Clinical Intership Seminar: Western Resources Legal Center (WRLC)

Description:

Limit: 6-8 students.

Second and third-year law students interested in the legal needs of private individuals and businesses in the environmental and natural resources fields can gain practical skills through work with the Western Resources Legal Center (WRLC), a Portland-based non-profit organization. Under the supervision of WRLC's director/staff attorney, students will interview and counsel clients, conduct fact investigations, problem solve, draft documents, negotiate agreements, and represent clients at administrative hearings, trials and appeals. WRLC represents individuals and small businesses engaged in farming, ranching, forestry, mining, and land developments as well as small, local governments, water and irrigation districts and other entities dependent on natural resource use and development. Areas of student work may include: water quality, grazing, wildlife, forestry, land use and zoning, mining and property rights issues.

Law students will be supervised in their work by the full-time WRLC director, an attorney. No prior experience is required and both second and third year students are encouraged to participate. Class size will initially be limited to 3-5 students.

The Clinical Internship Seminar WRLC, is a 3-credit, Credit/No Credit course with no final examination or paper requirement. To successfully earn academic credit, students are expected to spend approximately 9 hours per week working on WRLC matters to the satisfaction of the supervising attorney. In addition, students are required to attend and participate in a weekly two-hour class that will cover general lawyering skills, overview of relevant substantive law, and discussion of cases in progress.

A student must have permission to register for this course. To do so, submit a letter of interest and writing sample to Executive Director, Caroline Lobdell either by email to Caroline@westres.org or in hard copy form via campus mail. The deadline for receipt is Friday, July 25, 2008. Include your name, contact information, year in law school, and reasons for your interest in working with WRLC. Please also include a copy of your unofficial transcript. If there is more student demand than the CIS can accommodate, preference will be based on interest and year in school. The Registrar will notify all those who sign up for CIS: WRLC of their status if the class is oversubscribed.