Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Center for Agriculture and Food Systems is currently seeking law students for its Summer Honors Internship program from May 30 to August 4, 2023. Interns will receive a $6,000 stipend to work full-time with CAFS. Interns may work in person or remotely and group events will be offered by either a virtual or a hybrid method.
In past summers, interns have worked on projects related to developing a national food strategy in the US, food resilience, land trusts, preemption in food regulation, farmworker rights, USDA loans and the appeals process, federal and state meat inspection, challenges and opportunities for farms seeking to transition away from dairy production, and various issues associated with concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). They have worked alongside project partners from Agrarian Trust, Farmworker Justice, the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic, Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, Farm Aid, and the Socially Responsible Agriculture Project, among other organizations. Interns’ assigned tasks depend on project needs and may include legal research, drafting law and policy documents, conducting original research in the form of interviews and surveys, drafting case studies, and providing general support.
Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Summer Session draws visiting faculty and lecturers from around the country and the world. Interns will have the opportunity to attend the summer lecture series and to meet with scholars and food system practitioners in small groups.
Qualifications: Currently enrolled in a JD degree program; a background in food and agricultural law and policy, public health law and policy, administrative law, environmental law and policy, state and local government law, and/or land use law and policy is preferred; strong research and writing skills are required. Proficiency in Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Excel) is required for the position; other skills (such as graphic design, web development, or GIS) are a bonus.
Please apply by submitting a cover letter, resume, list of three references, academic writing sample of no more than 5 pages (this can be an excerpt of a longer writing sample – please include a section that provides analysis, if possible), and unofficial academic transcript, here. The application deadline is January 17, 2023.
Information about the internship is available at vermontlaw.edu/cafs-openings, and feel free to reach out to Claire Child (cchild@vermontlaw.edu) if you have any questions.