Hello!

We hope this email finds you and yours safe and well!

Ready or not, summer is here and PILI Interns and Fellows are starting at their agencies! Many are working remote for now, which is why PILI held a virtual roundtable for our Participating Agencies on hosting remote interns and fellows. We are launching our Educational Seminar Series next Thursday with a virtual Orientation. All interns and fellows working at public interest law organizations across the state are invited, regardless of whether they receive PILI funding.

We are also planning to take our Annual Pro Bono Recption virtual this year with a week of programming from June 15th to 19th. We're excited to announce that both Chief Justice Anne Burke and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul will be participating.

Right now, we have over 60 questions from clients in need in the Illinois Free Legal Answers queue. That is more than we've had at any time since the pandemic started. Please consider logging on and answering a question from someone in need. Even one answer will make a difference!

As always, we hope you will stay in touch through  Facebook ,  Twitter ,  LinkedIn , YouTube  and Instagram . Stay healthy and well!

Sincerely, 
"The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to lead to a crisis in our court system that will overwhelm Illinois’ already overburdened, and underfunded, legal aid programs.

That’s why we are calling on the IL General Assembly to protect the current IEJF appropriation of $1.4 M in the FY 2021 budget."

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 legal issue. We're seeing an increase in questions during the COVID-19 Pandemic and need more volunteers to answer questions.   Learn more.

IL-AFLAN provides civil legal services across Illinois to veterans, active duty military and their spouses and dependents and PILI refers pro bono matters in the 101 counties outside of Cook County. Help us serve those who have served us!   Learn more.

Preparing for our Summer Law Student Interns and Graduate Fellows
Summer is a busy time for PILI, and this year is no different. We expect to have 48 Law Student Interns and 63 Graduate Fellows at our Participating Agencies this summer. But, it will be a summer like no other! We along with our Participating Agencies are bringing extra creativity, flexibility and patience to the summer as are our incoming Interns and Fellows. Starting with our Intern & Fellow Orientation , we will be offering our summer Educational Seminar Series virtually.

This year, 48 summer Law Student Interns and 63 Graduate Fellows will provide 38,100 hours of legal services. Read more.

On May 13th, representatives from Illinois public interest law organizations met over Zoom for the Legal Service Agency Roundtable. This year, the group discussed hosting remote internships & fellowships during the pandemic. Read more.

Thank you to Foundations for Renewed Funding!
We are so grateful to the Jerome Mirza Foundation for increasing their support of our statewide efforts to promote public interest law and pro bono service and to the Illinois Bar Foundation for continuing their support of our Pro Bono Program.
PILI and the legal community talks a lot about increasing access to justice, but what do we mean by justice? Help us to define justice and raise $80,000 in new funding for PILI’s programs over the coming year. Learn more here.