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Students in the Environmental Clinic work with communities throughout Texas to advocate for solutions to today’s pressing environmental problems, including pollution, lack of access to safe drinking water, and climate change. Recent clinic projects have included:
- assisting communities that lack access to safe drinking water,
- enforcing environmental laws in federal court,
- commenting on Environmental Impact Statements,
- participating in permitting and rulemaking proceedings before courts and administrative agencies,
- providing community education and pollution monitoring, and
- conducting environmental policy research.
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Our clients are typically individuals and neighborhood groups whose members are exposed to pollution or other environmental hazards, such as flooding. We also occasionally represent environmental nonprofit organizations and local governments.
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Six to eight new students and up to three advanced (repeat) students are in the clinic each semester. Students work in teams of two.
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You are expected to devote approximately 12 hours a week to your casework, which includes a weekly meeting with your teammate and supervisor. Students also participate in a weekly two-hour seminar covering topics including federal environmental statutes, environmental justice, administrative law practice, and the role of the law in environmental protection.
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Students in the Clinic learn to think creatively about how to use the law and work with communities to protect and improve environmental quality and public health. Practical skills learned and honed in the Environmental Clinic include:
- environmental and administrative law research,
- written and oral advocacy
- factual investigation and analysis,
- legal drafting and litigation support,
- client counseling/community education,
- advocacy before regulatory agencies, and
- ethical and professional legal practice.