The Public Interest Law Gathering (PILG) is an annual civil society convening of people and organisations who use law as a tool to advance social justice in South Africa.1 Started in 2011, PILG is an annual event which brings together public interest law practitioners, NGO researchers, community activists, law students, academics and donors.

In 2021, the 10th iteration of PILG was held on 13 and 14 October (PILG was paused in 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic). While it takes place every year, PILG forms part of continuing conversations within the public interest law sector.

These conversations traverse issues such as the critical, cross-cutting social justice challenges of the time, the impact of public interest legal work, the strategies and methodologies that the public interest law sector uses, what different movements, campaigns, cases and organisations might learn from one another, and what future collaboration could look like.

With these continuing conversations in mind, this report attempts to capture the central discussions which were held at PILG 2021 in order to offer a diagnostic of, and reflection on, the key issues that the sector is currently grappling with. It is intended as a resource for anyone interested in the use of public interest law in South Africa, as well as for future curators and participants in PILG.

The Final report can be found here: PILG 2021 Report (29 Nov 2021) FINAL