2019 Environmental Law Diversity and Inclusion Fellowship Update

The Environmental Law Diversity and Inclusion Fellowship program sponsored by the Environmental Law Section gives law students a chance to spend 8 to 10 weeks over the summer practicing environmental, energy, land use, and natural resources law at a participating government agency or public interest organization. Each participant receives a $5,000 stipend from the Section and other generous sponsors.  This summer’s Fellows included:

• Mina Arasteh, UC Davis, placed with the Bureau of Environmental Justice, California DOJ, San Diego
• Michael Damasco, UC Irvine, placed with the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment in Oakland
• Elias Rodriguez, Santa Clara University, placed with Earthjustice, San Francisco
• Idalmis Vaquero, UC Los Angeles, placed with Communities for a Better Environment, Huntington Park

Fellow Idalmis Vaquero explains, “One of the things I liked the most about this fellowship was participating in strategizing meetings with staff attorneys, community organizers, and researchers and being able to sometimes answer legal questions that the team had. This fellowship reminds me of the importance of collaborating with organizers and researchers to build effective campaigns and being mindful of the role attorneys play in working with environmental justice communities.”

The summer Fellows and the firms and organizations that fund the fellowships were featured at a reception in San Francisco on July 16. Watch for more updates on our summer Fellows on the Section’s social media pages in the coming weeks.