Environmental Law Forum

[cleamj82]

I'm something of an environmental nut and am obsessed with things like green technology but I've never been much of an engineer other than the design process so I want to better the cause in the capacity I can, which would be from the political/legal side. TLS has a list of top schools for Environmental Law but I was hoping to get some true perspectives on the matter. Based on the list my main schools of interested are Berkeley, Stanford, and NYU, any opinions?

[FlightoftheEarls]

I'm something of an environmental nut and am obsessed with things like green technology but I've never been much of an engineer other than the design process so I want to better the cause in the capacity I can, which would be from the political/legal side. TLS has a list of top schools for Environmental Law but I was hoping to get some true perspectives on the matter. Based on the list my main schools of interested are Berkeley, Stanford, and NYU, any opinions?

Do you have an LSAT? Have you been accepted at these schools? This is all useless worrying if you're sitting on a 3.5 with no LSAT. Stanford would be my choice for an interest in cleantech and startups with a renewable/sustainable energy focus, but the school won't be an option with your GPA.

Most people aren't going to waste their time advising you on hypotheticals that they don't think will ever happen, so come back when you have an LSAT score.

[cleamj82]

I haven't taken the LSAT yet because I'm not entirely sure law is what I want to do just yet. I'm currently 19 and this is my last semester for my undergraduate degree so I'm deciding what I want to do. I'm two years ahead of where I'm supposed to be so I'm weighing my options. I've taken timed practice tests and I'm averaging about a 176 for whatever that's worth but nothing official yet, I'm probably signing up for the summer testing.

Thanks for the response though.

[beach_terror]

Do you want to enter private practice or do EPA or state government work?

[champsound]

I think I was in a pretty similar position at around your age (which wasn't actually that long ago). My advice would be two things. First get that GPA up, regardless of what you plan on doing, it would probably help. I stuck around my undergrad to up my GPA rather than graduating early and I think it helped my chances for law school. Second, get some experience working with environmental organizations/government agencies/something to really understand how the environmental movement comes together and where you really fit into that. "political/legal side" is an incredibly, almost ridiculously broad term.

If you are testing as high as 176 you should have a good chance at NYU or Berkeley when do you decide to apply. I'm trying to make that decision right now and some other schools you should look into might be Columbia (for their climate change program if you're into that) or Duke (getting a joint degree at their Nicholas school of the environment is pretty popular).

In short - if you can figure out what issues you want to work on in the environmental movement and how you want to tackle them, the choice for school should be pretty clear once you understand it.

[src42]

I think I was in a pretty similar position at around your age (which wasn't actually that long ago). My advice would be two things. First get that GPA up, regardless of what you plan on doing, it would probably help. I stuck around my undergrad to up my GPA rather than graduating early and I think it helped my chances for law school. Second, get some experience working with environmental organizations/government agencies/something to really understand how the environmental movement comes together and where you really fit into that. "political/legal side" is an incredibly, almost ridiculously broad term.

This is good advice. Don't rush through undergrad and don't rush to get to law school. Take your time and get your GPA up (Berkeley and Stanford both love high GPAs and it won't matter how high your LSAT is). In environmental policy/law, experience is really really helpful. Even just an internship or two would go a long way. Real work experience would be even better. Lots of kids think they want to do environmental law, but it's actually really competitive, and it's fairly technical so it helps to have substantive knowledge. And it's really broad--it could mean climate change, clean energy, or conservation, all of which are very different.

[cleamj82]

That is definitely good advice. My main interests I'd say are clean energy and conservation. Would anyone have a suggestion in terms of where I should apply for an internship in this field? I'm primarily from Albany, NY but I'd certainly be willing to move down to the city if it meant that I could get some work experience that would advance me in the field. As for the staying in school to get the GPA up, I definitely understand the thought behind it, I'm just not sure I'm willing to come back here for another semester, I've been averaging 25 credits per semester thus far and have taken pretty much every class that has interested me in all subjects, I don't know if coming back would be worth it. I could spend that time working a job to put on my resume and hope a 3.53-3.60 would suffice for my GPA as long as I officially score over a 175 on the LSAT.

[champsound]

Off the top of my head in NY that I've worked with/contacted (I'm from California so I don't really know where these groups are exactly). A lot of these groups have some issue with hydraulic fracturing for natural gas, which is one of the hot issues in NY right now. It's not exactly clean energy work, rather "anti-dirty energy" work, but it's an interesting topic you should look into if you care about New York.

Local Groups:
Citizens' Environmental Coalition
Concerned Residents of Portland, New York and People Like Us
New York Public Interest Research Group
New York-New Jersey Baykeeper
Catskill Mountainkeeper
Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy
Citizens Campaign for the Environment
New York Residents Against Drilling

National Groups:
Environmental Defense Fund (In NYC)
Natural Resource Defense Council (In NYC)
Waterkeeper Alliance

Also, if you can find something to do with the New York DEC, I think it's in Albany, that would be pretty cool.

[Neve]

Vermont, Lewis and Clark, and Chicago-Kent (for energy law) are other schools for environmental law.

They may not have the high ranking that the schools on your poll have, but they are strong in environmental law.

[gaud]

Vermont, Lewis and Clark, and Chicago-Kent (for energy law) are other schools for environmental law.

They may not have the high ranking that the schools on your poll have, but they are strong in environmental law.

Exactly, Vermont is number 1 in Environmental law

[Grizz]

Vermont, Lewis and Clark, and Chicago-Kent (for energy law) are other schools for environmental law.

They may not have the high ranking that the schools on your poll have, but they are strong in environmental law.

Exactly, Vermont is number 1 in Environmental law

Specialty rankings are worthless.

OP, you're 19. Get a job, maybe with *gasp* an environmental group