Graduate Teaching Fellowships

Clinic Description

Georgetown’s Environmental Law & Justice Clinic (“ELJC” or the “Clinic”) conducts public interest legal work on behalf of underserved clients in the areas of environmental justice, pollution control, climate change, and natural resources. The Clinic is an immersive and multi-modal experience, exposing students to the broad range of work in which environmental attorneys engage while bringing an intersectional, social justice lens to our work. We teach students key lawyering and advocacy skills through work on live cases that are excellent learning vehicles. Our case load involves a mix of litigation matters, regulatory work, and other advisory projects. The ELJC advocates on behalf of groups ranging in size from small community groups and neighborhoods to Indigenous Communities, to environmental or public justice organizations.

The students work in the Clinic nearly full time and receive 10 academic credits for their project work and for their participation in the Environmental Law & Justice Clinic Seminar four hours a week.  The students work on projects under the supervision of a Clinical Teaching Fellow/Supervising Attorney and faculty member.  Our Clinic seminars address various substantive fields of law such as administrative practice and environmental justice, lawyering skills (including client-facing, internal collaboration, and external advocacy-related skills), issues of professional responsibility, and also consist of team project presentations regarding issues that have arisen in a representation and moots of client meetings.

The Clinic Director is Sara Colangelo, an Associate Professor of Law and alumna of the Clinic. From 2015 to the spring of 2021 Professor Colangelo served as the Director of Georgetown’s Environmental Law & Policy Program, and taught multiple environmental law courses. For many years prior to returning to Georgetown, she was a DOJ Trial Attorney in the Environmental Enforcement Section of the Environment & Natural Resources Division. At DOJ, Professor Colangelo managed complex civil environmental enforcement cases and was selected to train and mentor new Honors Program attorneys and interns. She has won numerous awards for her trial work and advocacy, and won Georgetown’s Fahy Award for excellence in teaching.

Description of the Fellowship

The Clinic is hiring one lawyer to serve as a Clinical Teaching Fellow and Supervising Attorney for a two year term beginning in summer 2024 (very strongly preferred start date by August 14th). The fellow will have several areas of responsibility, with an increasing role in the Clinic as the fellowship progresses. The fellow will:

• Supervise students’ day-to-day clinical projects, working closely with the students on improving their lawyering skills, especially legal research, writing, and analysis. Much of the supervising attorney’s time is spent guiding students in conducting legal and factual research, reviewing student drafts, making suggestions for improvement, and preparing the students for oral presentations. Fellows are expected to give and receive formal and informal feedback in timely, constructive, respectful ways;
• Take responsibility for their own case load, including various opportunities to engage in advocacy;
• Share responsibility for designing and teaching seminar sessions;
• Take an active role in project/case development and assist with administrative and case handling responsibilities of the Clinic;
• Participate in a clinical pedagogy seminar and other activities designed to support an interest in clinical teaching and legal education.

This Fellowship offers an opportunity to work on critically important, often cutting-edge matters. Fellows assume substantial responsibility for projects at an early stage of their careers and generally play a more important role in the decision-making process than do their contemporaries in other types of law practice. They also have an opportunity to work on a variety of cases, at different stages of development, so they gain a broader understanding of how matters are identified and how advocacy strategy advances in relation to client goals. Fellows work closely with a broad range of clients, meeting others who are involved in public interest law, community lawyering, and seeing how their organizations function.

For those with an interest in becoming a doctrinal/podium or clinical law professor, Fellows get first-hand experience in teaching, clinical supervision, and deep knowledge of pedagogical philosophy and course design. Fellows can also receive substantial guidance on scholarly projects—including development, writing, and presentation of scholarship—and on entering the teaching market.

Qualifications

• at least three years post-J.D. work experience in domestic environmental law or related fields; experience with litigation valuable but not necessary
• exceptional legal writing and communications skills, and experience and interest in helping others improve their legal writing, research, and analytical skills
• commitment to creating an equitable and inclusive learning environment and commitment to exhibiting emotional intelligence and awareness of the needs of individuals from different races, cultures, backgrounds, and orientations
• admission (or willing to be admitted as soon as possible) to the D.C. Bar

Pay and Other Benefits

The annual stipend for the position will be at least $70,000 the first year and $75,000 the second year plus an opportunity to participate in group health insurance and other benefits, including unlimited free access to a state-of-art, on-site fitness center.  Georgetown University Law Center awards an LL.M in Advocacy to each fellow upon completion of their two-year term.

How to Apply?

Please submit a single PDF file with the following documents in this order: cover letter, resume/CV, law school transcript, and three references with contact information (we will only contact references following second-round interviews) to Clinic Administrator, Niko Perazich, at nwp2@georgetown.edu. Candidates selected for an interview will be asked to share a writing sample that is no longer than 10 pages and not significantly edited by someone else.