Center for Public Interest Advocacy and Collaboration (CPIAC)

Center for Public Interest Advocacy and Collaboration

The Center for Public Interest Advocacy and Collaboration (CPIAC) takes the lead in infusing the law school’s public interest mission into all facets of the student experience.

While supporting the law school’s long-standing commitment to social justice, the center also pilots programs and initiatives that address broader justice issues. The center’s most recent projects have focused on applying design and data strategies to find new interventions in the Cradle-to-Prison pipeline, centering community lawyering as a practice method and connecting students with pro bono opportunities.

Mission

Through teaching, practice, research and networking, CPIAC seeks to enhance the role of law and legal practice in achieving social, economic, and environmental justice in all dimensions. Searching for innovative and holistic solutions to contemporary social justice challenges, we work across disciplines; we engage with academic, professional, advocacy and grassroots communities; and we develop approaches to legal education geared toward this mission.

Core Values

• Upholding democratic values and working as a catalyst for systemic transformation on behalf of and in collaboration with vulnerable populations and communities that promotes the realization of social justice.
• Promoting action-oriented research and public-policy initiatives, strategic collaborations and experiential, cross-disciplinary learning.

Institutional Goals

• To assure that NUSL remains the premier public interest law school
• To develop the best law school-based, interdisciplinary public interest law center
• To develop the premier public interest “pipeline” by recruiting and training the next generation of social justice lawyers, and facilitating their entry upon graduation into fulfilling public interest careers.