By Deanna Devey
In an auction and raffle Feb. 6, law students earned more than $2,000 to help students take unpaid public interest internships during the summer.
The auction, sponsored by the Public Interest Law Foundation, aims to help finance law students who take positions on behalf of underrepresented clients.
'I really feel like it''s important, because it''s working with people that no one else is willing to work with,' said Benjamin McMurray, president of the Public Interest Law Foundation.
Public interest agencies do not have the money to pay for law students; so the purpose of the auction is to help those law students who decide to work for these agencies, said McMurray.
Ian Thomson, a vice-president of PILF, received a grant during his first year of school. He said considerable barriers make or break doing this kind of work if you are a law student.
'For the students who decide to do public interest work, there''s a considerable sacrifice involved,' Thomson said.
The grants only go to cover expenses and living costs, Thomson said. Most of the incentives for working in public interest law are personal.
PILF scholarship recipients have worked across the United States, helping a variety of organizations from the National Center for the Deaf in D.C. and the Honolulu Family Court to the Migrant Farm Workers Association in Idaho and the Utah Legal Center for Victims of Domestic Violence.
Law professors, students and more than 200 businesses are among those who donated items for the auction.
In years past, a criminal procedure professor has volunteered lunch with the promise to share his secret for getting out of traffic tickets, McMurray said. 'I''ve never heard anyone call and say they didn''t get their money''s worth.'
One student spent over $100 to have the first choice of a desk in the law library next year.
Hot-girl and hot-boy date packages sold for up to $50.
'We''re really just scraping up pennies,' McMurray said.
The scholarship recipients also have to volunteer at least ten hours helping organize the auction.
PILF usually grants students who qualify from $500 to $4,000, Thomson said.