Environmental Externships

During an environmental externship, students can earn academic credit by working for a law firm, government agency, legislative body, or public interest organization. Placement opportunities exist across the country and throughout the world. Through the practical experience gained and contacts developed during the externship, many externs receive valuable leads for postgraduate employment.

Our reputation as one of the country’s preeminent environmental law school and our network of more than 1,000 successful practitioners in the field provide our students with access to an international job market.

This is a partial list of past externships created by our students and faculty. For more information about externships and requirements please visit the law school’s externship page.

U.S. placements

• Bonneville Power Administration, General Counsel, Portland, Oregon
• Center for Environmental Law & Policy, Seattle, Washington
• Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, Portland, Oregon
• Conservation Law Foundation, Boston, Massachusetts
• Council on Environmental Quality, Washington, D.C.
• Earthjustice, Washington, D.C.; Bozeman, Montana; Juneau, Alaska; San Francisco, California; Seattle, Washington; Denver, Colorado 
• Earthrise Law Center, Lewis & Clark Law School, Portland, Or.
  
• Environmental Defense Fund, Washington, D.C.
• Environmental Law Institute, Washington, D.C.
• Fairfield & Woods, Denver, Colorado
• Hawaii Attorney General’s Office, Honolulu, Hawaii
• Metro Regional Government, Portland, Oregon
•  Mitchell Lang & Smith, Portland, Oregon
• National Wildlife Federation, Washington, D.C.; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Portland, Oregon; Anchorage, Alaska
• Native American Rights Fund, Washington, D.C.; Boulder, Colorado; Anchorage, Alaska
• Natural Resources Defense Counsel, Washington, D.C.; Denver, Colorado
• Nature Conservancy, San Francisco, California
• NOAA, Office of Regional Counsel, Seattle, Washington; Juneau, Alaska

• Oregon Attorney General’s Office, Natural Resources Section, Salem, Oregon
• Oregon Governor’s Office, Portland, Oregon
• Preston Thorgrimson, Washington, D.C.
• Royce Swanson, Portland, Oregon
• St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, Hogansburg, New York
• Shoshone-Bannock Tribal Attorney Office, Fort Hall, Idaho
• Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, Austin, Texas
• Trust for Public Land, Portland, Oregon
• Trustees for Alaska, Anchorage, Alaska
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, Portland, Oregon
• U.S. Department of Interior, Office of Solicitor, Washington, D.C.
• U.S. Department of Justice, Environmental Enforcement Section Washington, D.C.
• U.S. Department of Justice, Natural Resources Section, Washington, D.C.
• U.S. District Court, District of Oregon, Portland, Oregon
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C. and regional office
• U.S. Senator Paul Simon, Washington, D.C.

International placements

• Australia Centre for Environmental Law, Adelaide, Australia
• Centro de Derechos Humanos y Ambiente (Center for Human Rights and Environment), Córdoba, Argentina
• Center for International Environmental Law, Washington, D.C.; Geneva, Switzerland
• Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species Secretariat, Geneva, Switzerland
• East-West Center, Honolulu, Hawaii
• Lawyers Environmental Action Team, Tanzania
• United Nations Environment Programme, Geneva, Switzerland