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Summer Student Employment Program – Office of Enforcement & Compliance Assurance (OECA)

You may submit your resume until February 20, 2010.

The Office of Enforcement & Compliance Assurance (OECA) manages a national criminal enforcement, forensic and training program. OECA also manages the Agency’s regulatory, site remediation, and federal facilities enforcement and compliance assurance programs.

GENERAL FACT SHEET:

SUMMER 2009 LAW CLERK & INTERN PROGRAM

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Enforcement & Compliance Assurance
Washington, D.C.

Fall-Winter-Spring-Summer Externs ALSO WELCOME

The EPA Office of Enforcement & Compliance Assurance (OECA) offers qualified and highly motivated law students and selected others the opportunity to work side by side with practicing environmental lawyers and technical professionals in its Washington, D.C. headquarters office. Students work in the office as academic (for credit) interns; under a variety of public service or academic fellowships and as unpaid law clerks or interns. In some years, depending on budgetary allowances, a limited number of paid positions are available. At this time, we anticipate being able to offer a number of paid positions for the Summer 2009 program, although funding has not been approved at this time. In the Summer 2008 program, 25 students worked under a variety of academic or fellowship appointments and 25 students had paid positions. Since 1990, students from more than 156 U.S. and foreign law schools and other academic institutions have participated in our summer program.

Law clerks and interns work in one or more of the designated practice areas in OECA, including:

A limited number of judicial clerkships may also be available in the EPA Office of Administrative Law Judges.

Law clerks and interns work under the direct supervision of a practicing attorney or technical professional in one of the 15 practice areas in the Office of Enforcement & Compliance Assurance, performing a wide variety of legal or technical research, policy analysis or writing assignments. Each student is expected to develop a written assessment of activity, documenting accomplishments, works in progress and anticipated issues. Summer internships generally run for eight to ten weeks and can begin as early as May 5, 2009. Students are assigned to work in one or more of the practice areas based upon a preference and skills questionnaire and the space available in each individual office. Qualified 2L and 1L students are accepted. For more information, see www.epa.gov/compliance.

The majority of the positions will be located in the EPA Ariel Rios Federal Office Building located at 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. in Washington, D.C. This building is easily accessible to the metropolitan Metro subway system, Federal Triangle Station, which included the Orange and Blue line trains. We are located a short distance from the White House, FBI Building and Smithsonian Institution museums. A Metro transit subsidy of up to $110.00 per month is available to all student interns, paid or unpaid, regardless of appointment category.

Throughout the summer, we offer a series of unique, specialized training sessions twice a week on a wide variety of current and emerging issues regarding environmental protection, safety and law enforcement. These seminars are 90 minutes long and offered to all summer clerks and interns on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the lunch hour. Examples of educational programs offered last summer include:

HOW TO APPLY:

1. Accurate, current resumes and a short cover letter highlighting the specific knowledge, skills and interests that you have in environmental law enforcement should be sent directly to Mike Walker at: "walker.mike@epa.gov." Positions are competitive! State your case clearly. Tell us what you have accomplished in college or in law-related or environmental internships. [U.S. mail or courier-delivered resumes may be delayed or damaged due to agency mail room security measures].

2. The deadline for submitting applications for paid positions for Summer 2009 is February 20, 2009. Telephone interviews can be scheduled for out of town candidates on a case by case basis.

3. Because funding decisions for paid positions depends on the finalization of a federal fiscal year budget for EPA, we regret that we are seldom able to offer firm commitment letters for paid positions until February of each calendar year. Notice of paid position availability will be done by e-mail to those seeking paid positions as well as those accepting unpaid positions once a funding commitment has been finalized. Given our workload, our goal is to offer as many paid positions as possible.

4. Questions may be directed to Mike Walker at Or 202-564-2626.

WE GREATLY APPRECIATE YOUR INTEREST IN U.S. EPA &
WELCOME THE OPPORTUNITY TO WORK WITH YOU!

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