Public interest law refers to legal practices undertaken to help poor, marginalized, or under-represented people, or to effect change in social policies in the public interest, on 'not for profit' terms (pro bono publico), often in the fields of civil rights, civil liberties, religious liberty, human rights, women's rights, consumer rights, environmental protection, and so on.

The chief instrument through which judicial activism has flourished in India is public interest litigation or social action litigation.

a not-for-profit based in Reston, Virginia, created by the Internet Society in 2002 to manage the .ORG top-level domain.

Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs) are a federation of U.S. and Canadian non-profit organizations that employ grassroots organizing and direct advocacy on issues such as consumer protection, public health and transportation.