TALLAHASSEE—The Florida Bar Foundation has awarded the Florida State University College of Law’s Public Interest Law Center (PILC) two grants totaling $180,000 to continue providing a broad range of legal services to the under-represented. 

The Florida Bar Foundation awards include a $155,000 Children’s Legal Services Grant and a $25,000 Law School Civil Clinic Grant. The Foundation is the state’s leading charitable organization dedicated to providing low-income individuals and families with greater access to justice. 

“The Public Interest Law Center is honored to receive grant funding from the Florida Bar Foundation for 2008,” said Clinical Professor Paolo Annino, co-director of the PILC with Clinical Professor Ruth Stone. “The Center handles approximately 110 ongoing cases and without the support of the Florida Bar Foundation, there is no way we would be able to help as many children and low income families.” 

The PILC, which consists of a Children's Law Clinic and a Family Law Clinic, is home to one of the nation’s leading legal internship programs. Its mission is to instill in law students a sense of professional responsibility and to create a pool of future lawyers trained and motivated to do pro bono work on behalf of children and other underrepresented individuals. 

“We are extremely grateful for the grants, especially given the tightening budgets of Florida universities,” said Dean Don Weidner. “The Florida Bar Foundation recognizes the high quality of representation being provided by our faculty and students and has awarded much-needed funding to support our efforts on behalf of those in greatest need of legal representation.”