Externship: Environmental

Students spend twelve hours per week enforcing environmental laws, drafting environmental policy documents, and otherwise representing the host agency/office. Students must apply for and obtain their own placements in coordination with the professor. Prior placements have included: the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYC and New Paltz Offices); the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYC); Landmarks Preservation Commission (NYC); Mayor’s Office of Environmental Remediation (NYC): the United States Environmental Protection Agency (NYC); and the Environmental Protection Bureau of the NYS Attorney General’s Office (NYC). Placements can also take place at the Land Use and Law Center (LULC) and the Pace Energy and Climate Center (PECC). Student work and the practice experience are further reviewed in a weekly seminar session with the faculty supervisor. The seminar also compares the approach to legal issues and environmental problems of government lawyers and "public interest" lawyers and analyzes topics such as the authority of the courts, the scope of judicial review, the relationship between administrative agency records and litigation, available remedies, ethical issues, and state-federal relations, as they arise within the framework of the clinical experience. Environmental Law Survey, application, interview, and permission of the professor are required.