Employment Resources
The Columbia Law School Environmental Law Society has a number of resources available to help members on their search for employment during summer breaks and to enhance their professional background.
Job Postings
Summer Law Student Internship at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
The Sabin Center for Climate Change Law is hiring for its 2018 summer internship program. Legal interns work with the Center's Faculty Director Michael Gerrard, Executive Director Michael Burger, and current fellows on a wide range of cutting-edge climate change, energy, and environmental law topics. The Center does both domestic and international work on mitigation and adaptation. Past summer legal interns have drafted a white paper to assist regulators in the design of carbon cap-and-trade programs, contributed sections of white papers on state energy efficiency laws and state disaster preparedness plans, advocated to improve the New York electricity grid's ability to withstand future storms like Hurricane Sandy, and researched legal issues related to sea level rise in the Marshall Islands. Internships are full time for 8-10 weeks. Although the Center cannot provide direct funding for summer legal internships, our interns are able to qualify for CLS non-profit summer funding. Non-CLS students may also apply for the summer internship program.
To apply, please send a copy of your resume and an unofficial transcript to Executive Director Michael Burger, [email protected].
NYC Law Department
The New York City Law Department runs an excellent summer internship program that hires a handful of Columbia 1Ls every summer. The Environmental Law Division is still looking to fill one slot. They have hired Columbia students in each of the past two summers, and the division chief is Susan Amron, an alum who also teaches at CLS for the Environmental Law Moot Court course.
Apply here and indicate your interest in the Environmental Law Division: http://www.nyc.gov/html/law/html/careers/summer-honors-internship.shtml
New York Environmental Law & Justice Project
NYELJP has contacted ELS with research opportunities related to:
- Hazard response in Flint, MI
- Environmental review for NYC building on toxic site
If you are interested in working on one of these projects, contact [email protected] and he can give you more information, or help get you set up to work with NYELJP and receive pro bono credit.
Other Resources
State Attorneys General
Several postings are available in the Arizona Handbook. If you are at all interested in State Attorney General work, contact Jim Tierney, the Director of the National State Attorneys General Program at Columbia Law School. Tierney knows most—if not all—attorneys generals nationally, and he certainly knows people in all of their offices. He has also spoken at a 1L-focused event on this topic, sponsored by the New England Law Students Association.
Nongovernmental Organizations and Firms
- Symplicity, Columbia Law School's Career Services Manager.
- PSJD, formerly known as PSLawNet, is an online resource connecting law students and lawyers to job listings in public interest.
- New York University's Public Interest Career Fair, allows students from a range of schools to meet and interview with employers for internships and permanent jobs.