[ legal internships | volunteer needs | pro bono assistance ]

Matt Fidanque (left), ELAW U.S. volunteer and Thomas Gremillion, 2005 ELAW U.S. summer legal intern.

ELAW relies on the generous support of volunteers, interns, and pro bono experts to help public interest environmental advocates defend our global environment. We need volunteers, interns, and experienced pro bono experts with various skills and interests to expand our capacity to meet the information and resource needs of our partners.

Volunteers and interns who work with ELAW can gain valuable experience, skills, and information about global environmental issues and meet visiting ELAW partners. ELAW volunteer and intern positions are generally unpaid, but volunteers and interns have obtained academic credit through educational institutions for their work at ELAW. In some cases, ELAW can develop "distance internships" where volunteers work via e-mail from a remote location. If you are outside the U.S., please see our Partners page to link to environmental lawyers and public interest environmental law nonprofit organizations in other countries.

We appreciate your interest in ELAW. Please contact the Volunteer Coordinator at elawus@elaw.org for more information or to volunteer. Thank you.

Summer Legal Internships

ELAW hosts a summer legal intern program in our Eugene, Oregon office. The U.S. office of ELAW gives public interest environmental lawyers around the world access to the scientific and legal resources in the U.S. and the lessons of more than 30 years of using law to protect the environment. Legal interns assist the Staff Attorneys in responding to requests for assistance from overseas advocates. These requests generate both short- and long-term projects. Projects may include obtaining information about multinational companies; identifying model statutes and regulations; researching case precedents; or evaluating legal doctrines and theories. Interns prepare memoranda to send to overseas colleagues and communicate directly with these lawyers. The Staff Attorneys work directly with the interns and oversee all projects.

ELAW begins interviewing in early March.

How to Apply

To apply for a summer legal internship in Eugene, Oregon, please mail a cover letter, resume, writing sample (less than 10 pages), and a list of three references (including phone numbers) to:

Summer Legal Intern Position
ELAW U.S.
1877 Garden Ave.
Eugene, OR 97403

Or email your materials to: elawus@elaw.org (no calls, please).

Successful applicants generally possess excellent research and writing skills and a strong dedication to public interest environmental law. ELAW actively seeks applicants with diverse backgrounds.

Due to limited resources, we are unable to provide funding for the position. We encourage interested applicants to look for alternate sources of funding, including their law school. Previous legal interns have obtained academic credit through educational institutions for their work at ELAW.

Volunteer Needs

Current Needs: Bahasa Indonesia translators, office volunteers.

Articles About ELAW Volunteers

• Summer 2003 Interns and Volunteers
• Thanks to Our Volunteers, ELAW Advocate Winter 2002

Hosting International Visitors

ELAW brings public interest environmental advocates from around the world to Eugene to participate in Working Exchange Fellowships for up to three months. During these visits, we need volunteers to set up meetings for our visitors and take them to meetings, give tours of local libraries, organize public speaking events, and invite our visitors on outings to experience life in the U.S.

Professor Howard Mielke and his students, Eric Powell and Alia Shah, helped design a soil sampling protocol for La Oroya, Peru (Photo: Patricia Beck/Detroit Free Press)

Legal and Scientific Research

ELAW needs law and environmental science students to conduct research and compile resources for our partners. Interns work directly with program staff to meet the information needs of our partners. In some instances, ELAW U.S. is able to develop "distance internships" for volunteers to conduct research outside the Eugene, Oregon office.

Resources & Document Compilation

ELAW has collected laws, cases and environmental law resources from around the world. We need organized volunteers to consolidate and catalog hard copy and electronic resources to make them more accessible to our partners. In addition to creating a resources library, we seek to publish these resources on the ELAW website.

Translation

ELAW works with public interest environmental advocates in more than 60 countries. ELAW advocates speak many different languages and our goal is to accommodate as many languages as possible. At this time, we need translators fluent in Spanish, French, Russian, Portugese, and Bahasa Indonesia. Translators should be able to translate to and from English. Translators should be comfortable with technical, legal, and scientific language.

Development

ELAW has been generously supported by individuals and foundations. We need volunteers to research prospective funders, compile data, process mailings, staff tabling events and more. We need people who are outgoing and interested in learning more about how organizations work and sustain themselves.

Media

ELAW uses journalism students and others with media experience to assist the ELAW U.S. Communications Director to publicize the work of ELAW partners around the world through ELAW publications and electronic media, including our website and electronic bulletin service.

For a case in South Africa, Glenn Miller, Director of Environmental Sciences and Health at the University of Nevada at Reno, prepared an affidavit that was submitted on behalf of communities affected by air and water pollution from massive, abandoned gold mining waste dumps in South Africa's gold mining belt.

Office Support

ELAW U.S. needs volunteers and interns to provide clerical support, organize resources, and process mailings. Volunteers with computer skills can gain experience using word processing, database, communication, and spreadsheet software.

Pro Bono Assistance

ELAW relies on the expertise of professionals in academia, government, nonprofits, and industry to provide technical assistance to our partners on specific initiatives. Pro bono scientific experts help ELAW scientists with advice, expert witness testimony, affidavits, and evaluation of technical documents. ELAW also needs legal experts well versed in environmental, administrative, corporate, human rights, and international law to provide strategic support on specific projects. By providing pro bono assistance to our partners around the world, we magnify the impact of the good work of U.S. experts. We need pro bono professionals willing to help on an as-needed basis.