By Natalie Tupta, Staff Writer
Many people enroll in law school with the goal of helping others, and one way law students fulfill that goal is to pursue public interest law careers. Law schools, especially a Catholic law school like Duquesne, are eager to impart a sense of duty to community in students as part of their legal education.[1] Law school graduates’ understanding of the extent of unmet legal needs in vulnerable communities and ability to represent indigent clients are a reflection of the education they receive in their formative years in the legal field.[[2]
The mission of Duquesne University and Duquesne Law School is to serve God by serving others,[3] and one of the most important ways the school carries out that mission is by supporting the Public Interest Law Association (PILA). PILA provides a community for students interested in pursuing public interest law careers. The organization fosters this sense of community by hosting networking events and career panels; sending members to an annual national public interest conference, the Equal Justice Works Conference and Career Fair; and connecting students with internship and employment opportunities and funding.
Because the focus of public interest law is community service and providing legal services to underserved populations, generating revenue is not a priority for public interest organizations like nonprofit law firms and government agencies. Consequently, many public interest jobs pay a lower salary than private firm or corporate positions. Many public interest internships are unpaid because the host organizations cannot afford to pay interns.
PILA responds to this lack of funding by raising money to support Duquesne students who are summer interns at public interest organizations.[4] Just last year, PILA sponsored students who provided legal services to underserved populations at the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services, the Allegheny County Office of the Public Defender, The Bronx Defenders, the Office of the Ohio Public Defender.[5]
In order to provide financial support to public interest interns, PILA engages in a number of fundraising efforts to award PILA Fellowships. PILA members conduct sales of Duquesne Law clothing, coffee, candy, textbooks, and 50/50 raffle tickets. Most importantly, PILA hosts an auction each year to raise money to support that year’s fellows. PILA is in good company – such auctions are held annually by public interest organizations at almost every law school, including Vanderbilt,[6] UCLA,[7] and Stanford.[8]
The Duquesne Law Alumni Association (DLAA) generously hosts the PILA auction at their Spring Alumni Reception. This event provides an opportunity for students, alumni, faculty, and guests to bid on exciting prizes, network with each other, and celebrate the Duquesne public interest law community. At this year’s auction, PILA and the DLAA will also present the 2018 Duquesne Law Public Interest Law Association Alumni Award to Professor Dan Kunz, Esq., a tireless advocate for people impacted by the criminal justice system and the supervising attorney of Duquesne Law School’s award-winning Veterans Clinic.
PILA hopes that by attending this event, members of the Duquesne Law School community will learn more about the public service and public interest work our students and alumni are doing throughout the country. PILA also aims to inspire students, alumni, and other attendees to engage in more public interest work, community service, and pro bono initiatives as a result of their experience at the event.
All Duquesne Law School students, faculty, alumni, and guests are invited to the Spring Alumni Reception and PILA Auction, which will be held on Thursday, April 19, 2018 from 5:00 to 8:00 pm. The event will be held at the Embassy Suites by Hilton, Downtown in Pittsburgh. There are separate registration pages for students[9] and alumni.[10]
Natalie Tupta is the President of PILA. Alumni or students, current or future, who wish to learn more about PILA may contact her at tuptan@duq.edu. To support the 2018 PILA Fellows, please contribute to PILA’s crowdfunding efforts at https://www.spirit.duq.edu/project/9722.
Sources
[1] Russell Engler, From the Margins to the Core: Integrating Public Service Legal Work into the Mainstream of Legal Education, 40 New Eng. L. Rev. 479, 485 (2006).
[2] Id.
[3] Duquesne University, Division of Mission and Identity (2018), http://www.duq.edu/about/mission-and-identity; Duquesne University School of Law, School of Law Mission Statement (2018), https://www.law.duq.edu/about/mission-statement.
[4] Duquesne University School of Law, Public Interest Law Association Fellowships, (2018), https://www.law.duq.edu/career-services/services-students/fellowships/pila.
[5] Duquesne University School of Law, PILA Fellowships 2017, (2018), https://www.law.duq.edu/career-services/services-students/fellowships/public-interest-law-assoc-pila/pila-fellowships-2017.
[6] Vanderbilt University, 27th Annual Public Interest Stipend Fund Auction, (2018), https://events.vanderbilt.edu/index.php?eID=117738.
[7] UCLA Law, U. Serve L.A.: Public Interest Celebration, Auction, and Awards, (2018), https://law.ucla.edu/centers/social-policy/david-j-epstein-program-in-public-interest-law-and-policy/events/4201/2018/4/3/U-d–Serve-L-d-A-d–c–Public-Interest-Celebration-Auction-and-Awards/.
[8] Stanford University, Dive Deep: An Undersea ExBIDition, (2018), https://spilf.stanford.edu/.
[9] Duquesne University School of Law, PILA’s Annual Silent Auction for Law Students, (2018), https://www.law.duq.edu/events/pilas-annual-silent-auction-law-students.
[10] Duquesne University School of Law, Spring Alumni Reception, (2018), https://www.law.duq.edu/events/spring-alumni-reception.
