NRDC’s Litigation Team is seeking one or more Litigation Fellow(s) for a two-year fellowship starting in Fall 2020. Fellow(s) will work in one of our five main U.S. offices: New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, San Francisco, or Santa Monica.
Litigation Fellows will join NRDC’s Litigation Team, which represents NRDC and coalition partners in complex civil litigation to protect public health and the environment. The Litigation Team is a group of approximately 30 lawyers and 7 litigation assistants across several NRDC offices. We pursue litigation across a broad range of environmental and public health issues, often working in collaboration with and on behalf of communities most impacted by environmental injustices (including Black, indigenous, people of color, low-income and rural communities). We have filed numerous lawsuits resisting the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle environmental protections, including cases defending national monuments, challenging the suspension of clean water safeguards, opposing offshore drilling and seismic exploration, and protecting energy efficiency standards. We also have a growing docket of environmental enforcement cases against government and private party polluters. This includes cases to protect the people of Newark, New Jersey, and Flint, Michigan, from lead in drinking water; to remediate toxic pollution in the Penobscot River in Maine; to abate mold in New York City public housing for residents with asthma; and to halt air pollution from a coal-fired power plant in Illinois.
Specific responsibilities may include:
- Collaborating with a team of lawyers and litigation assistants on legal research and factual investigations;
- Writing briefs, motions and memoranda;
- Presenting oral arguments and participating in status conferences and other hearings;
- Preparing for and taking depositions;
- Communicating with opposing counsel, clients, and partner organizations; and
- Engaging in discovery and conducting record and document review.
The Litigation Fellowship is designed for recent law school graduates. In assessing candidates, we look for:
- Admission to the Bar of the jurisdiction in which they intend to practice, or willingness to complete the requirements for admission to that Bar;
- Strong legal writing and analytical skills;
- Strong oral and written communication skills;
- Experience effectively working with a team;
- Demonstrated competency in working with people with different social identities than their own (including race, gender, sexual identity or orientation, age, class, and disability);
- Creativity and resourcefulness;
- Demonstrated commitment to public service, equity or social justice (including environmental, economic, social, or food justice);
- Commitment to NRDC’s values and mission; and
- Record of academic or professional accomplishment.