Opportunities!

NRDC is hiring a Legal Fellow for a two-year fellowship starting in August 2023. For the first year, (through August 2024), the Fellow will work at NRDC. During that time, the Fellow will focus on litigation or policy efforts to redress environmental and public health harms, such as air and water pollution, climate change, threats to endangered species, environmental injustice, and exposure to toxic chemicals. The Fellow will work in one of NRDC’s subject matter programs (Climate & Clean Energy; Nature; International; or Healthy People & Thriving Communities) and may represent NRDC and its members in federal or state court litigation or pursue policy initiatives in one or more of those areas. The Fellow may also collaborate with other environmental, labor, public health, and racial justice groups. The Fellow will work closely with, and be supervised by, experienced NRDC attorneys. The Fellow will be affiliated with one of NRDC’s major domestic offices (New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Chicago, or Santa Monica), depending on the Fellow’s preference and NRDC’s needs.   
  
For the second year (August 2024 through August 2025), the Fellow will work at Yale in New Haven, Connecticut, providing support for environmental law clinics, dual degree students, and events and activities relating to environmental law and policy. The Fellow’s primary responsibility will be to coordinate and co-teach the Environmental Protection Clinic alongside NRDC experts and a Yale faculty member. The Environmental Protection Clinic is an interdisciplinary clinic offered jointly between Yale Law School and the Yale School of the Environment. The Clinic creates teams of graduate students to work on substantial projects for outside organizations, particularly those with a significant environmental justice focus. Projects include litigation support, administrative advocacy, legislative drafting, strategic and communications planning, network building, scientific literature reviews, and more. In addition to being the primary coordinator of the Clinic, the Fellow will also have substantive supervision responsibilities for particular Clinic student projects. It is the intention of NRDC and Yale that those projects will include matters that the Fellow has already worked on during the first year of the Fellowship at NRDC.  

More information is available here.

The 6th National Young Energy Professionals’ Law Conference will occur in-person in New Orleans on October 5-6, 2022.

Designed primarily for energy professionals and attorneys under 40 years of age, this conference provides attendees with (1) opportunities to network with their peers from in-house and law firm environments, (2) energy related CLE for a low price, (3) professional development programming, and (4) fun social events.

Details here.

Midwest Environmental Advocates is hiring a staff or senior staff attorney to provide legal and technical support to community groups and partner organizations to protect public rights to a healthy environment.

More information is available here: https://midwestadvocates.org/about/jobs-volunteers

MEA’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is rooted in our organizational values of community, stewardship, empowerment, and justice. We strive to contribute to a more powerful and equitable movement for environmental justice in Wisconsin, and we believe it is essential all communities see themselves reflected in that movement. Diversity, equity, and inclusion at MEA strengthen our organization’s ability to advance environmental justice.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

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The Yale Law Journal hosts an annual Student Essay Competition open to current law students and recent law school graduates. This year, the topic is Law and the Changing Environment, broadly construed. The submissions deadline is September 9.

• Topic: We encourage submissions on a range of topics, including climate change; energy law; environmental justice; agency environmental regulation; migration and refugees; land use; local government; infrastructure and transportation; Indigenous rights; financial regulation; animal law; and legislation and policy proposals involving the environment. We welcome topics in related areas as well, and we hope to receive both clinical and academic submissions.
• Eligibility: The competition is open to JDs and LLMs from the Classes of 2018-2025 from any ABA-accredited law school. 
• Submission Criteria: Essays must be between 4,000 and 8,000 words, including footnotes. Each individual may submit only one Essay. Essays must be previously unpublished and may not be submitted to other law reviews during the competition period.
• Submission Deadline: September 9, 2022.
• Prize: Up to three winners will receive a $300 cash prize. Winning Essays will be published in the Yale Law Journal Forum and accessible on our website, LexisNexis, and Westlaw.

More details on the competition, including submission instructions, are available on our website here.

Participate in the 2022 Elisabeth Haub School of Law Environmental Law & Policy Hack Competition​!
The problem this year invites students to propose a private environmental governance intervention to prompt environmental progress.  The full problem is posted here​. Register by September 27; team briefs are due October 31, 2022, and the final presentation round will be on December 2, 2022. The Hack competition identifies an emerging environmental challenge that could benefit from innovative law and policy approaches and invites participants to study the issue, brainstorm solutions, and propose innovative and practical solutions.  Teams are encouraged to include students and contributors from different disciplines as well as representatives from the private and public sectors. A panel of faculty and invited professionals with expertise relating to the challenge subject reviews the team’s concepts and selects three team submissions as finalists.  The finalist teams present their proposals to a group of distinguished judges, who will select the wining team solution.  

The ABA SEER’s International Environmental Law (IERL) Committee is running a student writing competition. The deadline is at the end of this month.

Once again this year, the IERL Committee is sponsoring a student writing competition and a prize of $1,000 will be awarded to the best essay. We are looking for submissions on the topic of international environmental and resources law, which includes global comparative environmental and resources law, public international environmental law, and foreign environmental and resources law.

The deadline is May 31, 2022 and the detailed competition rules can be consulted at the link here: International Environmental Law Writing Competition (americanbar.org)

Of course the IERL Committee is not the only committee sponsoring competitions. Writing competitions on other available environmental topics are linked below!
Endangered Species
Energy Law
Native American Resources
International Environmental and Resources Law
Forest Law
Superfund, Brownfields, and Resource Recovery
Public Land and Resources
Water Law

YLJ hosts an annual Student Essay Competition open to current law students and recent law school graduates. This year, the topic is Law and the Changing Environment, broadly construed. The submissions deadline is September 9.

• Topic: We encourage submissions on a range of topics, including climate change; energy law; environmental justice; agency environmental regulation; migration and refugees; land use; local government; infrastructure and transportation; Indigenous rights; financial regulation; animal law; and legislation and policy proposals involving the environment. We welcome topics in related areas as well, and we hope to receive both clinical and academic submissions.

• Eligibility: The competition is open to JDs and LLMs from the Classes of 2018-2025 from any ABA-accredited law school. 

• Submission Criteria: Essays must be between 4,000 and 8,000 words, including footnotes. Each individual may submit only one Essay. Essays must be previously unpublished and may not be submitted to other law reviews during the competition period.

• Submission Deadline: September 9, 2022.

• Prize: Up to three winners will receive a $300 cash prize. Winning Essays will be published in the Yale Law Journal Forum and accessible on our website, LexisNexis, and Westlaw.

More details on the Competition, including submission instructions, are available here.

The hiring process for the ENR Center’s Research Fellow position is still open, and the Center is inviting applicants. This Research Fellow will work with Prof. Mary Wood on an extensive project focusing on landscape planning and natural climate solutions. Details here: https://careers.uoregon.edu/en-us/job/528998/pro-tem-enr-research-associate-school-of-law-open-pool

The George Washington University Law School is pleased to announce the availability of a graduate Fellowship beginning in July 2022 for a twelve-month, renewable appointment. The Fellow will have the title of Visiting Associate Professor of Law and Environmental Law Program Fellow.
This Fellowship offers many advantages, with opportunities and professional connections available across the university and the nation’s capital, including:
• Prime location in the heart of Washington, D.C., within walking or Metro distance of leading environmental governmental agencies, national and international organizations, and embassies
• Opportunities to attend or participate in numerous programs and events of interest in the environmental law and policy field, both in the law school and across the vibrant university campus, including at the prestigiou Elliott School of International Affairs
• Multidisciplinary connections through SustainableGW, a cross-institutional network of professionals and professors encompassing many programs and disciplines at GWU
• Networking opportunities with GW Law’s environmental and energy law alumni
• Collaboration opportunities with partner organizations such as the Environmental Law Institute, Potomac Riverkeeper Network, and national headquarters of major environmental groups
• International connections with visiting dignitaries, graduate students, and visiting scholars
Fellows receive an annual stipend of $65,000, paid monthly, for living expenses and may participate in the University’s benefits program.

Special Instructions to Applicant:

Applicants should send a letter of interest, a detailed resume or Curriculum Vita, a legal writing sample, a list of three or more references, and a complete law school transcript by April 11 at 5:00 pm EST to Interim Director of the Environmental and Energy Law Program, Lin Harmon-Walker at linharmonwalker@law.gwu.edu. Please direct any questions about the position to Professor Harmon-Walker. Only complete applications will be considered.

The Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment (GWC) at the University of Colorado Law School is seeking two outstanding — early career — attorneys to serve as the next GWC Water Law Fellows.

The Water Law Fellows will work on the most pressing water law reform issues of the day under the guidance of the GWC and in partnership with leaders from the non-profit, government, and private sectors. The intensive two-year program will immerse the two Fellows in the real world challenges of water law and policy. They will address critical issues affecting western watersheds, conduct reform-oriented research, and interact with public and private sector leaders to inform policy-making. The Fellows will be actively engaged in water law reform in the public interest and will hone their leadership, communication, advocacy, and research skills. The overarching objective is to create a matchless educational and mentoring experience that will prepare the Fellows to become leaders in the field.

As you may recall, the Getches-Wilkinson Water Law Fellows Program was initiated by a generous donation from David Bonderman – a lawyer, executive, and significant supporter of conservation efforts.  The matching funds came from an anonymous GWC supporter as well as the Water Funder Initiative – a collaborative effort to identify and activate promising water solutions through strategic philanthropic investments in the United States, starting in the West.

The job description, requirements and application instructions are available here: