Your browser does not have JavaScript enabled.You will need to enable JavaScript before you can use this webpage.
Search for help on enabling JavaScript
PILP is a student-run organization at Lewis & Clark Law School that was founded in 1990. Since its inception, the organization has helped 260 students finance legal public interest work at no cost to their employers – a total of more than 100,000 hours of legal work by PILP stipend recipients. PILP also has a broad reach. While about half of the PILP stipend recipients over the past 22 years have worked for host organizations right here in Oregon, they also work all over the country, and around the world. PILP has given stipends to students working as far away as The Hague and Yap, Micronesia. In its history, PILP has raised $1,143,073 and given out $916,156 in summer stipends.
Last year, the 2012 PILP auction raised $83,500, granting summer stipends to nineteen students so they could accept internships with public interest legal organizations. Those organizations included, among others: Youth, Rights & Justice; Legal Aid Services of Oregon; St. Andrew Legal Clinic; Federal Public Defenders; Southern Environmental Law Center; and Columbia Riverkeeper. The stipend recipients gained valuable experience working with clients and attorneys.
Every year, PILP has seen a constant increase in stipend applications. Last year, though PILP funded an unprecedented nineteen stipends, there were also eighteen applications that went unfunded. In today’s difficult legal market, experience and connections are vitally important to successful employment after graduation. The summer positions supported by PILP stipends provide students an opportunity to gain this useful experience while doing meaningful and necessary work. A 2000 study by the Oregon State Bar approximated that 250,000 Oregonians each year need a lawyer but cannot afford one.
Additionally, one hour of labor from a PILP stipend recipient last year cost an average of just over $10. One day of student work costs just over $80. One week costs just over $400. Contrast this with the 2007 average attorney’s billing rate of $244. Providing more students funding to get experience while doing valuable legal work for the community is an attainable goal with support from the community towards the annual PILP Auction.