University of Utah : S.J. Quinney College of Law

Environmental Clinic

Tags:access to justice clinic environmental 

The Environmental Clinic involves placement in a public or public interest law office to observe and work on environmental or natural resource issues while participating in a class to learn key environmental practice skills and to reflect upon the experience and observations.  The class must be taken within one year of the clinical placement.  Clinic may be taken for 2-5 hours of credit.

Beginning Summer 2009, a small group of students will be selected to participate in a new Environmental Clinic placement with the public interest environmental law group Western Resource Advocates. Students who wish to participate in a Fall 2009 or Spring 2010 Environmental Clinic must enroll in either the Summer 2009 or Spring 2010 Environmental Practice course.  Students who apply for the Western Resource Advocates Clinic must commit to participate for a minimum of two semesters (which may include summer term).

Prerequisites: Environmental Law OR Natural Resource Law (Students accepted into a fall clinic may take these courses as a co-requisite.)

Recommended Course: Administrative Law

Course:  Environmental Practice (3 cr., graded, Spring). This course will evaluate in detail the practical, procedural and strategic aspects of the practice of environmental and natural resources law using readings and simulated exercises. The course will cover practice elements under statutes such as the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Community Right-to-Know Act and CERCLA. Exercises might include client counseling, witness interviewing, drafting administrative and citizen suit complaints, settlement negotiations and rulemaking practice.  Registration is not limited to students participating in an Environmental Clinic, but preference will be given to clinic students if space is limited.

Placements (P/F): Students can enroll for 2-5 credits. Placements include: 

• Western Resource Advocates – is a non-profit environmental law and policy organization with offices in Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada, working on issues involving water, energy and public land policy in the region. Students will work with public interest environmental attorneys at Western Resource Advocates, as well as College of Law faculty, in cases and other matters on behalf of state and local environmental groups.   
• Solicitors’ Office of the Department of the Interior – students will work with attorneys in the Solicitor’s Office on public land and natural resource law on behalf of various entities within the Department of the Interior (including potentially the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs and National Park Service).
• Other placements may be arranged on an individual basis.

Faculty: Professors Robert Adler & Sanne Knudsen

Registration & Placement:  Students may enroll in the course online. To enroll in the clinic, students must complete the Clinical Application and submit the required documents with the application. 

Students who apply for the Western Resource Advocates Clinic must commit to participate for a minimum of two semesters (which may include summer term).  Two consecutive semesters of participation is optimal. In addition to clinic hours, students in this clinic will meet weekly, as a group, with supervising attorneys to discuss ongoing cases.

Additional work in certain placements will apply to the Pro Bono Initiative certificate. 

Placement & Course qualify for credit toward the Environmental Law Certificate

• Ethics (pdf)
• Guidelines (pdf)  
• Time Log (pdf) 
• Report Form (pdf)