Vermont Law School (VLS) is seeking applicants for a two-year fellowship position in environmental justice. The Environmental Justice LLM Fellow will pursue an LLM degree in Food and Agriculture Law or Environmental Law while also working part-time VLS’s Environmental Justice Clinic.
The new position reflects the school’s expanding focus on environmental justice. Students at VLS have shown great interest in the practice, which combines civil rights and environmental law. They launched the country’s first student-led Environmental Justice Law Society in 2017. In 2019, VLS founded the Environmental Justice (EJ) Clinic, one of the only law school clinics in the U.S. devoted to environmental justice.
The EJ Clinic partners with low-income communities and communities of color to address racial disparities in environmental harms. “Clinic students have the opportunity to represent disenfranchised communities fighting for a say in decisions affecting their future,” said Director and Professor Marianne Engelman Lado.
The new fellowship combines an opportunity to pursue an LLM degree in one of the nation’s top environmental law programs with the chance to work on litigation, administrative advocacy, public education, and legislation alongside EJ Clinic students and faculty.
The fellow will help to fight the disproportionate impacts of industrial agriculture on low-income communities and communities of color; develop and seek to compel the adoption of strong environmental justice laws; and compel civil rights enforcement in the environmental context, among other projects.
Candidates with a JD degree are invited apply for the two-year program by July 1, 2020. The position includes a full tuition reimbursement for an LLM degree and a $35,000-per-year stipend. For more information, visit vermontlaw.edu/ej-fellowship.
