Summer Interns at Earthrise

Earthrise has had a great and productive summer with the help of three rising 3L clerks. Without full-time summer clerks, Earthrise would not be able to offer the excellent year-round legal representation our clients expect. The environmental community also benefits from increasing the pool of law school graduates with substantial real-world experience and training. Earthrise students are tomorrow’s advocates for our natural heritage.

Cooper Rodgers is a familiar face to us as he was part of the Earthrise clinic last year and had already worked on several of our cases by the time he started this summer. He comes to us by way of Northern California and chose Lewis & Clark specifically for the Earthrise clinic. He had this to say about his time working at Earthrise.

“Working at Earthrise has been a tremendous opportunity to gain real world litigation experience. I have had the opportunity to work on a diverse array of projects, such as closing Los Padres National Forest to dispersed target shooting, writing Freedom of Information Act requests, and making field visits to proposed mining sites in the shadow of Mount Saint Helens.”

Zeslie Zablan is a native Hawaiian who is interested in returning to her home state to focus on environmental and indigenous law issues. After working as a judicial extern and legislative aide in the past, Zeslie turned to Earthrise in order to get public interest environmental law experience.

“Working at Earthrise this summer has given me invaluable insight into the environmental litigation process. As a summer law clerk, I have conducted extensive legal research on various issues under environmental statutes, drafted pleadings, drafted motions, and assisted on a number of other projects for multiple cases. I am proud to contribute to the team, knowing that my efforts can help protect endangered species and natural resources.”

Ross Stansberry is the Editor-in-Chief of the Environmental Law Review and previous project volunteer at Northwest Environmental Defense Center. He moved to Portland from Knoxville, Tennessee to study environmental law at Lewis & Clark. After graduation he will be clerking for the Honorable Robyn Ridler Aoyagi at the Oregon Court of Appeals.

“Working with Earthrise has been a true highlight of my law school experience. Starting on day one, I was put to work drafting research memos on complex procedural questions in state and federal court. Later, I did the bulk of the drafting for a motion that was subsequently granted by the Ninth Circuit, as well as drafting portions of a summary judgment motion in district court. The feedback and instruction I received from the expert environmental litigators at Earthrise will be invaluable in pursuing my legal career after law school.”