PILI began its new fiscal year on September 1st and in the budget adopted by its Board of Directors, 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 2025-2026 school-year, PILI will fund 24 Law Student Interns over the course of the two semesters for 200 hours with the school-year stipend set at $3,250. In Summer 2026, 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. 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 also 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.
In 1983, PILI established its Graduate Fellowship Program to place new associates from Chicago law firms at public interest law agencies in Illinois, where they are typically paid by their hiring firm to work for 300 hours between graduation and joining the firm. PILI ensures quality supervision by experienced attorneys and provides extra educational, networking and advising opportunities for the Fellows.
The Internship & Fellowship Programs help PILI’s participating public interest law agencies serve more clients and increase their impact while also helping law students and recent law school graduates develop their legal and client interaction skills, build their professional networks, and strengthen their commitment to public interest law and service. Over the last year, our community of Law Student Interns and Graduate Fellows have collectively provided an additional 43,700 hours of legal assistance to those in need. And since PILI was founded, 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 and Graduate Fellowship Programs are just as critical today as they were when PILI first established them,” said PILI Executive Director Michael Bergmann. “These programs ensure that law students and recent law school graduates have the opportunity and support to gain invaluable practical experience in the public interest law sector, to increase their awareness of the legal needs of underserved and underrepresented communities, and to assist in the critical work of PILI’s participating agencies across Illinois.”
Learn more about PILI’s Law Student Internship Program » & Graduate Fellowship Program »