Opportunities!

In 2020, the Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law launched its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Scholarship Program. This program aims to recognize and support JD applicants who have an interest in natural resources and energy law, who identify as Black, Indigenous, Latino or Latina, Asian-American, Pacific Islander, or other person of color, and meet the other applicable criteria.

This scholarship initiative underscores our commitment to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion within the legal profession. This scholarship is an investment in helping to expand the community of natural resources and energy lawyers to reflect a richer tapestry of backgrounds and perspectives.

Find more information at https://www.fnrel.org/

Getches-WilkinsonCenterWaterLaw Fellows Position Announcement

The Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment (GWC) at the University of Colorado Law School is seeking an outstanding — early career — attorney to serve as the next GWC Water Law Fellow. The Fellow will work on the most pressing water law reform issues of the day under the guidance of the GWC and law school faculty and in partnership with leaders from the non-profit, government, and private sectors.

The overarching objective of the Water Law Fellows Program is to create a matchless educational and mentoring experience that will prepare the Fellows to become leaders in the field. The intensive program will immerse the Fellow in the real-world challenges of water law and policy. During the program, the Fellow will be actively engaged in water law reform in the public interest and will hone their leadership, communication, advocacy, and research skills. 

The Fellow will work with GWC faculty and staff, and with partner organizations on a wide array of emerging issues. This work may be done at every level — federal, state, tribal, county, city, and international — and could include developing proposed legislation/regulations, policy implementation, and filing amicus briefs. Recent projects have focused on Tribal water rights in the Colorado River basin, proposals for reforms to Colorado water law, proposals for reform of the Wild and Scenic River Act, state development of dredge and fill programs following the Supreme Court’s Sackett decision, and access to EPA funding for water infrastructure programs.

The Fellow’s research agenda will be developed collaboratively with the support and supervision of GWC staff.

Fellows will be expected to draft at least one paper for publication in the first year and to assist with organizing conferences, workshops, public education events, and other GWC events. Fellows may also publish white papers and law reform recommendations; attend conferences on water-related topics; perhaps offer testimony at hearings and make public addresses; draft media content on emerging issues; and work on projects that develop in-depth expertise in water law.

Housed in the GWC at Colorado Law, the Fellow will have full access to the extraordinary resources and institutional support of the Law School. To encourage multi-disciplinary solutions, the Fellow will be able to draw on expertise in departments across the University and nearby national laboratories. Under the guidance of the GWC, the Fellow will work with experts in NGOs, government, and the private sector.

Getches-WilkinsonCenterforNaturalResources,Energyandthe Environment

The Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment advances the truly sustainable management and conservation of natural resources, with a focus on the American West, by:

Influencing natural resources law and policy, including issues of water, land, climate change, and the rights of Tribes and Indigenous Peoples; and

Educating, inspiring and mentoring the next generation of committed lawyers and advocates devoted to justice and equity.

Major programs and initiatives focus on natural resources, water and public lands issues in Colorado and the West; Tribal communities and environmental justice; climate change law and policy; and electricity regulation and energy policy. The name comes from the contributions of two iconic figures in the law school’s environmental law history, David Getches and Charles Wilkinson.

Learn more about Colorado Law

Terms,Salary,andBenefits 

Fellowship terms

Start Date: The start date is flexible, with the Fellow able to begin anytime between March 1, 2025, and September 1, 2025.
Duration: This is a one-year appointment, with the option to extend for a second year upon mutual agreement between GWC and the Fellow.
Salary: $70,000 per year.
Additional Support: Includes a budget for travel and training.
Location: The position is based in Boulder, Colorado. The Fellow will be expected to maintain a regular presence at the GWC offices at the University of Colorado Law School, with some remote work allowed.

Benefits
The University of Colorado offers excellent benefits, including medical and dental healthcare coverage, and an ECO (transit) Pass. The University of Colorado Boulder is one of the largest employers in Boulder County and offers an inspiring higher education environment.
Learn more about the University of Colorado Boulder.

Whatwe require

• J.D.
• One year of relevant professional experience after graduation from law school or a demonstrated commitment to water-related issues during law school. Applicants completing a judicial clerkship are encouraged to apply.
• Excellent research and writing skills.

Whatwewouldlikeyouto have

• Strong academic record.
• Demonstrated experience or background in water law or related field.
• Demonstrated experience in environmental research.
• Commitment to serving diverse and underrepresented communities.
• Proven track record of working well as a team member.

Application Instructions:

To apply, please submit the following materials for full consideration:

1. A professional resume (two pages maximum).
2. A cover letter that specifically addresses how your interest in the Fellows program and how your background and experience align with the requirements, qualifications and responsibilities of the position.
3. Law school transcript (unofficial transcript is acceptable).
4. A writing sample of not more than 10 pages.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled. Applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible.

The Water Law Fellowship is open to individuals regardless of race, national origin, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or gender. We encourage individuals from groups historically underrepresented in environmental conservation to apply.

Contact Information
For further information, please feel free to contact GWC Assistant Director, Annie Carlozzi at annie.carlozzi@colorado.edu or 303-492-1286.

The Institute for Energy Law of The Center for American and International Law announces its 2025 Hartrick Scholar writing competition. All eligible students are invited to participate.

Eligible Students and Topics: Students enrolled in law school anywhere in the world as of December 2024, and seeking a first degree in law, such as a juris doctor, LL.B. or an equivalent, are eligible to submit an article for consideration in the IEL Hartrick Scholar competition. The general subject for this year’s competition is any topic related to energy development. This includes, for example, topics concerning oil and gas law, alternative energy resources, energy regulation, and environmental regulation of the energy industries.

The article can be any work prepared by the student while enrolled in law school and can include prior works prepared for a law journal or a law school course, so long as the submitted version complies with the submission guidelines. The Hartrick Scholar Judging Committee will select one or more outstanding submissions that they deem worthy of recognition.

Submission Guidelines:

• The article must be submitted electronically to the Hartrick Scholar Judging Committee, at the address listed below, on or before March 3, 2025.
• The article should not exceed 8,000 words including footnotes (this approximates 40 double-spaced pages of text and footnotes or 25 printed pages).
• Footnotes should be in Blue Book format and placed at the bottom of the page where the footnoted text appears.
• The article should be submitted in pdf format accompanied by a cover email message that contains the following information: (1) your name; (2) the title of your article; (3) the law school where you are currently enrolled; (4) your year at law school (in 2024-25); (5) your mailing address; (6) your telephone number, preferably cell phone; and (7) your email address.
• The article should NOT contain your name, law school, or any other identifying information.
• The winning paper will be published in the 76th Annual Proceedings of the Institute on Energy Law; therefore, if the article has been published elsewhere, the submission must include permission to publish the article from the original publisher.

Selection of the 2025 Hartrick Scholar: The Hartrick Scholar selected by the Judging Committee will be notified on or before April 15, 2025. The Scholar will receive a $2,500 cash award.

Submit Articles and Questions To:

Hartrick Scholar Judging Committee

ATTN: Vickie Adams

Institute for Energy Law

vadams@cailaw.org

Yale Law School is hiring a Fellow to prepare an assessment of potential litigation strategies challenging industrial animal agriculture’s animal welfare, labor, environmental and other negative externalities. The fellow’s work will be supervised by Jonathan Lovvorn and Doug Kysar, and will support the Animal Agriculture Accountability Project (AAAP), an academic and NGO partnership that seeks to accelerate the enactment and enforcement of state and local legal policy interventions to hold industrial animal agriculture accountable for its harms to people, animals, and the environment. This is a unique opportunity to work with a broad coalition of advocacy organizations committed to ending factory farming, and to guide the future strategic direction of litigation campaigns to advance this goal. The AAAP Fellow will receive a one-year appointment, commencing as soon as possible.

The Fellow will oversee the development of a deep-dive assessment of litigation strategies for challenging the factory business model in state and federal courts, including (1) an assessment of past, current, and potential future litigation strategies challenging industrial animal agriculture’s animal welfare, labor, environmental and other negative externalities, and the creation of a database cataloging such litigation; (2) an evaluation of which litigation strategies best advance the goal of elevating the  public’s understanding that 90% of meat and dairy is produced in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions, which are extremely damaging to workers, animals, and the planet; and (3) recommendations regarding the cost, time, and likelihood of success of the most promising litigation strategies.

The Fellow will collaborate with project faculty; supervise student work in support of the project at Yale and other universities; coordinate with partner NGOs in the environmental, food policy, labor, civil rights, and animal protection community; and serve as a primary point of contact with philanthropic foundation leaders who have requested this assessment to guide their grant-making. The position is preferably based at Yale Law School in New Haven, but remote work in Yale-approved states will be considered for strong candidates.

The ideal candidate will have the following qualifications:

• Graduation with a distinguished academic record from a U.S. law school;
• Experience in one or more areas of law relevant to industrial agriculture, including food law, environmental law, climate law, animal law, agricultural law, and/or other relevant areas of practice;
• Experience with public interest litigation or scholarship concerning such litigation, including experience researching and writing legal briefs, administrative petitions, or other writing and publications concerning public interest litigation;
• Comfort interpreting scientific literature and technical concepts;
• Strong interpersonal skills and enthusiasm for teamwork;
• Capacity to work hard, efficiently, and independently; and
• Commitment to public service or social justice work.

The Fellow will receive a competitive salary commensurate with experience level plus Yale University benefits. Applicants must have authorization to work in the United States.

Application materials should be sent to Jonathan.Lovvorn@yale.edu and Doug.Kysar@yale.edu and include the following:

• Cover letter describing the candidate’s qualifications and including a statement of the applicant’s interests and experience;
• CV or Resume;
• Sample of recent legal writing; and
• Names and contact information of three references.

We strongly encourage applications from candidates whose identities have been historically under-represented in the legal profession and the animal and environmental protection movements.

Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.

University policy is committed to affirmative action under law in employment of women, minority group members, individuals with disabilities, and protected veterans. Additionally, in accordance with Yale’s Policy Against Discrimination and Harassment, and as delineated by federal and Connecticut law, Yale does not discriminate in admissions, educational programs, or employment against any individual on account of that individual’s sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, age, disability, status as a special disabled veteran, veteran of the Vietnam era or other covered veteran.

Inquiries concerning Yale’s Policy Against Discrimination and Harassment may be referred to the Office of Institutional Equity and Accessibility (OIEA).

The American Bar Association’s (ABA) Section of Environment, Energy and Resources (SEER) is now soliciting student submissions for its May/June 2025 issue of Trends, a bi-monthly newsletter on new cases, regulations, and issues in environmental, energy and resources law. Is there a pending case before the Supreme Court that interests you?  What about a major decision from a Court of Appeals or state Supreme Court?  Has your state passed a new environmental law or recently implemented a regulation?  You can also consider writing about the new Executive Orders (EOs) or other regulatory announcements by the new Administration affecting many in the environmental/energy/resources area.

The May/June issue of Trends will be reserved for publishing student pieces of 750-1,000 words. Please see the author guidelines (attached), as well as the November/December 2024 issue for examples of Trends articles.

• Submission Deadline: Submissions will be reviewed on a rolling basis up until March 1, 2025.
• Timeline: The Trends Board, composed of experienced lawyers in the field, will select and notify successful applicants by mid-March.  Board members will then assist in editing and finalizing the article for publication in an all-electronic format that will be posted on the ABA SEER website and distributed via e-mail notice to the 8,000 plus members of the Section.
• Eligibility: Only students pursuing a law degree (JD, LLM, or JSD) are eligible to submit. At the time of submission, the student must be enrolled in the degree-granting program. (Non-students are ineligible to submit articles for the student issue but are welcome to submit to other issues of Trends. )
• How to submit: Please email your submission to Thomas Lorenzen at tlorenzen@crowell.com,  Chayla Witherspoon at chayla.witherspoon@fmglaw.com, Norm Dupont at ndupont@awattorneys.com, and Victor Wu at victorywu@stanford.edu. 

Please include the following information [in this format] in your submission email:

[Title of proposed article] [20-30 words on proposed scope—e.g., “This Supreme Court case deals with standing of parties who did not participate in a prior administrative proceeding to subsequently challenge the results of that proceeding to license off-site storage of nuclear waste.”][Author full name][*_____ is a ____-year JD/LLM/JSD student at ____.]

UCLA’s outstanding Emmett Institute is seeking a general Fellow (a slot they typically fill with candidates 0-4 years out of law school):  https://recruit.apo.ucla.edu/JPF09931 

The Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law and Graduate School is currently seeking law students for its summer honors intern program from May 27 to August 1, 2025. Preference will be given to rising 3L students. Interns will receive a stipend of $8,000 to work full time with CAFS. Interns may work in person in South Royalton, Vermont, or remotely. 

Summer honors interns work alongside nationwide partners on a range of projects. Responsibilities 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 virtually with scholars and food system practitioners in small groups. 

Applicants must be pursuing a JD degree from an accredited law school. Students enrolled in a master’s degree program at Vermont Law and Graduate School are also eligible to apply. 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.

Apply online via this form. The application deadline is January 6, 2025.

There are several opportunities now open at the Sabin Center which could be of interest to current students and recent graduates. Information on all of the below are available here.

1. There is an ongoing search for the Sabin Center’s next ClimateLawFellow. This is an early-career, one-year fellowship with an option for a second year, beginning in September 2025.  

2. Another search is for an early-career attorney to work on the Renewable Energy Legal Defense Initiative (RELDI). This person will work with Mike Gerrard and Matt Eisenson, among others, to provide thought leadership, applied research, peer learning, and other outputs that will assist advocates and researchers seeking to strategically engage with the planning for and siting of utility- and community scale renewable energy facilities and related infrastructure. This position is open now and available until filled.

All positions are based in New York City, and require consistent with university policy, presence in the office three days/week.

The Yale/NRDC environmental law fellow will spend one year practicing environmental law and policy advocacy with NRDC, and one year helping to support the environmental protection clinic at Yale.

More details are available here.

ELAW is an international NGO registered in Oregon that supports a network of public interest environmental lawyers and scientists who use the law to protect the environment and human rights. ELAW provides legal and scientific resources to grassroots advocates in approximately 80 countries. Law Interns assist the ELAW attorneys in responding to requests for collaboration. These requests generate both short and long-term assignments on a wide range of legal topics, including climate change, human rights, plastic pollution, natural resource extraction, and marine protection. Interns typically conduct legal research, write memos, assist with drafting briefs or other legal analyses, and help identify strong or innovative laws and regulations. ELAW attorneys work with Interns and oversee all projects.

The internship is full-time (40 hours/week) for approximately 10 weeks between late May and September. Candidates should indicate whether they prefer to work from the office in Eugene, Oregon or remotely. ELAW encourages successful applicants to secure funding from scholarships or their law schools, but such funding is not a factor in selecting final candidates. ELAW will supplement outside funding to ensure Interns receive $6,600 for the 10-week internship.

We welcome applications from current second-year (2L) and LLM students. Successful applicants generally possess excellent research and writing skills and a strong dedication to public interest environmental law. Proficiency in a language or languages other than English is preferred, but not required. ELAW actively seeks applicants with diverse backgrounds.

To apply for a summer legal internship, please submit a cover letter (a one page document that communicates your interest in ELAW and provides additional information about skills and experiences relevant to this position), resume, and writing sample (less than 10 pages) at https://elaw.bamboohr.com/careers. Please include all documents in the same file in this order: cover letter, resume, writing sample.

Applications must be submitted by October 4, 2024.