Staff

Cindy Wilson

Director, Public Interest Center

Cindy Wilson is the director of the Public Interest Center. She oversees the work and staff of the Center, including existing programs, new initiatives, and funding. She is also a clinical professor of law and director of the Center for Externships at the Bluhm Legal Clinic. She is a recipient of the Chicago Bar Foundation Leonard J. Schrager Award of Excellence, which recognizes an exemplary attorney in academia who has made significant and lasting contributions to improving access to justice for the less fortunate. Prior to joining the law school faculty, Professor Wilson was a civil rights lawyer at the Chicago Lawyers' Committee, where her work focused on employment discrimination cases. She was also a law clerk to the Honorable Seymour F. Simon of the Illinois Supreme Court. Professor Wilson received her JD, cum laude, Order of the Coif, from Northwestern University School of Law in 1986, and her BA, magna cum laude, from Knox College in 1982.

Sara Sommervold

Assistant Director, Academic & Career Management

More to come!

Emily Powers

Associate Director, Public Interest Center

Emily Powers is the Associate Director of the Public Interest Center. She manages the Loan Assistance Repayment Program (LRAP) and assists with career advising and public interest programming. Prior to joining the Public Interest Center, Emily was a Polikoff-Gautreaux Fellow and Program Manager at BPI – Chicago, a law and policy center where she focused on education, housing, and criminal legal reform. She was also a Senior Manager at Start Early where she provided consultation to state and local government leaders and advocates to advance early childhood systems change. Emily received her JD, cum laude, from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law in 2015 and a BA in English and Political Science, summa cum laude, from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas in 2009, where she was named a Nevada Regents’ Scholar and Truman Scholar.