Each year, the Public Interest Law Foundation (PILF) holds an auction to raise money to fund students who take summer employment in the public sector. The student-run auction has become a main event at the law school, and is widely supported. In the spring of 2004, the Neisser Program launched a campaign to raise additional summer fellowship funds with the goal of guaranteeing summer funding to any student who does public sector work. In addition, the Neisser Public Interest Program assists interested students in researching other funding sources.

Thanks to PILF’s successful fundraising efforts, 10 students received grants for summer 2009 unpaid public interest/public service jobs. Students and their placements included:

Adam Axel*		Equal Justice Initiative
Yael Bromberg		Center for Constitutional Rights
Andrew T.F. Kunka		NY State Division of Human Rights, Housing Division
Alex Lewis		Documentation Center of Cambodia
Marcy Kutschman		Alliance for Children’s Rights
Lynette Renté		Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Mandy Sheridan		Manavi
Aarin Williams		NAACP
Pierre Leandre		Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
* Alumni Association grant winner

The PSLawNet website (http://www.pslawnet.org/) and the Equal Justice Works website (http://www.equaljusticeworks.org/) provide information on other funding sources. One such source is the Charles H. Revson Law Student Public Interest Fellowship Program, which awards summer grants to students attending law school in New York and New Jersey. Many public interest organizations have their own funds for summer internship positions, and administer a competitive application process of their own. The Office of Career Services and the Neisser Program are available to assist students looking for those opportunities.