The Alumni Network Leadership Council (ANLC) leads the engagement efforts of PILI’s Alumni Network—supporting community-building, programming, and opportunities for former PILI Interns and Fellows to stay connected to PILI and to one another. Each year, two representatives from the most recent class join the Council to elevate the voice of recent Interns and Fellows and help strengthen the pipeline of Alumni engagement and service.
We are excited to introduce our 2025 ANLC Representatives, who each bring a thoughtful commitment to public interest work, a belief in the power of alumni connection, and a vision for advancing service beyond their placements.
Paige Bradley
2L, Loyola University Chicago School of Law
2025 Law Student Intern
What has been the most meaningful experience or lesson you’ve taken away since completing your PILI Internship?
My PILI Internship experience showed me how many different avenues I can take to serve my neighbors. From direct services to impact litigation to court reform advocacy, public interest legal internships like the ones PILI provides offer so many creative approaches to address our area’s most complex legal and social issues. I am so excited to work with such important organizations during the rest of my legal career as an attorney, volunteer, or supporter.
How did your PILI placement shape the way you approach your current role or future career goals?
My PILI role provided a step into the public interest legal system that solidified my interest in the work. It’s an honor to earn a legal degree, and my placement helped me understand both the gravity of what I learn in school and how I can make the most meaningful change within my area of influence.
As a new representative on the Alumni Network Leadership Council, what do you hope to contribute during your term?
I am looking forward to learning more about how the ANLC has engaged our community in the past so I can provide the most meaningful support during and beyond my term. I hope to support and improve Alumni engagement efforts and offer more social, volunteering, and networking opportunities for the public interest law community. I have organized with different community and cause groups for almost a decade, so it would be wonderful to bring some lessons I learned about long-term engagement into my work with the ANLC.
How do you think PILI Alumni can best support today’s Interns and Fellows?
I believe continuing the Intern & Fellow Advising Program and offering more volunteer and social opportunities can help connect Interns and Fellows to the larger organization. From an Intern perspective, I think the organization is doing a lot of things right. I’m excited to contribute to and expand on those efforts.
Outside of your legal work, what inspires or motivates you in your daily life?
My partner inspires me every day! She uses her skills and compassion to contribute to community safety and create a more safe and beautiful world. I also love to grow plants, like houseplants, herbs, and flowers, to reconnect to and invest in our environment.
Michael Stein
Associate at Kirkland & Ellis
2025 Graduate Fellow
What has been the most meaningful experience or lesson you’ve taken away since completing your PILI Fellowship?
The degree to which pro bono legal services are needed in Chicago and the importance of the pro bono work that lawyers are doing every day.
How did your PILI placement shape the way you approach your current role or future career goals?
My PILI placement solidified the importance of making pro bono work a central part of my practice throughout my legal career.
In what ways are you continuing to engage in service or pro bono work today?
I engage in pro bono activities by staying involved with PILI and taking pro bono opportunities with my law firm.
How do you think PILI Alumni can best support today’s Interns and Fellows?
Making themselves available to current Interns/Fellows. Having a strong Alumni Network allows current Fellows and Interns to benefit from the lessons and mistakes that prior classes have made. I certainly benefited from my Alumni mentors.