ELI and Howard University School of Law, with the generous support of the True Costs Initiative, are proud to announce the Environmental Justice Clerkship at ELI, a new clerkship program designed to train, mentor, and ultimately retain more law students of color in the field of environmental law while advancing meaningful environmental justice efforts.
To ensure that socio-economic background does not limit the clerkship’s reach, each clerk will receive a stipend. The True Costs Initiative has kindly sponsored the program for 2021. And now, thanks to the generous support of Crowell & Moring and Sive, Paget, & Riesel, ELI will be able to continue this clerkship through 2022! Please see below on how you can contribute to keep this program going for years to come.
Howard University is the premier historically black university in the country. Its law school boasts stellar environmental justice experts on the faculty and houses the first ever Environmental Justice Center. ELI is a 50-year-old, trusted research, publication, and education institution with an extensive history of training and mentoring young talent. In addition, ELI has long been the source of cutting-edge legal analysis on environmental justice, has facilitated the implementation of those methods and objectives both domestically and internationally, and has published some of the seminal works in the field. The ELI-Howard Law collaboration on this clerkship is crafted to be a sustained way to promote careers in environmental justice and facilitate the skill-building, substantive education, and networking critical to a solid professional foundation.
Dovetailing with the work of the Environmental Justice Center and Howard Law courses dedicated to providing experiential and academic training in environmental law and justice, one Howard Law student will be selected each semester and during the summer to work closely with ELI experts on a variety of projects with an emphasis on environmental justice. For example, clerks will advance environmental rights through research and model bill drafting, assist overburdened communities with sustainable development planning, and author reports that support community-driven environmental justice efforts. ELI staff will emphasize development of the clerks’ legal research and writing skills as well as their communication, organization, and deadline management. Taking account of each clerk's aspirations and background, ELI staff will assign engaging projects and arrange connections with environmental professionals to broaden the clerk’s exposure to environmental career options.
ELI and Howard Law are excited for this clerkship to boost young careers and help us all gain more colleagues and leaders of color in environmental law. If you are interested in contributing to this effort through additional financial support of the clerks or talking with them about careers, please contact Adam Schempp at schempp@eli.org or read below to make a donation online.
Individuals wishing to make a tax-deductible donation in support of the Environmental Justice Clerkship may do so online. Donate here.