Through our Public Interest Law Center, second- and third-year law students earn academic credit while providing legal services to under-represented individuals.
Under the supervision of esteemed faculty, students acquire real-world work experience while representing live clients. They conduct discovery, draft pleadings and represent clients before government agencies and in court. Unlike students at most other clinics, our students also participate in legislative advocacy – we take advantage of our location just one block from the Florida Capitol.
The Center is comprised of several live-client clinics and projects — the Children’s Advocacy Clinic, Farmworker & Immigration Rights Clinic (FIRC), International Human Rights Advocacy Clinic, Claude Pepper Elder Law Clinic, Children in Prison Project, Health Care Access Project, Human Trafficking and Exploitation Law Project (HELP), Juvenile Solitary Confinement Project, and Afghan Legal Advocacy Project (ALA). The College of Law is also home to a Business Law Clinic, through which students earn academic credit by representing business and social entrepreneurs on the FSU campus.
The Center’s work on children in prison has been cited by the United States Supreme Court and featured by national and international media.
Newsletter Highlights
- Read the Public Interest Law Center's 2024 Newsletter
- Read the Public Interest Law Center's 2023 Newsletter
- Read the Public Interest Law Center's 2022 Newsletter
- Read the Public Interest Law Center's 2021 Newsletter
Upcoming Events
Previous Events
“The Rule of Law in International Human Rights," Former Ireland President Mary Robinson
Wednesday, February 12, 2025, at 4 p.m.
Florida State University College of Law, Auditorium 101
The Practice of Consumer Law, The Promise of Economic Justice
Monday, October 28, 2024, 12:30-1:30 p.m., in the D'Alemberte Rotunda
Presented by the Claude Pepper Elder Law Clinic and Public Interest Law Students Association
Featured Speaker: Ted Mermin, Executive Director of the Center for Consumer Law and Economic Justice at UC Berkeley
Elder Law Moot Court Welcome Reception
Thursday, November 7, 2024, 4-6 p.m., in the D'Alemberte Rotunda
This event will welcome 20 teams from across the state to the competition.
PILC Awards Ceremony | April 12, 2024
View the recording of this event.
Elder Law and Financial Exploitation Panel | October 12, 2023
Featured speakers: Shannon Miller, The Miller Elder Law Firm; Genna Fasullo LaPeer, The Miller Elder Law Firm; and Twyla Sketchley, The Sketchley Law Firm.
World Elder Abuse Awareness Day | June 15, 2023
Public Interest Law Center Award Ceremony | May 5, 2023
Diaper and Incontinence Product Drive, Donation drop off at Public Interest Law Center | March 27 - April 7, 2023
Symposium on HB29/SB114 Tax Exemption for Diapers & Incontinence Products | Monday March 27, 2023
Sponsored by the Claude Pepper Elder Law Clinic, the Children’s Advocacy Clinic, Birth to 5 Year Old Project, and the Public Interest Law Student Association.
