NYU School of Law Student Opportunities

NYU School of Law offers students numerous opportunities to gain practical experience working on pressing issues in land use, housing, real estate and environmental law. In addition to the clinics, the Law School funds academic year fellowships, summer public interest internships for students interested in working for land use, housing or community economic development organizations and in government service. Obtaining these positions, as well as positions after graduation, is facilitated through the Law School’s placement services and faculty and alumni networks. Students also have a range of opportunities to work closely with faculty on land use, housing and environmental and law reform initiatives for governments and international organizations, as well as on academic research.

Furman Center Fellowships

Through the generosity of two alumni, Herbert Gold (’40) and Ronald Moelis (’82), two student fellowships have been endowed in the Furman Center. Each year, students compete for the opportunity to receive the fellowships, which also include the opportunity to work on research projects with Center faculty.

Summer Internships

To provide students with public interest land use, housing, community economic development and environmental experience, and to encourage and support future careers in public interest law, the Law School provides grants for two summer internship programs:

• Center on Environmental and Land Use Law Summer Internships in Public Interest Environmental and Land Use Law

  Generous funding from the Korein Foundation allows NYU School of Law to provide first-year and second-year students with grants to support summer internships with leading environmental and land use organizations, both in the United States and abroad. These placements create valuable training and networking opportunities that help students secure full-time positions in environmental and land use organizations following graduation. Ten students served as the Korein Fellows in 2002-03, working for such organizations as Sierra Club, Environmental Defense, the Mexican Center for Environmental Law, the Institute for Environmental Law and Economics in Paraguay, Earthjustice, and the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. In the fall following their placements, the fellows participate in the course on Public Interest Environmental Law Practice, drawing on their summer experience in addressing the theoretical and programmatic issues of practice in this field.

 

• Public Interest Committee Internships

  In addition to the Korein internships, NYU School of Law provides Public Interest Committee (PIC) grants to support first-year and second-year students who wish to participate in environmental and land use and other public interest or public service summer internships. Among the more than 220 students receiving PIC grants for work in the United States in the summer of 2003 were many who worked for environmental and land use organizations, such as the Brooklyn Bridge Park Coalition; Earthjustice’s International Program; New York Environmental Law and Justice Project; Santa Barbara ChannelKeeper; and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Another 60 Law School students used PIC grants to undertake internships in other countries, including positions on environmental law projects for the International Law Commission and other international bodies.

   

Career Opportunities

The Law School and its faculty and alumni also provide information, counseling, and assistance in developing future professional careers in land use, real estate, housing, community economic development and environmental law.

• Public Interest Law Center

  The Public Interest Law Center’s counselors assist students who want to learn more about summer internships, postgraduate fellowships, and permanent career opportunities in public interest and public service. Counselors advise students on job search and interviewing strategies, assist students in networking with alumni and employers who have previously employed Law School students, and help students navigate databases and directories. The Center sponsors various educational programs throughout the year and hosts brown-bag lunches for students to share their internship experiences. The Center also administers a Peer Mentor Program, which matches first-year students with second- and third-year students who intend to work in the public service after graduation. NYU School of Law also sponsors the annual Public Interest Job Fair, which draws almost 200 public interest and public service employers to the Law School for two days of interviews with our students.

 

• Office of Career Services

  The Office of Career Services (OCS) also provides assistance for students seeking both summer and post-graduation placements. OCS coordinates faculty research assistant positions for current students, has an extensive library of private-sector career resources, provides assistance to students seeking judicial clerkships, and provides individualized career counseling.

 

• Financial Assistance for Public Interest Practice

  The Law School provides significant financial support to students contemplating public interest and government careers. In addition to the Korein Foundation and PIC grants supporting summer public interest and public service internships, the Law School’s Loan Repayment Assistance Program repays all or a portion of the educational loans of most students who choose public interest or public service careers.

 

• Faculty Contacts and Land Use, Real Estate and Housing Alumni Network

  Faculty have extensive contacts with government agencies, law firms, environmental and land use organizations, housing and community development organizations, and the real estate industry. Faculty use their contacts to assist students in finding summer internships and positions following graduation and also counsel students about career options and opportunities. In addition, the Law School has a network of distinguished alumni practicing in the areas of real estate, land use, environmental law, housing and community economic development that students can tap. Students seeking opportunities in those fields have access not only to the scores of alumni working directly in those areas, but also to a broad public interest network fostered by the Law School’s extensive public interest programs, such as the Root-Tilden-Kern Scholarship Program, the Hays Civil Liberties Program, and the Global Public Service Law Project. Students interested in private-sector employment may call on our alumni in firms that specialize in real estate, environmental or land use law and those in real estate, land use or environmental departments within larger firms, as well as those working as in-house counsel.

Related NYU Centers:

Center on Environmental and Land Use Law

The Center’s mission is to advance scholarly inquiry and writing, enhance legal training, and combine theory and practice to develop and help implement innovative legal and policy solutions to environmental protection at the national, regional and global levels. 

The Center regularly sponsors major conferences and publications on leading-edge environmental law issues involving academic, government, NGO, and private sector leaders from throughout the United States and the world. One such conference was an international conference on Superfund Reform and on environmental law and regulation which was held at NYU’s Villa in Florence, Italy and which included participants such as Justice Stephen Breyer of the United States Supreme Court and Lord Slynn of Hadley of the House of Lords.

NYU law students from the U.S. and abroad play an integral part in the Center’s activities. For instance, through the School’s environmental law clinic, students have the opportunity to work directly with the Natural Resources Defense Council—one of the nation’s leading public interest environmental groups—and contribute to public interest environmental litigation and policy initiatives. In addition, fellowship placements in the International and Developing Country Legal Assistance Program offer students a unique opportunity to provide developing countries with practical assistance in strengthening and enforcing their environmental and land use laws and policies.

The Center also encourages and supports student research and writing and other environmental law activities through the NYU Environmental Law Journal and the Environmental Law Society. These activities are designed to train the next generation of environmental law leaders and develop new legal and policy mechanisms for environmental protection through application of the best scholarly research, practical experience, and international dialogue.