Chapman students, faculty, and the legal community gathered for Chapman’s Public Interest Law Foundation (PILF) annual Awards Dinner and Auction.  The auction raised a new high mark of over $15,000.   PILF honored Justice Richard D. Fybel, Chair of the California Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee on the Code of Judicial Ethics, with the first ever PILF award for public service. Keynote speaker Todd Spitzer, Victims’ Rights Attorney/Legal Affairs Director of Marsy’s Law for All, did an excellent job speaking on “Marsy’s Law and the Continuing Fight to Advance Victims’ Rights.”

According to Professor Finley, “The 2012 PILF Awards Dinner marked several important firsts for Chapman – we awarded our first PILF Award for Excellence in Public Service, and this was the first time we hosted the event as a stand-alone dinner outside of Chapman. And, best of all, we blew away our prior record for fundraising for PILF summer grants!”

Many public interest law employers desperately need assistance, but have limited funding.  Money from the PILF fundraiser goes to give summer grants to students doing public interest legal work that offer little or no pay, so that they can get the experience they need, and the employers can continue to provide the public with much needed legal support.  Chapman would like to give a special thanks for all the contributions of PILF members, auction items donors, and bidders.  Auctioned off items included: dinner with the Campbell’s at Cafe Rouge, a Gold Suite party and lawyer networking event at an Angels Game, tickets to the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards, a week stay at Sedona Summit Studio, and tickets to Disneyland.  Chapman would especially like to thank Jonathan Hammond, Kelly Rendon and David Finley, who helped make the event such a success.

All Chapman law students who have secured unpaid summer public interest employment may apply for a PILF summer grant by visiting the PILF TWEN page.