.
Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness
The Law Project of the Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness is the only legal organization in Illinois solely dedicated to providing legal representation and advocacy to people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Our team of eleven staff members provide assistance in the areas of education, civil rights, access to health care and public benefits, criminal records relief, housing, family law and other civil legal services. Our Youth Futures Mobile Legal Clinic provides representation to unaccompanied homeless youth in Chicago through targeted outreach at schools, shelters, drop-in centers and other community venues.
Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights
The Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights is a non-profit law and advocacy organization, whose mission is to promote and protect the civil rights of poor, minority, and disadvantaged people in order to facilitate their participation in the social, economic, and political systems of our community and nation.
Chicago Volunteer Legal Services
With more than 44 years of experience, Chicago Volunteer Legal Services (CVLS) is the first and pre-eminent pro bono civil legal aid provider in Chicago. With its pool of nearly 2,500 volunteer attorneys, CVLS is unique in its ability to offer a wide range of totally free civil legal aid to the poor and working poor on an individual basis.
Citizen Advocacy Center
The Citizen Advocacy Center builds democracy for the 21st century by strengthening public participation in community affairs. The Center believes in developing self-government.
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Chicago
CAIR-Chicago is a local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). CAIR is the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights organization and was established to promote an accurate image of Islam and Muslims in America.
DePaul University College of Law Clinical Programs
The DePaul University College of Law Clinical Programs provide legal services to low-income persons and groups working in low-income communities in the Chicago area.
Edwin F. Mandel Legal Clinic
The Edwin F. Mandel Legal Aid Clinic is the clinical program of the University of Chicago Law School. The Clinic specializes in the areas of criminal justice, civil rights, employment discrimination, the rights of the mentally ill, and low-income housing development.
Environmental Law and Policy Center of the Midwest
The Environmental Law and Policy Center (ELPC), the Midwest’s leading public interest environmental advocacy and eco-business innovation organization, seeks to hire PILI Fellows. Our Fellows support ELPC’s state and federal litigation and policy work throughout the Midwest.
Equip for Equality
Equip for Equality, Inc. is a private nonprofit, statewide organization whose mission is to advance the human and civil rights of people with disabilities by promoting the principles of equality, self-determination, and dignity. The five substantive priority areas of Equip for Equality are discrimination, community integration, safety from abuse and neglect, special education and self-determination.
Farmworker and Landscaper Advocacy Project (FLAP)
FLAP’s mission is to improve working conditions and opportunities for low-income workers and their households in these industries: cannery, farms, greenhouse, landscaping, meat, nursery, packinghouse, poultry, restaurants, and snow plowing. The organization carries out its mission through advocacy, community outreach and education, litigation, community legal education, information and referrals, partnering with other organizations to fight human labor trafficking, preventing family separations by helping immigrants secure dual citizenship for their children and facilitating access to cash transfers to very low-income populations.
Federal Defender Program
The Federal Defender Program is a not-for-profit private corporation which provides free legal representation to all persons accused of committing federal crimes who cannot afford to hire private counsel.
First Defense Legal Aid (FDLA)
First Defense Legal Aid (FDLA) provides free, 24-hour, legal representation to people in Chicago Police Department custody and educates Chicagoans about how to protect their constitutional rights. FDLA undertake these activities to promote fairness and accountability in the justice system. FDLA also provides educational outreach, participates in community organizing, and engages in systemic reform activities.
Greater Chicago Legal Clinic
Founded in 1981, the Greater Chicago Legal Clinic, Inc. provides free or low-cost legal consultations and representation to disadvantaged individuals in the Chicago region from advice desks located at the Richard J. Daley Center: Foreclosure Advice Desk and Parentage and Child Support Pro Se Advice Desk.
Illinois Black Advocacy Initiative (IBAI)
The Illinois Black Advocacy Initiative (IBAI) is a statewide organization that utilizes organizing, policy, and legal advocacy to ensure that Black communities are centered in public policy, philanthropy, and government decision-making. Rather than traditional grassroots organizing, IBAI “organizes the organizers,” convening Black-led advocacy groups across Illinois through a collaborative table known as the Black Wall.
Illinois Guardianship & Advocacy Commission
The Illinois Guardianship & Advocacy Commission protects and enforces the rights of individuals with mental illness, developmental disability, or physical disability through three separate divisions. PILI Fellows and Attorneys working through the Extended Placement Program will have the opportunity to work with the Legal Advocacy Service (LAS).
Illinois Legal Aid Online
Illinois Legal Aid Online (ILAO) is a nonprofit that embraces technology to make the law easier to understand and use. Founded in 2001, ILAO’s free legal information, self-help tools, and court forms have helped millions of people across Illinois solve everyday legal problems. ILAO’s websites, IllinoisLegalAid.org and DebtHelpIllinois.org, available in English and Spanish, and its community navigators and partners across the state connect people to the best available legal services.
Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission
The Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission (TIRC) was formed by the Illinois General Assembly in 2009 to investigate claims of torture by former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge or officers under his supervision. TIRC examines claims of tortured confessions and determines whether sufficient evidence of torture exists to merit judicial review. Convicts whom the […]
Impact for Equity
Impact for Equity is an innovative law and policy center that works to advance nuanced solutions to pressing racial, economic, and social justice issues in the Chicago region and Illinois. Our team of lawyers and policy staff are committed to addressing the structural racism and systemic oppression that has led to inequities and injustices, particularly for people and communities of color, in two program areas: Criminal Legal System/Police Accountability and Housing.
Institute for Justice Clinic on Entrepreneurship
The Institute for Justice Clinic on Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago Law School, or IJ Clinic, is devoted to assisting lower income entrepreneurs with the legal intricacies of business ownership. A branch of the public interest law firm Institute for Justice, the IJ Clinic acts on the belief that legal tangles shouldn’t get in the way of inner city residents who dream of starting their own businesses
James B. Moran Center for Youth Advocacy
The James B. Moran Center for Youth Advocacy provides integrated legal and social work services to low-income Evanston youth (21 and younger) and their families to improve their quality of life at home, at school and within the community. Our practice focuses on juvenile delinquency, adult misdemeanor and felony, expungement and sealing and school discipline matters.
John Howard Association of Illinois
Founded in 1901, JHA is Illinois’ only non-partisan prison watchdog. Our mission is to achieve a fair, humane, and cost-effective criminal justice system by promoting adult and juvenile prison reform, leading to successful re-integration and enhanced community safety.
Just The Beginning – A Pipeline Organization
Just The Beginning – A Pipeline Organization is a multiracial, nonprofit organization that has served the legal community for over 25 years. It is dedicated to developing and nurturing interest in the law among young persons from various socioeconomic, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds underrepresented in the legal profession and to supporting their continued advancement via our pipeline programs.
Ladder Up Tax Clinic
Ladder Up is Chicagoland’s leading provider of free financial services. Its Tax Clinic provides pro bono representation, consultation, and education to low-income people in tax disputes with the IRS and/or Illinois Department of Revenue.
Lambda Legal
Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil right of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV, through impact litigation, education, and public policy work.
Land of Lincoln Graduate Fellows – Various Locations
Through its five regional offices (Champaign, Springfield, Alton, East St. Louis and Carbondale), Land of Lincoln Legal Aid’s lawyers provide a full range of civil legal assistance to low-income residents of 65 counties in central and southern Illinois, including providing advice and counsel, litigation, and community education.
Latino United Community Housing Association (LUCHA) Law Project
LUCHA strengthens communities and empowers Latinos and other neighborhood residents to plan, improve, own, preserve and develop safe and life enriching housing.
Law Center for Better Housing
The Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing (LCBH) believes that every individual and family is entitled to decent housing as a basic need and human right. LCBH promotes the rights of tenants to safe, accessible, and affordable housing on a non-discriminatory basis through education, outreach, supportive services, advocacy, and legal representation. LCBH has been providing legal services to low-income renters in Chicago for over 37 years.
Lawndale Christian Legal Center
The Lawndale Christian Legal Center serves North Lawndale youth, age 24 and younger, who are currently involved in the adult or juvenile criminal justice system. LCLC serves youth diverted through the Juvenile Intervention Support Center (JISC), those with pending cases, and those on probation, supervision, or parole as LCLC stays with youth through their entire duration with the criminal justice system, from the time of arrest through the end of any sentencing period.
Lawyers for the Creative Arts
Lawyers for the Creative Arts (LCA) is a not-for-profit organization that provides legal assistance and education to artists and arts organizations of all kinds, the visual, performing, entertainment, and literary throughout the Chicago metropolitan area. LCA has two attorneys on staff who represent clients in-house and who manage a volunteer attorney referral program. Most matters are referred to LCA’s hundreds of volunteer attorneys, but much work is handled in-house.
Legal Action Chicago
Legal Action Chicago (“Legal Action”) is a non-profit organization with a mission to change laws and systems to help Illinois residents living in poverty. We further this mission by challenging unjust policies and supporting measures to improve quality of life and chances for upward mobility.
Legal Aid Chicago
Legal Aid Chicago handles a wide spectrum of civil cases on matters of core social and economic importance. Case handlers work in one of five practice groups: Consumer, Family, Housing, Immigrant and Workers’ Rights, and Public Benefits.
Legal Aid Society
The Legal Aid Society was established in 1886 and works with its seven social service centers to bring a variety of legal services to Chicago’s most vulnerable citizens in the communities where they live. The Domestic Violence Team focuses on issues related to family law, including domestic violence, divorce, and child custody and support issues.
Life Span
Life Spancombines a full range of legal services with a complement of social services to survivors of domestic violence. The agency’s services are free of charge to clients who are predominately poor or of low-income.
Loyola Business Law Clinic
The Loyola University School of Law Business Law Clinic represents entrepreneurs and small business owners who are seeking legal assistance with for profit ventures, as well as individuals who are seeking assistance with nonprofit organizations in the Chicagoland area.
Loyola Civitas ChildLaw Clinic
The Civitas ChildLaw Clinic represents children in child protection (abuse and neglect), child custody and visitation, and delinquency cases.
Loyola Community Law Center Clinic
The Community Law Center and its legal clinics are affiliated with the Loyola University Chicago School of Law. The Community Law Center serves low-income persons with a variety of civil legal problems. PILI Fellows of the Community Law Center will represent clients in disability claims, family law litigation, elder law, and in defense of eviction and consumer debt suits.
Loyola Federal Tax Clinic
The Federal Tax Clinic represents low-income individuals who are seeking legal assistance concerning a dispute or potential dispute with the Internal Revenue Service
MacArthur Justice Center
The MacArthur Justice Center is a non-profit public interest law firm established in 1985 to litigate for human rights and social justice. The Center concentrates on cases raising significant criminal justice issues, such as opposing the government’s use of unjustified detentions in the war on terror; improving the quality of representation for indigent defendants; promoting acceptable conditions of incarceration and alternatives to incarceration; compensating the wrongfully convicted; and limiting the availability of firearms to unauthorized persons.
Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) is a national Latino civil rights advocacy organization dedicated to preserving and expanding civil rights of Latinos in the areas of immigrant rights, education, political access, employment and public resource equity.
National Immigrant Justice Center
The National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) is dedicated to ensuring human rights protections and access to justice for all immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers. NIJC provides direct legal services to low-income immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers and advocates for these populations through policy reform, impact litigation, and public education.
North Suburban Legal Aid Clinic
North Suburban Legal Aid Clinic provides accessible, quality free civil legal services to low-income and at-risk families in Lake County and north suburban Cook County. We provide legal services to those in need in the areas of immigration, housing, and domestic violence.
Northern Illinois University Civil Justice Clinic
The Civil Justice Clinic provides holistic legal services to clients through Northern Illinois University College of Law’ clinical program. The goal of the Civil Justice Clinic is to provide holistic services to the Clinic’s clients and to provide students and Fellows with opportunities to develop professionalism and engage in the ethical practice of client-centered lawyering on behalf of survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking, as well as senior citizens and indigent residents of Winnebago County, Illinois.
Office of the Cook County Public Guardian –
Adult Guardianship Division
The Adult Guardianship Division serves as guardian for approximately 800 adults with disabilities who need a guardian but who have no appropriate family or significant others to act as guardian. As guardian, the office is responsible for making decisions on behalf of the people we serve in all areas of their life including medical care, end-of-life issues, placement, and financial and legal decisions.
Office of the Cook County Public Guardian-
Juvenile Division
Attorneys in the Office of the Public Guardian’s Juvenile Division represent nearly 6,000 children, from birth to age 21, alleged to have been abused or neglected by their parent or guardian. The Division has over 130 attorneys, child interviewers, investigators, and support staff. Attorneys in the Juvenile Division are assigned to a child protection courtroom and represent a caseload of children with cases pending in that courtroom.
Prairie State Legal Services Graduate Fellows – Various Locations
Prairie State Legal Services is a nonprofit law firm that provides civil legal services at no fee to all low-income, elderly, and vulnerable people in 36 counties in northern and central Illinois outside of Cook County. Our clients are of all ages and ethnicities. PSLS provides excellent opportunities for law students and graduates to perform meaningful work and gain valuable experience by assisting clients who need legal help to address their basic human needs. Prairie State has 12 local offices, all of which are possible locations for a Fellowship.
Resolution Systems Institute
The mission of RSI is to strengthen justice by enhancing court alternative dispute resolution (ADR) systems. Our unique organization advances this mission through research and evaluation of court ADR programs, dispute system design and program administration, and the curation and dissemination of resources.
The Immigration Project
The Immigration Project is a nonprofit organization that provides high quality immigration legal services in Central and Southern Illinois. We are the principal provider of non-profit immigration legal services in our service area which encompasses 86 counties.
The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights
The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights protects and advances the rights and best interests of immigrant children according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and state and federal law.
Triage Cancer
Triage Cancer is a national, nonprofit organization that provides education on the practical and legal issues that may impact individuals diagnosed with cancer and their caregivers, through events, materials, and resources.
UIC Law School Community Enterprise & Solidarity Economy Clinic
The UIC Law School Community Enterprise & Solidarity Economy Clinic (CESEC) represents low-moderate income entrepreneurs, community-based businesses, cooperatives, and not-for-profit organizations in transactional matters, and works on economic development law projects. CESEC is approved to host Graduate Fellows.
UIC Law School Fair Housing Clinic
The UIC Law School Fair Housing Clinic provides legal services in cases of discrimination relating to housing, insurance, affordable housing, and lending. PILI Fellows will work under the supervision of the Clinical Professors and the legal staff. It is expected that Fellows should have the opportunity to work on a wide range of fair housing, […]
UIC Law School International Human Rights Clinic
The UIC Law School International Human Rights Clinic promotes human rights domestically and around the world by providing direct legal representation to clients and organizations in international and domestic forums; documenting human rights violations in the United States and abroad; collaborating with other human rights organizations on cases and projects; and publishing and presenting reports, […]
UIC Law School Pro Bono Litigation Clinic
The UIC Law School’s Pro-Bono Litigation Clinic provides legal representation in a wide range of civil and criminal matters. The Clinic will provide, for the Fellow, a real-world opportunity to engage in the actual representation of clients in both state and federal courts. The Fellow will draft pleadings, argue motions, participate in settlement conferences, status […]
UIC Law School Veterans Legal Clinic
The UIC Law School Veterans Legal Clinic provides free legal assistance to veterans in VA benefit appeals following an improper denial by the VA. The Clinic also provides legal assistance to veterans seeking to have their discharge status reclassified. Clinic staff are also involved in Veterans Treatment courts throughout Northern Illinois. The Veterans Clinic has […]
Uptown People’s Law Center
For over 35 years, Uptown People’s Law Center has fought for prisoners, tenants, and individuals seeking Social Security benefits. Our deep roots and location in the Uptown community, as well as decades of experience fighting on behalf of prisoners, have provided UPLC with unique and valuable insight into the lives of community residents who seek our help.