Public Interest Law Center

NYU Law’s goal is for all graduates to incorporate public service into their careers. The Public Interest Law Center (PILC) offers a wide variety of funding opportunities and career planning programs to students and alumni, resulting in the most comprehensive public service infrastructure of any law school in the nation. 

The Public Interest Law Center

The Public Interest Law Center (PILC), founded in 1992, coordinates and promotes NYU Law’s public service activities—including Public Interest Summer Funding Grants  for all 1Ls and 2Ls doing public interest work—and also offers individual career counseling. PILC’s Public Interest Legal Career Fair is the largest career fair of its kind in the nation. 

Led by Lisa Hoyes, NYU Law's Assistant Dean for Public Service, PILC's team of counselors and program administrators is committed to ensuring that all NYU Law students and alumni are supported throughout their public interest career search.

As the headquarters for public service at NYU Law, the Public Interest Law Center:

• Supports and counsels students and alumni about their internship, fellowship, and post-graduate job searches.
• Holds information sessions, lectures, and programs on a wide range of public interest law and job search topics.
• Runs scholarship, summer funding, and post-graduate fellowship programs for public interest work.
• Publishes online and written resources to inform students about public service careers.
• Works closely with public interest student groups.
• Acts as a sounding board for students, alumni, faculty, and administrators about public interest law and public service careers.

Who We Serve

PILC supports all students and alumni doing public service, whether for a summer, a term, or a lifetime.

Some students work with counselors from both PILC and the Office of Career Services (OCS). The boundary between the public and private sectors is not rigid, and many lawyers move back and forth between the two during their careers.

You can learn about upcoming public interest events through PILC's Events & Programs page, on The Docket, and through targeted emails based on the areas of interest you identify on CSM/Simplicity.

NOTE: PILC career counseling sessions for 1Ls begin after the mid-October session on Finding and Funding a 1L Summer Internship, but we can meet with 1Ls to discuss more general questions at any time.