a project of the Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI)

Michael G. Bergmann

Pro Bono Initiative Director

Prior to joining the Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) in 2006 as the Director of the Pro Bono Initiative (PBI), Michael served as the Guardian Ad Litem Program Director for Chicago Volunteer Legal Services since 2003.  He is a member of The Chicago Bar Association where he serves as a Vice Chair of the Young Lawyers Section and on the Legal Aid and Judicial Evaluation Committees; the Illinois State Bar Association where he serves on the Assembly, as Vice Chair of the Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services and Chair of the Child Law Section Council; and is Public Service Co-coordinator for the Young Lawyers Division of the American Bar Association.  Michael also chairs or serves on a number of other bar-related committees and boards of not for profit organizations. Frequently recognized for his contributions to the bar, he reccently received the Illinois State Bar Association's Outstanding Young Lawyer of the Year for Cook County and the DePaul University College of Law Outstanding Young Alumnus Award.  Michael was also named the 2005 recipient of the Kimball and Karen Anderson Public Interest Law Fellowship from The Chicago Bar Foundation, given each year to an outstanding law school graduate working in the area of public interest law.

Michael earned his B.A. in Politics from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. and  his J.D. from DePaul University College of Law in Chicago, IL.  Prior to and during law school, Michael was a consultant with the Financial Planning Solutions Group of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, responsible for project management and business development.

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Dan Schwarzlose

PBI Project Assistant

Dan joined the Public Interest Law Initiative in 2002. A former teacher, Dan is intently committed to the educational quality of PILI’s Internship & Fellowship programs. Dan is also an active artist, musician, and arts administrator. He co-directs the Elastic Arts Foundation, a performance space and visual art gallery in Chicago’s Logan Square, and serves as Media Artist for Moto Restaurant, where he collaborates with world-renowned chef Homaro Cantu. Dan’s synesthesia-themed art explores all of the senses and blurs boundaries between performance art, neuroscience, and the culinary arts.

Dan holds an M.F.A. in Interdisciplinary Art & Media from Columbia College and a B.A. in English from Northwestern University.