Joey Carrillo ’21 and Ada Sandoval ’20 Named Public Interest Law Initiative Interns for Spring 2020

Chicago-Kent College of Law students Joey Carrillo ’21 and Ada Sandoval ’20 have been selected for Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) internships for spring 2020. PILI interns receive a stipend and work at Illinois nonprofits under the supervision of experienced attorneys.

Carrillo is working for the National Immigrant Justice Center’s LGBT Immigrant Rights Initiative. He’ll help the team with client intake and case evaluation, but his primary project will be to represent an asylum-seeker who fled Guatemala to escape persecution over his sexual orientation.

“As the child of an immigrant Latinx family and as a gay man myself, I am humbled to work for a group of clients that are so close to home for me,” says Carrillo.

Over the next several months, Carrillo will prepare the client’s affidavit, letters of support, and trial brief. He’ll use his 711 license—which allows law student to counsel clients and argue before a judge under the guidance of licensed attorneys—to represent the client at the merits hearing to prove his asylum claim.

“Our clients are incredibly brave for leaving everything behind to reclaim their lives by seeking asylum in the U.S.,” says Carrillo. “Helping them to enjoy life’s fundamental liberties of being who they are and loving who they will is life-changing for our clients, and being a part of this is incredibly empowering.”

A cum laude graduate of Elmhurst College, Carrillo has worked as director of annual giving, stewardship, and operations at Chicago Theological Seminary since 2019. Before that, he worked in Illinois Institute of Technology’s Office of Advancement. Carrillo is a vice president of the Chicago-Kent Student Bar Association, and has completed a previous PILI internship with Legal Aid Chicago. He'll compete on the Chicago-Kent Lambdas team going to the Williams Institute Moot Court Competition in March.

Sandoval is spending the semester at the Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing to help clients facing eviction or unsafe housing conditions. “The work I will be doing will help vulnerable families from becoming homeless,” she says.

Sandoval is planning to use her 711 license to guide her clients through their legal case and to represent them in court. She will negotiate with landlords to prevent eviction filings and work with clients to inform them of their rights as tenants.

“I worked at LCBH as a paralegal before starting law school, and I wanted the opportunity to come back and defend our clients in the courtroom,” says Sandoval. “I know how much the work LCBH does impacts its clients, and I am proud to be a part of LCBH and make such a positive impact.”

A cum laude graduate of Lake Forest College, Sandoval is a managing editor of Chicago-Kent’s Journal of Intellectual Property. She previously worked as a legal extern at the City of Chicago Department of Law and for the Honorable Franklin U. Valderrama in the Circuit Court of Cook County Chancery Division. In summer 2018, she was a Coles Fellow at the State of Illinois Human Rights Commission.