Student and Advisory Boards
2008 PILF Student Board
Colby Freeman :: Co-Chair (Email)
Jeff Kaloustian :: Co-Chair (Email)
Lani Virostko :: Treasurer (Email)
Jim Folger :: Live Auction Chair (Email)
Ellie Stone :: Silent Auction Chair (Email)
Jazmine Capulong :: Network Outreach Chair (Email)
Jayme Burns :: Social Chair (Email)
Ashley Connell :: Professional Development Chair (Email)
Christopher Pollock :: Public Relations Chair (Email)
Brahmani Houston :: Webmaster (Email)
1L Representatives
Lisa D'Annuzio :: Section 1
Heidi Urness :: Section 2
Darya Larizadeh :: Section 3
2008-2009 PILF Advisory Board
Farschad Farzan '01 :: Perkins Coie LLP
Krista Glaser :: Public Interest Clearinghouse
Tricia McCarthy '92
Richard Pio Roda '97 :: Meyers Nave
Michael Sullivan '00 :: San Francisco District Attorney Office
Asst. Dean Erin E. Dolly :: USF School of Law
Molly Coughlin '03 :: USF School of Law, Office of Career Planning
Our Mission
* Foster a community of law students interested in public interest work.
* Educate students about job opportunities in the public interest sector and serve as a resource for job leads.
* Raise money to support unpaid summer work in the public interest.
* Encourage law students to volunteer in the Bay Area community and help provide meaningful and appropriate opportunities for them to do so.
* Educate students about ways that private/firm attorneys can make meaningful contributions to the public interest.
* Instill a sense of community ownership, pride and responsibility that will motivate students/lawyers to make positive changes.
Our History
During the 2002-2003 academic year, PILF was a small student organization with a few very dedicated students. With the support of the administration, the students took many groundbreaking steps to building a stronger PILF, such as founding the Advisory Board and developing the Donate-A-Day program. Through these efforts, PILF provided 2 students with $1,500 summer grants.
In 2003-2004, PILF expanded its programs and funded 8 students with $2,500 summer grants.
In 2004-2005, PILF surveyed the national average of summer public interest grants at leading law schools. We found that $2,500 fell far below the national average - which was closer to $4,500 per student. In light of the national average and the high cost of living in San Francisco, we developed a goal to provide a minimum of 10 students with $4,000 summer grants - essentially doubling the amount of funds available to students from the previous year.
In order to meet this challenge, we created the inaugural Gala Auction & Award Ceremony. Our 1st Annual Gala Auction & Award Ceremony was quite successful - especially considering it was the first year. Over 250 people attended, including practitioners, judges, politicians, faculty and staff, alumni and students. We awarded our first PILF Award for Public Justice to Gavin Newsom, who personally attended to accept the award. We received generous donations from area businesses, alumni, professors/staff, students and community members, such as exotic vacation homes, airline miles, dinners for two, cases of wine, spa treatments, golf packages and much more. It was a fun event, with a band, food and drinks, and we raised enough money, along with matching funds from the university, to provide 10 students with $4,000 summer grants.
The 2nd Annual Auction honored Maria Blanco from the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights. With matching funds from USF, we doubled the number of student summer grants to 20. The 3rd Annual Auction, which honored Kate Kendell from the National Center for Lesbian Rights and Cupcake Brown, a recent graduate from USF, was able to support 25 student summer grants.
In 2006, in partnership with Law Review and Moot Court members, PILF also expanded its work on the Donate-a-Day program, which allowed students, faculty, and other PILF supporters to donate a symbolic day or half day's worth of salary in support of the PILF summer grants. This provided a great way to expand the program and provide additional summer grants. The event was a great success, and Donate-a-Day has become a recurring annual event on the USF calendar.
