PLISF provides scholarships up to $3,200 to students accepting unpaid, public-interest internships over the summer. Last year, PLISF awarded 10* scholarships totaling over $21,000, including the Judge Amy Hay Memorial Scholarship, the Welsh White Memorial Scholarship, and the Dean's Scholarship.

The Summer 2015 PLISF Scholarship Recipients:

• Kyle Watson (Welsh White Scholar) - Abolitionist Law Center
• Eden Minarik (Judge Amy Hay Scholar) - Allegheny County Public Defender
• John Scialabba (Judge Amy Hay Scholar) - Allegheny County Public Defender
• Saleha Vandal (Dean's Scholar) - Women's Law Project
• Quinn Cozzens - Abolitionist Law Center
• Abby Yochum - Community Justice Project
• Daniel Marcus - Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project
• Alexa Roberts - Allegheny County District Attorney
• Ariel Oliver - Community Justice Project
*One awardee did not accept the scholarship

PLISF is honored to present three awards recognizing public interest work in specific areas of law: the Welsh White Memorial Scholarship, the Judge Amy Hay Memorial Scholarship, and the Dean's Scholarship.

• Welsh White was a professor at Pitt Law beginning in 1968. Professor White taught Criminal Procedure and Evidence and was a national authority on the death penalty. While teaching full time at Pitt Law, Professor White also represented indigent criminal defendants, particularly in capital cases. Professor White passed away on December 31, 2005. The Welsh White Memorial Award, given in his honor, is awarded each year to a student taking an internship working in the area of criminal law.
• U.S. Magistrate Judge Amy Reynolds Hay graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1971 and earned her J.D. from Pitt Law in 1982. She worked from 1982 through 1984 for the U.S. Department of Justice's Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division in Washington, DC. In 1984, Hay joined the U.S. Attorney's office in Pittsburgh where she took over control as chief of the civil division in 1989. She remained in this position until appointed to the bench in 2003. Judge Hay also returned to Pitt Law to teach Trial Advocacy for 14 years. Judge Hay passed away on October 15, 2010. Judge Amy Reynolds Hay was survived by her husband, Court of Common Pleas Judge Lester Nauhaus who donated a scholarship fund to PLISF in his wife's name. The Judge Amy Hay Memorial Award is awarded each year to a student taking an internship in a public defender's office.
• Dean William Carter has designated funding for a full scholarship to be awarded to a student taking a internship at an agency or organization that addresses legal issues of particular concern to women.

30th Annual PLISF Auction
February 18th, 2016
Doors open at 6:30
Barco Law Building
First Floor Lobby