Joshua McClain
“I am excited to be a part of the Texas Law community because I believe the law is critical to understanding and addressing inequities. I am particularly interested in disparities in access to a safe and healthy environment. As a state on the front lines of both creating and responding to climate catastrophes, Texas is a powerful place to pursue an education on that topic. As summers get hotter, water gets scarcer, hurricanes become more unpredictable, and industrial pollution concerns continue unabated, Texas is grappling with climate-driven environmental challenges every year. I can think of no better place, and no better group of peers and teachers, to help me learn how the law can be used to support communities in becoming more whole, resilient, and equitable.”
Josh McClain serves as a law clerk to Judge Robert Pitman of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in Austin. At Texas Law, he was actively involved in public interest and environmental initiatives, serving on the Justice Center’s student advisory board and the executive boards of both the Environmental Law Society and the GRITS Conference. He was also a member of the Public Interest Law Association and Law Students for Black Lives. Josh gained hands-on experience through the Environmental Clinic, worked as a Teaching Quizmaster for the 1L writing program, and served as a teaching assistant for Civil Procedure and, later, Constitutional Law. His also worked as a research assistant focused on toxics law and environmental conditions in prisons.
The summer after his 1L year, Josh worked with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid's Community Development and Environmental Justice Teams in Edinburg, Texas. The summer after his 2L year, he worked with the Southern Environmental Law Center in its Chapel Hill, North Carolina office, focusing on water contamination issues.
Josh graduated from Kenyon College in 2019 with a degree in political science and is pursuing dual JD/Master of Public Affairs degrees from Texas Law and the LBJ School of Public Affairs. At the LBJ School, which he attended for a year before starting law school, Josh worked at the newly launched Prison and Jail Innovation Lab, researching conditions of confinement and correctional oversight.
Immediately before moving to Austin for graduate school, Josh worked as a paralegal for Legal Aid of North Carolina's Disaster Relief Project in Durham, North Carolina, helping clients across the eastern half of North Carolina navigate the long-term hurricane recovery process.