Willamette University Public Interest Law Project (WUPILP) has hosted an annual auction called the Bid for Justice since 1992. Oregon attorneys, law students, and law faculty of Willamette look forward to the auction every year. While the auction itself is a lost of fun, the money raise also goes towards funding life changing student fellowships.
A WUPILP Fellowship is traditionally a $4,000 taxable grant given to students interested in working in public interest law. To receive a fellowship, students are required to complete their first of law school, have an unpaid summer employment offer in the public interest field, and fulfill volunteer duties. Each spring, a panel of faculty, staff, and students choose the annual Project fellows based on submitted students applications. The number of fellowships WUPILP offers each year depends solely on the funds raised at the Bid for Justice auction.
Project fellows have worked in a myriad of public interest positions thanks to the gracious support of our donors. Public defender work to juvenile justice reform, transit equity reform to domestic violence advocacy: our fellows are truly catalyst of change thanks to our donors!