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Environmental Justice Law Fellowship Program
Learn about the Environmental Justice Law Fellowship Program for new law school graduates.
The Air District’s Environmental Justice Law Fellowship program is a two-year program for new attorneys with a passion for Environmental Justice to work in the Air District’s legal office focusing on equity and EJ-related issues. The Air District provides competitive pay and benefits, close mentorship, and an opportunity for the Fellow to gain experience working on EJ issues in one of the premier air quality regulatory agencies in California.
- View the Environmental Justice Law Fellowship Program brochure(1 Mb PDF, 2 pgs, posted 8/13/2024)
Overview of the Fellowship Program
The purpose of the Environmental Justice Fellowship Program is to provide new attorneys with experience in the Air District’s equity and Environmental Justice work. The Fellow will reside in the Air District’s Legal Division and will be managed by, and report to, the General Counsel. The Fellow will also support the work of the Environmental Justice and Community Engagement Office and the Air District’s independent community advisory bodies. The Fellow will be assigned to work on matters in the Legal Division involving Environmental Justice issues and will provide legal support for the EJ-focused work being undertaken through the Environmental Justice and Community Engagement Office.
In particular, the Fellow’s substantive work could include, among other things:
- Working with the Air District’s AB 617 Community Emission Reduction Plan steering committees;
- Impact litigation in overburdened communities to enforce Air District regulations against chronic violators;
- Legal work supporting the Air District’s Community Advisory Council;
- Implementing initiatives to address cumulative impacts, disparate impact analyses, and other elements of civil rights compliance in the Air District permitting program;
- Drafting CEQA comments on projects proposing to locate in overburdened communities.
Eligibility
The Fellowship program is open to new lawyers just starting their legal career (including those who had prior careers before going to law school). The basic eligibility criteria are the following:
- New attorney with less than two (2) years of practice at the time of commencement of the Fellowship.
- California bar license. Applicants who are not admitted to the California bar at the time of application, including law students, will be required to describe their plans for gaining admission in their application. Law school graduates who register for the July bar exam following their graduation will be able to begin their Fellowship while waiting for admission.
Selection Criteria:
The Air District seeks to hire a Fellow from or with a background in an EJ community to bring a community voice and community perspective into the heart of the Air District’s legal office. The selection criteria include the following, with 1 being the most important and 6 being the least important:
- Lived experience in an Environmental Justice community and/or facing Environmental Justice challenges;
- Demonstrated interest in a career focused on equity and Environmental Justice issues, or on related issues with relevance to the intersection of environmental pollution, civil rights, and social justice;
- Writing and critical thinking skills, as demonstrated by a writing sample;
- Relevant practical experience (e.g., prior jobs [including but not limited to legal work or other relevant non-legal work before law school], internships, etc.);
- Relevant law school and/or undergraduate coursework;
- Academic record (grades, awards, honors, etc.).
Mentoring
A key element of the program is to provide the Fellow with close mentoring. The Fellow will be paired with a formal mentor in a structured mentor-mentee relationship. The Fellow will also complete an Individualized Development Plan, which is a list of learning objectives and employee-sponsored training that the Fellow will complete within the two-year Fellowship period.
Compensation
An EJ Law Fellow already admitted to practice will be compensated according to the Air District’s salary schedule for the Staff Attorney position, which ranges from $153,562.00 - $186,655.57 annually.
New law school graduates waiting to be admitted to the Bar can be hired at a Law Clerk salary level which ranges from $89,322.09 to $108,571.56 annually (pending Air District Board approval). Once admitted to practice, the Fellow will be compensated under the Staff Attorney position.
How to Apply
Application materials and instructions will be available here when the application period opens. The application period will be from October 10, 2024, until December 2, 2024.
Last Updated: 8/19/2024