Environmental Law Diversity and Inclusion Fellowship Program—
Co-sponsored with the California Lawyers Foundation

**This Application Period for 2023 Fellowships Has Closed**

The Environmental Law Section of the California Lawyers Association is pleased to announce its Diversity & Inclusion Fellowship program for Summer 2023. The program provides opportunities for law students from diverse backgrounds to work in governmental and public interest environmental law organizations in order to develop their interests and skills in the field of environmental law. 

The Diversity & Inclusion Fellowship program gives law students a chance to spend 8 to 10 weeks over the summer practicing environmental, energy, land use, and/or natural resources law at a participating government agency or public interest organization. Each participant receives a $7,500 stipend. The Section assists students with placement at the governmental agency or public interest organization and matches the Fellows with mentors who practice in the field. The Section also coordinates gatherings and provides opportunities for Fellows to meet other Section members and attorneys who practice in environmental, energy, land use, and natural resources law fields, and it invites each Fellow to attend the Section’s Environmental Law Conference at Yosemite^® in October following the Fellowship with free conference registration.

The Fellowship program is designed to help foster diversity within the Environmental Law Section. The Section strongly encourages applications from law students from diverse or underrepresented backgrounds (including but not limited to diversity arising from the applicant’s sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, color, race, religion, ancestry, national origin, familial status, marital status, mental or physical disability, or genetic information); as well as from students from backgrounds that may have presented obstacles to accessing the legal profession, such as family financial hardship while growing up, being the first in one’s family to go to college, or geographical circumstances such as coming from a rural or inner-city background that limited social interaction with lawyers. The Section will consider such information, as described in the applicant’s personal statement, as part of the selection criteria. Other selection criteria include interest in environmental issues, personal and leadership qualities, and academic record.

The program is open to all law students interested in practicing environmental law in California. Preference is given to first- and second-year students; however, third-year students who are not taking the Bar exam during the summer will also be considered. Students must be members of the Environmental Law Section of the California Lawyers Association in order to be eligible for the program. The California Lawyers Association allows law students up to three free one-year Section memberships, and students who are not already members will be required to join the Environmental Law Section if they are selected for a Fellowship.

The program has historically awarded Fellowships to two to six students each year, although the number of fellowships for Summer 2023 will depend on the level of sponsorship participation. The Section will coordinate student placements at agencies and organizations interested in participating in the program. In making placements, the Section expects to build off of its experiences from earlier years of the program as well as its prior participation in the American Bar Association’s summer fellowship program. Prior placements have included various agencies and organizations in California, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the California Environmental Protection Agency, the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, Earthjustice, San Diego Coastkeeper, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the California Attorney General’s Office, the California District Circuit Prosecutor’s Project, the Center for Biological Diversity, Communities for a Better Environment, the California Air Resources Board, the California Energy Commission, and the State Water Resources Control Board. Specific placements for the 2023 program will be made on a case-by-case basis and may or may not include these or similar entities.

This program is co-sponsored by the California Lawyers Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.

Further Information:

If you have any questions about the Diversity & Inclusion Fellowship Program, please contact the Environmental Law Section Manager, California Lawyers Association, 400 Capitol Mall, Suite 650, Sacramento, CA 95814, (916) 516-1760, environmental@calawyers.org.

Host a Fellow for a Summer 2023 Internship!

The Environmental Law Section is seeking governmental agencies and public interest organizations whose work involves environment, energy, land use, and/or resources law and who may be interested in hosting a Diversity & Inclusion Fellow over the summer of 2023. If your agency or organization would like to learn more about participation in the program, please email the name of the agency or organization, and the name, phone number and email address of a contact person to the Section Manager at environmental@calawyers.org.  

Thank you to our 2023 Sponsors