With help from a record $960,000 in grants, 162 University of Virginia School of Law students will work in public service roles this summer.
The Law School’s Mortimer Caplin Public Service Center awarded $912,000 in UVA Law Public Service Summer Grants to 128 first-year and 34 second-year students — a $171,000 increase from last year. The school boosted each grant by $1,000, so first-year students now receive $5,000 and second-year students receive $8,000, up from $4,000 and $7,000. The grants are funded by gifts to the Law School Foundation from alumni and other donors.
The student-run Public Interest Law Association’s PILA+ program offers additional money to grant recipients who will work in high cost-of-living areas and receive little financial assistance other than the UVA Law grant. PILA raised $48,000 for the PILA+ program this past year, which went to 34 students who received $1,500 each.
“We know that working in public service over the summer leads to career opportunities that would not otherwise be possible,” said Director of Public Service Amanda Yale. “The Law School gets this and is demonstrating its commitment to public service by providing close to a million dollars of guaranteed summer funding.”
Grant recipients are required to apply and qualify for the funding by volunteering for pro bono work (40 hours for the first grant and an additional 20 hours for a grant in a subsequent year). Grantees must also have secured a public service or judicial internship position and agree to work at least 320 hours for their summer employers. This year, students volunteered over 8,570 hours, an average of 52 per grantee.
To be eligible for PILA+ funding, a student must first receive a Public Service Center grant.
Matt Steelberg ’25, PILA’s co-president, said many public interest students face additional financial burdens in pursuit of future internships and careers.
“In many ways, public service is a student-led community at UVA,” he added, “and PILA hopes to continue to build that community through PILA+ grants and other initiatives in the coming year.”
Here’s a look at four of the fellows’ summer plans. (See full list of jobs and locations)
Anna Harvey ’25
Hometown: Evanston, Illinois
College/education: Brown University, bachelor’s degrees in English and history
Summer Job: National Center for Youth Law
What she’ll be doing: I will be working with the Colorado campaign director on projects at the intersection of juvenile justice and education law. I will be doing more impact litigation and policy work than I’ve done before, as I’ve mostly worked in direct services, so I’m looking forward to trying something new.
Goals: This summer, I hope to learn from attorneys who have made careers out of uplifting the voices of children and teenagers. Long term, I hope to do work that allows me to address the school-to-prison pipeline, most likely as a special education attorney.
Adeline Lee ’26
Hometown: West Windsor-Plainsboro, New Jersey
College/education: Wellesley College, bachelor’s degree in sociology
Summer job: Legal Aid Society of Eastern Virginia
What she’ll be doing: I’m lucky to be doing a bit of everything: attending court hearings and assisting with individual case work, community outreach and legal research across several areas of law. I’ll also continue work I began as a winter pro bono volunteer with LASEVA’s Unlawful Detainer Expungement Program, helping clients expunge dismissed eviction proceedings from court databases.
Goals: I’m excited to use what I know to help people in the now, including by removing daily legal obstacles from their lives. In the grand scheme, I hope this role can help me become a more effective plain language lawyer and advocate.
Bradley Noble ’26
Hometown: Tyrone, Georgia
College/education: Boston University, bachelor’s degree in international relations
Summer job: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of New York
What he’ll be doing: I will be working in the Criminal Division, hopefully getting to work on cases related to public integrity or civil rights.
Goals: For this summer, I’m mostly just excited to be working with really intelligent lawyers, doing real legal work that has such an impact on people’s lives. I’m also hoping to use this summer to see if working in the government is a career path that I would like to pursue in the future.
Justin Roberts ’25
Hometown: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Education: University of Virginia, bachelor’s degree in history and foreign affairs
Summer job: U.S. Department of State, Office of the Legal Adviser
What he’ll be doing: My general job will entail legal research and other duties in support of the foreign relations activities of the State Department and U.S. government in general.
Goals: I’m incredibly passionate about international law and hope to have a career in that field after graduation, so my main goal is to expand my knowledge and experience on that topic. Further, I am eager to have even a minor impact on U.S. foreign policy by ensuring our country’s conduct remains within the bounds of the law. I would also love to stay in this job after graduation, so I hope to expand my network of contacts and overall make a good impression in order to parlay this experience into a full-time job.
Founded in 1819, the University of Virginia School of Law is the second-oldest continuously operating law school in the nation. Consistently ranked among the top law schools, Virginia is a world-renowned training ground for distinguished lawyers and public servants, instilling in them a commitment to leadership, integrity and community service.
