Intern – Air Quality/Biodiversity

Based in London office

Internship Purpose: ClientEarth’s Air Quality and Biodiversity teams are seeking an enthusiastic, efficient individual to assist with a variety of tasks across the two programme areas. In particular, the role will involve legal research and assistance with preparation for court proceedings. This is an exciting opportunity to gain experience of public interest environmental litigation, contributing to keyUK campaigns for clean air and biodiversity protection.

As the work will involve substantive legal research on two areas, covering both EU andUKlegislation and case law on air quality and biodiversity (particularly the Habitats Directive) – candidates will need to demonstrate an aptitude for grasping quickly complex and unfamiliar subject matter. In addition, managing procedural aspects of public interest litigation will be a primary role, so the ideal candidate will have training and practical experience of litigation practice and be able to demonstrate case management abilities and administrative efficiency.   

Key responsibilities

-          Legal research (UKand EU);

-          Producing briefing notes for staff;

-          Researching and advising team members on procedural law related to judicial review (Civil Procedure Rules and related case law);

-          Providing support with document management and preparation of court documents;

-          Liaising with court and other parties;

-          Assisting with drafting correspondence, meeting notes, press releases;

Required skills and competencies

-          Excellent written and oral communication skills;

-          Strong legal research skills;

-          Self starter who takes pride in their work;

-          Ability to grasp quickly and accurately new and complex concepts and areas of law;

-          Confident and professional manner;

-          Interest or experience in air quality/biodiversity an advantage.

Person Specifications

-          Holds a degree and has completed vocational legal training (LPC orBVC);

-          A completed training contract is preferred but not essential;

-          Some work experience in a relevant environment;

-          Practical experience of litigation highly regarded;

-          Positive attitude and a strong commitment to working for the environment. 

Flexibility: Although you will be mainly supporting the work of this specific programme you might be required occasionally to provide ad-hoc support to other programmes.

Internship Arrangements: We ask that interns commit to a minimum of 3 days per week for at least three months. The maximum duration for internships is six months. In instances where interns are not working full time, they should ideally commit to set days each week.

ClientEarth cover interns’ work-related expenses (travel and lunch) via a contribution of £10 for each day spent in the office.

Recruitment is open now and you should send your application as soon as possible and no later than 27^th January 2012. We will review applications as they are received and we may interview candidates before the closing date.

If you have any questions about the role, please contact Alan Andrews (aandrews@clientearth.org) or Susie Wilks (swilks@clientearth.org).

To apply: Please send us a CV along with the internship form which you can download on the website.

Please send your application by email to internship.uk@clientearth.org. Please include “ClientEarth Air Quality/Biodiversity intern -London” in the email subject line, and identify the documents you are sending by including “[your name] internship form” and “[your name] CV” in the file name.