Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic

6-8 units

Open to 2L and 3L J.D. students. The Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic (IEC) functions as a pro bono law practice working on environmental law, environmental justice, and community health cases, tackling some of the most challenging and important water, air, waste, climate change, and environmental racism problems in the region. Students will engage in complex, multi-party litigation and advocacy as part of an interdisciplinary team. Law students may be partnered with students from the engineering, arts & sciences, medical, public health, business, and/or social work schools. During the course of the semester, students will learn about public interest law while working on behalf of nonprofit organizations and under-represented communities. Previous experience or interest in environmental issues is not required and there are no pre- or co-requisites. Students will work on civil and administrative litigation; advocacy; legislative and regulatory work (through briefs, memoranda, and comment letters); and strategic planning. [Note: Students are prohibited from taking more than one clinic/externship/supervised practicum in the same semester. Students who are not in good standing (for either academic or disciplinary reasons) are not eligible to participate in a clinic/externship. The clinic seminar will be held on Fridays from 10:00 am - 11:52 am. The course is graded on a modified pass/fail basis: HP (3.90), P, LP (3.00), F (2.50). 6 units (8 with permission of instructor). To participate in this clinic, you must either have completed or be currently enrolled in courses containing at least 5 cumulative hours of education on bias, cross-cultural competency, and racism (BCCCR content). This clinic includes 2 hours of BCCCR content, so in total, you will need 3 hours from your other courses to meet the requirement. Courses that include BCCCR content are tagged in Workday to help you track your progress.