Fall 2023 Legal Intern

Overview

NRDC is a non-profit environmental advocacy organization. We use law, science, and the support of 3.1 million members and online activists to protect the planet's wildlife and wild places and to ensure the rights of all people to clean air, clean water, and healthy communities. NRDC was founded in 1970 and our people helped write some of America's bedrock environmental laws, including the Clean Water Act and many of the implementing regulations. Today, our team of more than 700 lawyers, scientists, economists, policy advocates, communications experts, and others work across the United States and the globe from our offices in Beijing; Bozeman, Montana; Chicago; New Delhi; New York; San Francisco; Santa Monica; and Washington, D.C.

NRDC is seeking a Fall 2023 Legal intern to work with the Litigation team associated with our Washington, D.C. office.

Position Summary

The Litigation Team is a group of approximately 40 lawyers, litigation assistants and other operations staff who pursue litigation across a broad range of environmental and public health issues, in collaboration with and on behalf of communities most impacted by environmental injustices (including Black, indigenous, and people of color, and low-income and rural communities). Over the past five years, we have litigated cases against the federal government to prevent climate pollution, challenge agency approvals of toxic chemicals and pesticides, resist the suspension of clean water safeguards, oppose offshore drilling and seismic exploration for oil and gas, defend national monuments, and protect energy efficiency standards, among other matters. We also bring enforcement cases against corporate and governmental entities whose violations harm human health and the environment—including recent 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.

The legal interns selected for this position play an active role on the frontlines to protect our planet and the communities that depend on it. Our interns do concrete work in support of our active litigation, including substantive writing and research, and collaborate with NRDC Litigation attorneys.

The internship will begin at the start of the intern’s fall semester, depending on their school’s schedule, and will end before exams. Start and end dates and other scheduling details are negotiable, but we look for a minimum time commitment of two days (14 hours) a week over the course of an academic term. Full-time interns (35 hours/week) are welcome.

Interns will have the option to work in person, remotely, or a hybrid of both.

Responsibilities

The most common intern assignments are legal memos, sometimes coupled with informal oral presentations to case teams. Interns may also, depending on assignment availability and interest, contribute to the drafting of other litigation documents such as briefs and complaints. Interns are also invited to participate in litigation planning and strategy meetings.

Qualifications

Commitment to NRDC’s mission and values.

You should be in your second or third year of a J.D. program or an LLM student. In assessing candidates for the internship, we look for:

• Strong legal writing and analytical skills;
• Strong oral communication skills;
• Experience effectively working on a team;
• Creativity and resourcefulness;
• Commitment to public service, equity, or justice;
• Demonstrated ability to work with people across different social identities and backgrounds; and
• Record of academic and/or professional accomplishment

NRDC is committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, both in our work and in our workplace. We believe that celebrating and actively welcoming diverse voices and perspectives is essential to solving the planet's most pressing environmental problems, and we encourage applications from candidates whose identities have been historically under-represented in the environmental movement.

We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, marital status, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

This position is a paid internship with a stipend equivalent to $28.57/hour paid bi-weekly over the course of the assignment. We will also help with applications or other materials that are needed to secure academic credit (e.g., preparation of workplans and evaluations, meetings with academic advisors). The incumbent will not qualify as an employee, fellow, volunteer, or independent contractor of NRDC, nor will the incumbent be guaranteed employment at the end of the internship term.

Our offices are open and we are operating in a hybrid model. We offer NRDCers flexibility, we ask them to come into the office and spend meaningful time there in collaboration with their colleagues.  We call this purposeful presence.

As a science-based organization, NRDC aims to do our part to help contain the COVID-19 public health crisis. For the sake of health, safety, and equity, we ask that people be vaccinated unless they have an approved medical or religious accommodation or other exemption in accordance with state and local law. We consider a person to be vaccinated two weeks after receiving one full course of a CDC-approved vaccine. In accordance with state or local law, new hires will be asked to attest to vaccination, those wishing to do so may request medical or religious accommodations or other exemptions via NRDC Employee Relations. NRDC treats all vaccine-related data confidentially, in keeping with local, state, and federal laws.

To apply, visit www.nrdc.org/careers and upload your résumé, cover letter, copy of law school transcript, a list of at least two references, and a legal writing sample through our online portal. Please mention where you saw this posting. Due to the high volume of applications, we will contact only those candidates we would like to interview. Please no phone calls, emails, or in-person résumé drop-offs.

The deadline to apply is April 15, 2023. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis.

If you experience technical problems while applying or if you are a person with a disability and need assistance applying online, please reach out to iCIMS Customer Care at 1-800-889-4422.

For more about NRDC, visit www.nrdc.org.

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