The 20th Annual Howard B. Eisenberg Do-Gooders’ Auction on behalf of the Law School’s Public Interest Law Society (PILS) will be held this Friday, February 15, 2013 at the Law School. Proceeds from the event go to support PILS Fellowships to enable Marquette law students to do public interest work in the summer. Mindy Nolan, a current law student, shares her experience here as a PILS Fellow.  Besides her work as a PILS Fellow, Mindy did outstanding work in soliciting and compiling donations for this year’s auction.

Where did you work as a PILS Fellow?

This past summer I served as a law intern at the Wisconsin State Public Defender’s Office in Rhinelander, Wisconsin.

What kind of work did you do there?

In my role there, I prepared legal memoranda, motions, and conducted research for the four Assistant State Public Defenders working in that office. I conducted client and witness interviews over the phone and in person at the county jails. I also attended court hearings in three northern Wisconsin counties.

How was the experience meaningful to you?

This experience was extremely meaningful to me for several reasons, in particular the amount that I learned about the everyday workings of the criminal justice system. It was interesting to witness the dynamic of how the criminal justice system interacted with the three Native American tribes that are located in the three counties. It was also meaningful to see how the criminal justice system itself functions in three very small counties where there would sometimes only be one judge, one prosecutor, and one public defender working together day in and day out.

The 20th Annual Howard B. Eisenberg Do-Gooders’ Auction on behalf of the Law School’s Public Interest Law Society (PILS) will be held on February 15, 2013 at the Law School. Proceeds from the event go to support PILS Fellowships to enable Marquette law students to do public interest work in the summer. Kelli Nagel, a current law student, shares her experience here as a PILS Fellow.

Where did you work as a PILS Fellow?

This past summer, I worked in the Consular section of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.

What kind of work did you do there?

In my role there, I had many diverse experiences. In the non-immigrant visa section, I helped process the over 2,000 individuals who visit the Embassy daily for visa interviews. I spent some time in the American Citizen Services section visiting U.S. citizens incarcerated in Mexico. And for the majority of my internship, I worked in the Fraud Prevention Unit conducting an investigation on the human trafficking of women and children between Tlaxcala, Mexico and various cities throughout the U.S. and Mexico.

How was the experience meaningful to you?

This experience was the fulfillment of a dream I had from when I studied abroad in Mexico as an undergraduate student in 2008. At that time, the U.S. Embassy came to visit American students at our university. One of the Foreign Service Officers told our group of students that the State Department was a great place to work, and I thought “I want to try that.”

The 20th Annual Howard B. Eisenberg Do-Gooders’ Auction on behalf of the Law School’s Public Interest Law Society (PILS) will be held on February 15, 2013 at the Law School. Proceeds from the event go to support PILS Fellowships to enable Marquette law students to do public interest work in the summer. Maria Lopez, a current law student, shares her experience here as a PILS Fellow.

Where did you work as a PILS Fellow?

I interned with the Illinois Migrant Legal Assistance Project (IMLAP) at their office in Rantoul, Illinois.

What kind of work did you do there?

IMLAP’s mission is to advocate on behalf migrant agricultural workers and educate them on their rights as workers. My duties included outreach to workers at their housing or work sites, collaboration with local agencies such as Migrant Head Start and the Department of Human Services, and meeting with employers on behalf of our clients.

How was the experience meaningful to you?

My experience with IMLAP was meaningful because it provided me with an opportunity to work closely with great people–not only my clients, but also my supervisors and coworkers, as well as other agency representatives, all of whom were very supportive.