Environmental Law Clinic Fellowship

CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW invites applications for a full-time, one-year fellowship position beginning January 2023. Renewal for a second year is possible depending on funding and performance. Applicants should be practitioners and/or recent law school graduates with some litigation experience and have an interest in developing an expertise in environmental and energy issues.

Case Western Reserve University School of Law has a dynamic and nationally recognized Experiential Education curriculum. The highly regarded Charlotte and Milton Kramer Law Clinic forms part of this curriculum. The Environmental Law Clinic, open to third-year law students, covers a range of environmental matters including climate and air pollution, energy and utility issues, land use/brownfield issues, environmental health, and more, focusing predominantly on the needs of the northeast Ohio community. Students learn substantive areas of environmental law through the use of case studies wherever possible, to ensure they have a real example of how these types of legal matters play out in Ohio. The Clinic’s goal is to train a new generation of environmental and energy advocates, and serve as a resource for individuals, community groups, and nonprofits working to enforce environmental protections, provide remedies for communities damaged by industrial impacts and pollution, and ensure environmental and energy justice for communities across northeast Ohio.

The Environmental Law Clinic Fellowship is focused on giving an attorney early in their career the ability to learn and practice in an interdisciplinary environment, and expand the scope and breadth of the Clinic’s work and commitment to the community. The Fellow will work with the Clinic director on all aspects of the program, with a significant portion of their time focused on community engagement on environmental legal needs. Key responsibilities include:

• Assist the Environmental Law Clinic director in providing direct legal services and representation to qualified individuals and groups in civil and administrative environmental proceedings, as well as research, analysis, and advising clients on various areas including but not limited to: brownfield remediation, energy justice and affordable, clean energy access issues, equitable access to community greenspace, and air quality and pollution issues.
• Deepening relationships we have begun to build between the Clinic and the community. The Fellow will assist in setting up and working with a Community Advisory Committee composed of community experts-in-residence to discuss the ongoing environmental needs of the community and how the Clinic can continue to assist and serve those needs.
• Provide training, supervision, and support for law students enrolled in the Environmental Law Clinic.
• Non-litigation responsibilities may include advocacy, public speaking, media appearances, and administrative clinic support such as case intake, planning and managing events, and meeting with funders and other stakeholders.