Description
Why You Should Think Twice Specifically When it Comes to Environmental Law
[00:00:00] I'm at an entry-level and ultimately you want to practice environmental law, but at this point, I just need to get experience. I've applied to both firms and the federal government, and I'm considering state attorneys' offices to begin building experience. Would taking a position unrelated to environmental law hurt my chances of getting an environmental associate position in the long run?
So there are different types of environmental law.
I don't know, why you're interested in environmental law?
When I was in law school, I worked in the justice department doing environmental law. And then when I got out of law school, I worked in a law firm where we defended oil companies. There were environmental related spills and stuff.
In terms of your question, you can do environmental law.
It's toxic toward all sorts of environmental law working in law firms all over the country. In general, doing general commercial litigation. You don't necessarily need to be working in environmental law in a law firm. I guess, to answer your question, but one thing I would tell you.
You don't necessarily need to be doing exclusively environmental law. Environmental law is an interesting practice area. There are a couple of [00:01:00] problems with it. One of the things is, it tends to be driven a lot by the policy. In the 1970s and early eighties and throughout most of the eighties, it was a very active practice area. Then, it slowed down and a lot of environmental attorneys lost their jobs it's been very slow for several years, but there are still pockets of activity around the country where people are doing it. But it's a difficult practice area because the work tends to ebb and flow so many times, your best setting is going to be, if you're interested in defending the environment, then working for any type of government organization is typically a good idea. You have to understand also that even with the government, it's political. It's political in the states and it's political in the federal government.
Republican administrations tend to be less pro-environment than non-government organizations than democratic organizations. And so different organizations are going to be interested in the environment, depending on the type of organization it is.
That's just something to think about.
What are your reasons for wanting to work in environmental law would be the other one? I don't know [00:02:00] necessarily what those reasons are, but you should be thinking about long-term access to work, and whatever you do has to motivate you in the long term.
So that's how I would think about that.
The big thing I would say to everyone on this call is when you're choosing a practice area. You have to be very careful because the practice area you choose is something you'll be doing for many times the rest of your career, and it's going to shape your whole experience practicing law.
If you're interested in environmental law, then you should know why you're doing it. Why you're interested in it. And you should have, a very high opinion of environmental law and whatever it is, compared to other things.
If you're interested in saving the environment, then is that the best way for you to do it?
You just have to think about what's motivating every decision you make, because you may find that you don't like environmental law or you just don't know.
You have to understand why you want to go into a certain practice area. I typically recommend that young attorneys, get exposed to different practice areas that they can before deciding what it is.
