| Job Description: |
Earthjustice is the premier nonprofit environmental law organization. We take on the biggest, most precedent-setting cases across the country. We wield the power of law and the strength of partnership to protect people’s health; to preserve magnificent places and wildlife; to advance clean energy; and to combat climate change. We partner with thousands of groups, supporters, individuals and communities to engage the critical environmental issues of our time, and bring about positive change. We are guided by a passionate, ambitious vision for the future for people and our planet: until justice stands for all, we will never rest. We are here because the earth needs a good lawyer.
Founded in 1971, Earthjustice has a distinguished track record of achieving significant, lasting environmental protections. We achieve this by hiring people who share a passion for justice and a healthy environment. Our headquarters are in San Francisco with offices in Anchorage, Juneau, Los Angeles, Tallahassee, Honolulu, New York, Philadelphia, Denver, Seattle, Bozeman, Miami and Washington, DC.
Earthjustice is accepting applications for two Associate Attorneys to join our Fossil Fuels Program. We use the power of the law to challenge the onslaught of new oil and gas infrastructure development that threatens climate, communities and our environment. This role will work cross-regionally with a focus on the Ohio River Valley, with the position based in Chicago, Illinois.
At a time when we desperately need to reduce greenhouse emissions, the oil and gas industry is aggressively expanding fossil fuel infrastructure, locking us into decades of future fossil fuel use and directly harming communities already hardest hit by climate disruption. Earthjustice’s Fossil Fuels program uses litigation, administrative advocacy, and partnership to advance an end to U.S. oil and gas extraction and production, and stop new infrastructure (e.g., petrochemical facilities, export terminals and pipelines).
The Associate Attorney program is designed to help attorneys who are in the early stages of their careers to develop into thoughtful, professional, and effective advocates skilled in the various phases of public interest litigation. The term for the associate position is three-years with the potential for an extension.
Responsibilities:
-Work with program staff and clients to investigate, develop, and litigate cases.
-Participate in the full range of tasks involved in litigation, including factual investigation, legal research, memo writing, comments, briefing, discovery, and oral advocacy.
-Review and analyze administrative records and technical documents, and prepare comments on proposed agency actions, permits, and environmental review documents.
-Engage with clients, coalition partners, and experts, as well as internal communications and legislative staff.
-Hire and supervise law students who work at Earthjustice as interns or clerks. |
| Job Requirements: |
Qualifications:
-Admitted to, or eligible for admission to the Illinois Bar.
-1-5 years of post-graduate litigation and/or clerkship experience.
-Excellent legal research, writing and analytical skills.
-Strong work ethic and initiative, and sound yet creative judgment.
-Ability to work well both independently and with a team.
-Strong desire to fight for the right of all to a healthy environment.
-Demonstrated awareness and sensitivity to the needs and concerns of individuals from diverse cultures, backgrounds and orientations.
-Commitment to help create a diverse, equitable, and inclusive work culture that encourages and celebrates differences.
-Willingness to contribute to recruiting, hiring, developing and retaining a diverse and inclusive workforce. |
