Law Clerkships and Externships, California

Overview: Since 1977, the California regional office of Earthjustice, located in Oakland, has hosted second- and third-year law students interested in public interest environmental litigation. The focus of our externships has been on providing exposure to such litigation through participation in Earthjustice's representation of its clients. During the course of a semester, students work individually with at least two of the nine attorneys in the office in order to get exposure to different litigation perspectives and styles and a broad introduction to substantive public-interest environmental law.

Responsibilities: In general, the student becomes a participant in the process of researching, preparing, investigating and prosecuting environmental lawsuits. Virtually all externs undertake legal research, write memoranda, and help evaluate factual issues. We rely heavily on externs for these tasks, placing a premium on careful, accurate, and self-directed work. Each student is responsible for monitoring her/his own workload, and each staff attorney is responsible for supervising the work done on her/his cases and providing feedback to students.

Depending on the case and the student, attendance at client meetings, court appearances, meetings with public agency representatives, drafting of pleadings, briefs and discovery documents may be part of the externship experience. From time to time, the externship program has also included informal seminars or topical discussions.

Qualifications: We usually have two to four externs per semester who work either full-time or part-time in the office. We encourage interviews, and will conduct telephone interviews where in-person interviews are inconvenient or cost-prohibitive.

We have a casual office environment and are located in an historic building ½ block from public transportation (19th Street BART station).