Clinics and Externships

Environmental Law Clinic

Working with the Western Environmental Law Center, students are advancing theories never before litigated in any American court. The emphasis is on intellectually challenging and creative work.

Judicial Internships

Interns work for district and appellate federal courts, Oregon appellate courts, and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in Eugene. The judges include students in all aspects of their work, including settlement meetings, trials, and discussions in chambers.

ELAW Externship

Externs work for Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW) by providing lawyers in other countries with the legal information they need to protect the environment and human rights in their home country. Recent externs have helped draft a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights asking the Commission to intervene to stop human rights abuses connected to the construction of a dam in Central America, others reviewed cases and wrote a paper to help foreign lawyers understand the Alien Tort Claims Act and its possible application to environmental cases.

Read more about ELAW in their latest newsletter: http://www.elaw.org/news/advocate/.

McKenzie River Trust Externship

Externs work with the McKenzie River Trust, conducting legal research and analysis for issues surrounding real estate acquisitions, conservation easements and their tax implications, land use and other environmental regulations, and acquisition of fee title for land trusts. The student is also involved in reviewing and updating older conservation easements held by the Trust, drafting policy for review by the Board of Directors relating to the management of conservation easements, and providing input on possible revisions to the Trust's bylaws. Externs observe negotiations between the Trust and land owners.