Happy new year!
We are jumping into 2018 with both feet here at PILI! In this month's newsletter, you can see what we're up to as well as find information about our upcoming Pro Bono Roundtables and meet our spring Interns who are just getting started at their agencies. 
Additionally, Lydia Sharp, a PILI Alum and Equal Justice Works Fellow, writes a guest blog post about her work fighting human trafficking of people with disabilities, an issue NPR recently called "The Epidemic No One Talks About." We also spotlight our 2017 Board Alumni Representatives.
As always, feel free to stay in touch through Facebook , Twitter LinkedIn  and YouTube .
Sincerely, 

Featured
This Year in Review reports on PILI's activities and supporters during fiscal year 2017 from September 1, 2016 to August 31, 2017.
Apply now for spring & summer Law Student Internships and Graduate Fellowships.
Save the date for these upcoming programs and events in 2018! More will be announced soon. You can keep up with all of PILI's events on our website.
PILI News
This year's program is titled "Strategies to Engage Law Students, Recent Graduates and Attorneys." We will be discussing how to recruit, train and engage volunteers, drawing on evaluative data from the ABA Pro Bono Survey and feedback from PILI Interns, Fellows and Supervisors.  Read more and sign up here.
This Internship at Legal Aid Society will be at the will be funded by Justice Sheila O'Brien and Judge Wayne Andersen Read more
PILI is excited to welcome nine spring semester Law Student Interns who will work at public interest law agencies in Chicago during the spring semester. 
The Robert E. Gallagher Charitable Trust has increased their 2018 grant to PILI to $13,000. These funds will be used to fully fund two summer Law Student Internships.   Read more
Recently, the PILI Board of Directors elected four new members: Paul E. Greenwalt III of Schiff Hardin, Michael Lohnes of Katten Muchin Rosenman, David Rodriguez of DePaul University College of Illinois, and Marisa Wiesman of Prairie State Legal Services.  Read more
At the summit, 17 volunteer attorneys and paralegals met with 77 clients to to discuss their options for criminal records relief.   Read more.
Twenty-one attorneys attended this complimentary program to learn more about these family law issues.  Read more.
Lydia Sharp is a PILI Alum and Equal Justice Works Fellow at Equip for Equality where she provides advocacy and outreach to people with disabilities who survived sexual abuse and sex trafficking in Illinois.
Lydia discusses this issue and how you can get involved in this guest post.

SpotlightsSpotlight on 2017 Board Alumni Representatives
Each year, PILI selects one Intern and one Fellow to serve a 2-year term on PILI's Board of Directors. 

Andrea Augustinas is a third-year law student at Chicago-Kent College of Law. Andrea is a double PILI, having done a PILI Internship in 2016 at Citizen Advocacy Center as well as in 2017 at CARPLS. 

Read more about Andrea.

Kirsten Moran is a first-year associate at Jones Day. She did her PILI Fellowship last summer at Cabrini Green Legal Aid. 

Read more about Kirsten.
Around the Web
While e-filing is typically mandatory in all civil legal cases, the Illinois Supreme Court did create an exemption for self-represented litigants. Read more.