Summer 2012 Research Internship - San Francisco Litigation Team

NRDC is a leading nonprofit environmental organization that has been marshaling science and the law to protect the environment and public health since 1970.  NRDC engages in litigation, lobbying, scientific research, and public education on air, water, public health, climate change, energy, public land, smart growth, international, urban, environmental justice, and nuclear issues.

The San Francisco Litigation Team

The San Francisco Litigation Team sues to protect the environment and public health. The Team’s litigation spans a broad range of environmental issues, such as preventing global warming; protecting public health; promoting environmental justice; curbing air and water pollution; preserving wildlife and wild places; and reducing overfishing. Over the past several years, the Team has, for example, tried cases to protect threatened and endangered fish from risks of extinction posed by the state and federal water projects in California; challenged a federal regulation that permitted intentional pesticide dosing experiments on humans; sued municipal governments over the discharge of polluted storm water; prevented a federal agency’s unlawful discharge of toxic heavy metals into San Francisco Bay; blocked a state budget bill that transferred money out of low-income weatherization and energy efficiency programs; challenged the FDA’s failure to restrict the use of antibiotics in livestock; and compelled an investigation and response to a landfill’s contamination of drinking water supplies with industrial solvents in the mid-south.

The Research Internship

NRDC seeks interns with the intelligence, skill, confidence, and maturity to assume serious responsibility. The ideal candidate will be a current college student or recent college graduate. Interns work with the Litigation Team’s three attorneys and program assistant on factual research and analysis to support developing and active cases. They may also do some legal administrative work from time to time. Interns are invited to participate in litigation planning and strategy meetings.

Research internships are unpaid, but we work with interns to help them obtain any available academic credit or funding. Start and end dates and other scheduling details are negotiable, but we look for a commitment of eight weeks of full-time in-office work.

TO APPLY:  Go to www.nrdc.org/jobs and search for the posting marked “Summer 2012 Research Internship - San Francisco Litigation Team.” You’ll be asked to submit a cover letter, resume, transcript, writing sample and reference list. The deadline is Friday, April 27, 2012, but applications will be considered on a rolling basis, so apply soon.

If you have questions about the application process or need to check on the status of your application, please email Joya Sonnenfeldt, jsonnenfeldt@nrdc.org.

NRDC is committed to a workplace based on equal opportunity and a strong belief in the increased effectiveness that comes from a diverse workforce.  To this end, NRDC:

• Hires staff that reflects this country's full range of racial, ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic identities;
• Creates a workplace where true diversity is fostered and different perspectives are valued and freely exchanged;
• Ensures that all members of the NRDC community feel welcome and respected, and have equal opportunities to thrive and advance within the institution; and
• Is committed to supporting low-income communities and communities of color particularly affected by environmental inequities.

For more information, please visit www.nrdc.org.