Earthrise Summer Externs Learn By Doing…a Lot!

Once again, we had an outstanding cohort of externs this summer. Externs work full-time during the summer term, earn credit hours, and gain hands-on experiential education working closely with attorney supervisors, all while helping our clients win gains for the environment. Learn more about the Earthrise summer extern program.

All five interns are Lewis & Clark Law School students. Here are a few highlights of the projects they worked on with Earthrise this summer.

Molly Bisulca, third-year, from Estell Manor, New Jersey

• ESA Section 7 memo, APA unreasonable delay memo, and APA discovery memo related to water quality standards.
• Attorney fee petition (including draft declarations) for the water quality temperature standards case.
• Response to Motion to dismiss in Magic Mountain storm water case.

 Sara Blankenship, second-year, from Adairsville, Georgia

• Legal research and draft legal memos, draft Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, and draft FOIA Appeal for the Buffalo National River case.
• Helped file motion for preliminary injunction for the Goat Mountain Hardrock Prospecting Project case
• Draft reply brief, legal research, draft motion to strike, draft Appellate Brief, and attended preliminary injunction hearing for the Snow Basin Vegetation Management Project case.
• Draft FOIA request, draft Administrative Appeal, and Exhibits for the McKay Timber Sale case.

 Jaime Jones, third-year, from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

• Helped with discovery and attended a conference with the Judge in Missoula, Montana, for a Clean Air Act case against one of the largest coal-fire power plants in the west.
• Drafted and sent 60-day notice letter and participated in settlement negotiations for a Clean Air Act citizen’s suit against a glass manufacturer in Portland, Oregon (see article below).
• Reviewed the extremely large administrative record for the Columbia River Crossing bridge project.

 Moon Kim, third-year, from Seoul, South Korea

• Legal research, draft motions and a section of opening draft, discovery (record review), and edit and cite check for the Columbia Riverkeeper v. U.S. Coast Guard case.
• Draft litigation risk analysis memo re: Endangered Species Act consultation case.
• Legal research and research memo for an Endangered Species Act case.
• Legal research and research memo for a Clean Air Act case in Montana.

 Joanna Lau, third-year, from Marshfield, Wisconsin

• Reviewed the extremely large administrative record for the Columbia River Crossing bridge project.
• Draft reply brief (portion) for Ninth Circuit appeal in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest herbicides case.
• Analysis of defendant’s deposition, legal research for a Clean Water Act case in Illinois.
• Draft client memo re: adverse district court opinion in RCRA lead ammunition case.
• Draft supporting declarations for motion for attorneys’ fees for water quality temperature standards case.

And that doesn’t even capture all the assignments these hard-working students accomplished! They also somehow found time for our weekly Earthrise summer potluck and most of them will be returning in the Fall to join us as Earthrise Clinic students.