Conservation Law Center Clinic at the IU Maurer School of Law

Each school year, second- and third-year law students at the IU Maurer School of Law have the opportunity to enroll for credit as interns in our Conservation Law Clinic, one of Maurer’s six public interest clinics focused on providing students a hands-on learning experience working with real clients. Under the supervision of CLC attorneys, student interns work closely with each other and with the attorneys on live legal matters for our myriad clients who need assistance with natural resource conservation issues.

In the fall semester, the Clinic’s experiential portion is supplemented by a classroom component, which takes the form of a weekly seminar taught CLC Senior Staff Attorney Jeffrey Hyman and Director Christian Freitag. The seminar topics have covered a diverse range of issues over the years, ranging from endangered predators—focusing on how species like wolves and big cats are treated under the law—to this year’s topic on land conservation issues, including conflicts at national parks in Indiana and elsewhere. This year, the Graduate Fellow Attorneys Joe Brinkman and Hannah Clendening also each led a session, one on public-private partnerships and conservation incentive programs, and the other on issues of equity and justice in the environmental field.

The Clinic is an integral part of what we do at CLC. The students provide critical research assistance (and often fresh insight) on ongoing projects, and, in turn, we are able to give students valuable experience in the practice. But the skills students take with them after working in the Clinic are equally invaluable. Clinical students are forced to be responsible not only for their own individual progress and performance, but must also for the real-time needs of clients, who often engage directly with students and rely on them for work product. All of this occurs under the supervision and guidance of CLC’s experienced attorneys. Though much of Clinic work involves traditional legal research and writing tasks, students will also frequently help draft complaints, research solutions tried in other states to address environmental challenges, helping write rulemaking comments to influence federal and state environmental laws, and even driving across Indiana to track down property deeds and chains of title at County Recorders’ offices.

Whatever the unique experience of any given Clinic participant may look like, students have reported time and time again that the Clinic left them well-equipped to make a strong entrance into the world of environmental and conservation lawyering. Many students opt to continue working for the Clinic for independent study credit after completing the regular year-long Clinic program. In some cases, former Clinic students have even come back to work for us full-time as a Graduate Fellow Attorney. We are thrilled to work with Indiana University students to provide this valuable clinical experience, and also proud to carry on the legal profession’s public service tradition.

Article by: Hannah Clendening