Academic Semester Internships/Externships and Summer Honors Law Clerk Program with EPA's Environmental Appeals Board

The Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) is an appellate tribunal established by regulation to hear administrative appeals under all major environmental statutes that EPA administers.  Located in Washington, DC, the EAB’s caseload consists primarily of appeals from permit decisions and administrative civil penalty decisions, as well as petitions for reimbursement of costs incurred in complying with cleanup orders issued under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA).  Non-EPA parties may appeal an EAB decision to federal court.  The Judges on the EAB sit in panels of three and make decisions by majority vote.  Experienced attorneys, a Clerk of the Board, and an Administrative Specialist provide support to the judges.  Learn more about the EAB.

Who Should Apply?

The EAB seeks legal interns to assist both the Environmental Appeals Judges and Counsel to the Board to conduct legal research, analyze applicable law and the administrative record, draft legal memoranda, and prepare final decisions. In addition to excellent legal research, writing, and analytical skills, the EAB considers, among other things, an applicant’s interest in environmental law, administrative law, public interest law, or appellate litigation. The EAB will consider applications from first- and second-year law students for the summer program; second-year and third-year students are eligible to work in the fall and winter/spring semesters.  Students must have U.S. citizenship.

Are the Positions Paid? Are there Benefits?

The EAB offers both paid and unpaid internships as described below. 

Summer positions through the Pathways program are paid.  Please see the instructions below for applying to the paid Pathways program through the USAJobs website.

The EAB also offers unpaid positions during the Summer, Fall, and Winter/Spring semesters.  For these positions, students may work as academic (for credit) externs, under a variety of public service or law-school-sponsored fellowships, or as unpaid law clerks or interns.  

A Metro transit subsidy is available for both paid and unpaid in-person positions.

What Dates Would I Work?

Start and end dates are negotiable.  See the USAJobs announcement for more details on the Pathways Summer position.  Fall and Winter/Spring positions may be full-time/semester-in-practice (40 hours per week) or part-time (at least 15 hours per week) and require a commitment of at least ten weeks. 

How Do I Apply?

For the Summer pathways applications, applications must be submitted through the USAJobs portal available through this link Student Trainee Legal or by:  

•  Visit the USAJobs.gov Pathways for Students page
  • Scroll down to select “search internship jobs” 
  • At the next page, enter Environmental Protection Agency in the keyword search bar
  • Find the “Student Trainee (Legal)” position for the EAB in the search results
  • Select “apply,” and follow the instructions to complete the application
    • In addition to answering the questions in the portal, applicants must upload a resume, law school transcripts, and proof of enrollment.
  • The EAB will contact finalists to schedule interviews.

For academic semester (Fall or Winter/Spring) applications and unpaid Summer positions, email the following documents to EAB_interns@epa.gov as one PDF file by the appropriate deadline.  Please include the applicant’s full name in the subject line of the email.

• Cover letter,
• Resume,
• A legal writing sample not-to-exceed 10 pages (for which the applicant was the primary author - with minor (if any) edits by others).  The writing sample should include a legal analysis section,
• Law school transcript, and
• Three references whom the EAB may contact upon receipt of the application. At least one reference must be a current or former supervisor (or someone familiar with the quality, complexity and scope of the applicant’s work). 

IMPORTANT:  Students interested in applying for both the paid and unpaid Summer positions must apply to both positions separately (for Pathways, through USAJobs, and for unpaid positions, through submission of application materials to the EAB_interns mailbox). 

Deadlines:
For the Summer Pathways position: the USAJobs announcement opened on 08/24/2022 to 09/23/2022. This job will close when we have received 250 applications which may be sooner than the closing date. 

For Academic Semester (Fall or Winter/Spring) and unpaid Summer positions: 
•    April 15 for Fall positions,
•    October 15 for Winter/Spring positions, and 
•    January 15 for Summer unpaid positions.

Contact

EAB_Interns@EPA.gov for all email inquiries

Nivea Berrios-Colon
Counsel to the Board
(202) 233-0122    

Catherine Malinin Dunn 
Counsel to the Board
(202) 564-2555    

Corin James
Counsel to the Board
(202) 564-1754