September 26, 2024

Meet our 2024 PILC Grant Recipients Working in Government — Part One

Southwestern's Public Interest Law Committee (PILC) is a student-run organization that sponsors several events each year to raise student awareness and involvement in providing legal services for underrepresented communities and is dedicated to facilitating public interest law careers by supporting students in public interest work through fundraising efforts for the school's Public Interest Law Summer Grant Program.

We want to recognize these students and their incredible work with their Public Interest Law Committee Summer Grant. Meet our first group of 2024 PILC Grant recipients working in Government:

Itzel Burgos

Summer Placement: U.S. Social Security Administration - Office of General Counsel - Office of Program Litigation

I want to give back to my community, especially low-income, underrepresented individuals. I see the legal field as a way to address injustices and support workers’ rights. In my legal career, I plan to integrate public interest work by seeking out opportunities to represent clients in pro bono cases, collaborating with organizations dedicated to protecting workers, and pursuing roles that focus on employment law issues affecting underserved communities and immigrant rights. I will try to contribute to fairer workplace practices and advocate for the rights of individuals who face significant barriers to justice.

Susana Fuentes

Summer Placement: Office of Los Angeles County Counsel - Social Services Division

I am passionate about public interest because as I child I’ve experienced how public service work can help others. I plan to incorporate public interest into my legal career by either working for the government or in the public interest sector. I want to help others the way that my family received help when I was younger. I also want to ensure that people in communities like the one I live in are well informed of their rights and every service that is available to them. I also want to incorporate pro bono practice into my legal career because money should never be a barrier to justice.  

Alexis Cornejo-Peril

Summer Placement: Clark County District Attorney's Office

Public service work allows me to make a difference in my community and to advocate for my local community members. This summer reaffirmed my goal to work as a public servant upon graduation, and I intend to continue to build off of the foundation I created this summer. Victims bravely come to the office to share their stories, and the opportunity to advocate for them and help them along their healing journey is not one I take for granted. The criminal justice system is slow and, oftentimes, confusing. It is not made for victims. But as a Deputy District Attorney, I have the privilege of being there for victims through those trying and difficult times. I have seen firsthand how the law can be used as a tool for good, and I want a legal career based on that principle. 

Alexandra Kerecman

Summer Placement: Lackawanna County District Attorney's Office

My proudest achievement at my externship was being trusted with running central court for a day. I had an attorney supervising me, but I was responsible for creating deals (and getting attorney approval) to offer the defendant or defense counsel to try to resolve the case before it went to a preliminary hearing. Given that a lot of the offenses mainly involved drug offenses, I was able to offer deals that encouraged treatment in exchange for a lesser-graded offense. I was happy to see that some defendants decided to seek treatment services because they felt the prosecution was actually trying to work with them instead of trying to enact a punishment with no regard for underlying issues. Running central court also made me more confident in knowing that I can handle real-world legal matters thanks to my education from Southwestern! 

Isel Ramirez

Summer Placement: Riverside City Attorney's Office

I am passionate because I am privileged to have an education and can use my voice for advocacy. As a San Bernardino native, I witnessed how luck was the true determinant of who could pursue an education and who could not. I grew up witnessing pain in my community due to larger, more complex issues, and that invoked a desire to help relieve some of that pain. I use that awareness to my core so that I can be intentional in my work to make my community better. I use my voice to advocate for those who are not in the position to be able to because we all deserve to live in safe communities regardless of our area codes. 

About the PILC Summer Grant Program

Southwestern's PILC Summer Grant program was established in 1990 with the mission of providing financial support to selected recipients seeking full-time summer clerkships with legal services organizations providing no-cost assistance to underserved, marginalized communities. This program makes it possible for students to acquire the legal training and education necessary to address the lack of access to legal services for indigent communities while also alleviating Southwestern students' financial burden of acquiring more educational loans in order to do so.

PILC sincerely thanks our donors and supporters for your invaluable contributions to this program benefiting Southwestern students. PILC's mission is to help create a community where Southwestern students, staff, faculty, and alumni are educated and incentivized to participate in issues concerning and advancing the public interest, and it is your support of this mission that is vital in helping us reach our fundraising goals each year. 

The student deadline to apply to the 2025 PILC Summer Grant Program is March 10, 2025. Awards up to $5,000. Email publicservice@swlaw.edu for more information.