Earthrise
Education
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Preparing tomorrow’s advocates to defend our natural heritage
Earthrise Law Center maximizes its impact through the work of talented and committed law students. While Earthrise’s staff attorneys retain ultimate responsibility for case prosecution, students play a vital role at Earthrise by participating in all phases of the clinic’s work. Students draft pleadings and motions, formulate arguments and strategy, and participate in client contacts.
In addition to receiving invaluable hands-on experience, students earn law school credit for their work with Earthrise. The environmental clinic class supplements student casework by providing additional instruction on the practice of environmental law. The class meets once per week. Class topics include informal discussions about current projects, lectures on aspects of environmental practice, and contact with local practitioners.
The environmental community reaps benefits from increasing the pool of law school graduates with substantial real-world experience and training. Earthrise students and externs are, literally, tomorrow’s advocates for our natural heritage. Many Earthrise alums now lead the charge in working to preserve and protect the environment as attorneys in public interest, government, and private practice.
Interested in Joining Earthrise Law Center?
Clinical Training Program
Students enrolled in Earthrise Clinic during the school year work 10-12 hours per week on actual environmental cases and administrative issues under the supervision of the clinical professors of the Earthrise Law Center. The clinic represents a broad spectrum of environmental organizations seeking to prevent or reduce pollution and protect wildlife, habitat, and ecosystems.
The matters selected by Earthrise Clinical Professors provide students with the opportunity to work on environmental litigation with the same depth, complexity, and potential impact, and for the same clients, as the leading environmental advocacy law firms in the country. The close one-on-one and small group relationships fostered by our 1:3 faculty to student ratio encourages strong student development in fundamental lawyering skills, including, among others:
- Problem Solving
- Legal Analysis and Reasoning
- Communication
- Legal Research
- Factual Investigation
- Organization and Management of Legal Work
Examples of student work during their Earthrise year:
- Sierra Club, et al. v. PGE Settlement Locks in Oregon’s Clean Energy Future
- Earthrise Summer Law Clerk Gains Trial Experience
For many Earthrise students, the skills and confidence they develop in the course of the year enables them to make an immediate impact for their clients as a new lawyer. Please see our Alumni Accomplishments for information on what our alumni are doing now.
Earthrise welcomes Lewis & Clark rising 2L and 3L law students to apply to join our clinical training program. The application period for the 2014-2015 school year is now closed. Decisions will be announced June 6th.
Tomorrow’s Advocates Program
Earthrise Law Center’s Tomorrow’s Advocates program enables select Lewis & Clark law students to work full time for Earthrise during the summer months. The application period for Summer 2015 is now open. Click on this link to see how to apply.
Alumni Accomplishments
We surveyed our alums about their professional lives and memories of Earthrise. They are an impressive bunch! Read the summary report.
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1/27/15The application period to become an Earthrise summer Extern is now open. Applications are due by 5pm on Monday, February 9th, 2015. -
10/30/1310/30/13 - Federal laws are for the birds…and the national rivers! Read about our work protecting national treasures in our latest newsletter. -
10/29/1310/29/13 - Earthrise’s 2013-2014 Clinic is our largest cohort of students to date, already deeply involved in hands-on learning and litigating. -
8/23/138/23/13 - Read the summer edition of our newsletter, Rising Issues, featuring our latest achievements, our summer externs, staff transitions at Earthrise, and more! -
7/26/137/26/13 - Earthrise summer externs work full-time with us during the summer term, gaining experiential education while helping our clients win gains for the environment. -
7/24/137/24/13 - In an opinion released Monday, a federal judge in Portland ruled in favor of the defendants in a case that had all the earmarks of a classic SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation).