Our Crowdfunding Groups
The UCI Public Interest Law Fund (PILF) provides financial support to UCI Law students working to address gaps in our justice system and to assist those with the greatest need in our community.
PILF seeks to enable all interested UCI Law students to serve the public interest—a core mission of UC Irvine School of Law—by providing work stipends, networking opportunities and informational resources so that students can work at non-profit organizations and agencies, helping real clients with real problems.
Because public-interest organizations rely on volunteer attorneys to provide pro bono assistance, the PILF stipends allow UCI Law students to cover basic living costs while they are working without pay. Since 2010, more than $500,000 has been distributed to UCI Law students for summer stipends, allowing students to volunteer well over 60,000 hours to assist underserved communities over the past six summers.
To date, PILF has been able to provide a stipend to every student who has applied. But as our class sizes get bigger, we will need to rely on your generosity more than ever before. We cannot do it without your help! Your donations will help our students provide critically necessary legal services in some of our most vulnerable communities.
Since the founding of the Law School in 2009, a commitment to public service has been at the core of our mission. We hope you can contribute to this mission by making a donation to the Public Interest Law Fund today!
Thank you from all of us at UCI Law!
Past PILF Stipend Recipients
Star Leal / Class of 2018
Over the summer I worked as a Law Clerk for the Alliance for Children’s Rights in Los Angeles where I was able to advocate for foster children. For my first case, I argued before an Administrative Law Judge concerning retroactive benefits for a former foster youth. My client was wrongfully denied foster care funding for almost an entire year, and was forced to live in a men’s rehab facility while in high school because he had nowhere else to go. He was originally living with his grandmother, but when the County cut off his funding, his grandmother was no longer able to care for him. After the hearing, the judge granted my client 100 percent of what we were seeking, and he has since received all of his funding.
Natalie Diaz / Class of 2016
I worked at Legal Services of Northern California (LSNC) over the summer as a law clerk. My experience at LSNC was very rewarding and I loved that I was able to directly affect the lives of so many people on a daily basis. My summer experience at LSNC solidified my passion for public interest work and my desire to use my legal education to help low-income communities.
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