Position: Staff Attorney with the Harvard Law School Environmental Law Clinic

Job posting for a staff attorney position with Harvard Law School's Environmental Law Clinic.  Here's excerpt of the Director's message (Wendy Jacobs) coming with the job opening.

"I write to let you all know of an opening for a clinical instructor/staff attorney in my environmental law and policy clinic in case you have a terrific former student or fellow who may be interested.  Feel free to forward this email and the attachment, which describes the job in detail and provides the instructions for applying.  In summary, I am looking for someone who has been in practice for about five-seven years, has outstanding academic credentials, is capable of producing the highest quality of work him/herself as well as supervising students working on a variety of projects including civil litigation, various types of administrative proceedings, drafting of regulations and statutes, preparation of congressional testimony, policy papers, and the like.  The subject matter is very broad, ranging from climate change adaptation to industrial aquaculture to conservation easements to regulation of hydraulic fracturing and reduction in methane emissions, among others.  As the attachment emphasizes, I need someone who is diligent, hard-working, flexible, and a strong team player.  "

Position Title:  Staff Attorney

Company:  Harvard Law School

Location:  Cambridge, MA

Expected Start:  TBD

Schedule:  Monday – Friday, 8:45am – 6:00pm; frequent nights/weekends anticipated during academic year; occasionally during summer to meet a deadline.

To apply:  Per government compliance regulations, all interested candidates must apply through the Harvard University website- http://www.employment.harvard.edu/careers/findingajob/

Click on “ASPIRE, Harvard’s job search and application system” and then click on “Search openings.”  Use the “Auto req ID” box to search for requisition number 29605BR.

Contact:  Avery Walker, Recruitment Manager, Harvard Law School

awalker@law.harvard.edu

A.  Duties and Responsibilities	Total of boxes A, B and C limited to 5000 characters.
The Harvard Law School Environmental Law & Policy Clinic (ELPC) is hiring an attorney to work on novel, cutting edge environmental law projects and cases.  The job is challenging, fast-paced, exacting, rigorous and time intensive, often requiring work at night or on weekends in order to do the research and editing that is necessary to properly supervise students, complete clinic projects, meet deadlines, and represent the clinic’s clients.  Vacations must be scheduled around the requirement of maintaining effective project continuity and meeting project deadlines. The attorney reports to the Director of ELPC and will work with the Clinic Director and other staff on a broad array of environmental and natural resource cases and projects ranging from climate change adaptation and renewable energy to hydraulic fracturing and offshore drilling in the Arctic.  The attorney will actively supervise students working on multi-disciplinary projects in the clinic and handle projects independently between semesters.  Thus, the position requires someone with experience managing/leading legal projects and supervising other lawyers (in this case, law students as well as business and/or policy students).  The ELPC engages in a mix of litigation and administrative proceedings, legislative advocacy, rulemakings, and other policy work.  Students working in the clinic help to develop novel strategies for addressing environmental problems, investigate new cases, advise clients, work with scientific, economic and policy experts, build and review administrative records, draft briefs and policy papers, and draft legislation, regulations, ordinances and congressional testimony. The Clinical Instructor/Staff Attorney responsibilities include: •    Close supervision of student work, including assessing and structuring the practice work of the clinic students on all aspects of projects (interviewing and fact gathering; project analysis and strategy development; drafting of model legislation, policy papers and comments on proposed regulations; drafting of ordinances and regulations and supporting background papers; discovery, motion practice, negotiation, administrative proceedings, trials and hearings).  Meeting regularly with students to discuss, plan, strategize and review students’ work; accompany students to all legislative, regulatory, administrative, and court proceedings; provide regular and detailed feedback, both written and oral, on practice performance in order to teach students the fundamentals of lawyering. •    Completing student work.  Revising and finalizing student work for publication or submittal. •    Serving as attorney of record with ultimate authority for clinic cases litigated under his or her supervision in state and federal court and before administrative agencies.  Being entirely or partially responsible for direct case handling, including communication with clients, motions and trials, comments on rulemakings, testimony to legislators and meeting project milestones and deadlines during summer months and other periods of student absence. •    Developing teaching and training materials; investigating and developing new clinic projects; conducting basic and advanced legal research; and drafting, reviewing and editing case and project documents, including white papers, legislative documents, and court documents. Note:  Due to the nature and complexity of this position, it will have an extended (4 month) orientation and review period.
B.  Basic Qualifications	Total of boxes A, B and C limited to 5000 characters.
Must have a J.D. and minimum 5+ years experience in environmental, energy or natural resource protection law, including practice experience in the field; admission to MA Bar (or commitment to sit for and pass the MA Bar during the summer of 2014).  Must possess outstanding academic credentials, excellent research, writing and oral advocacy skills, and have had prior responsibility for direct supervision and mentoring of young attorneys.  Superior interpersonal and team-building skills are required.  Demonstrated ability to work independently and prepare work of the highest quality.
C.  Additional Qualifications	Total of boxes A, B and C limited to 5000 characters.
Ideal candidate will have some experience in clinical or public interest legal setting.  Successful supervision of junior lawyers or the demonstrated potential for such supervision is desirable.  Candidate should possess sound judgment, a strong work ethic, proven ability to engage in creative problem solving, exceptional ethical standards, strong mentoring ability, and strong time management skills. Microsoft Word, Excel; proficiency with online legal research (Lexis, Westlaw)

D.  Additional Information	Box D limited to 3000 characters
This is a term appointment currently expected to extend through 6/30/2016, subject to funding and departmental need. All offers to be made by HLS Human Resources.