BEAGLE/HLS FELLOWSHIP AT NRDC
History and Purposes
The Beagle/HLS Fellowship at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) provides graduating HLS students and recent alumni with a two-year funded litigation position at NRDC. The Fellowship has been established by a generous gift to Harvard Law School by the Beagle Foundation that was created by Joy Covey ’89. The purposes of the Fellowship are to create a two-year job at NRDC for a recent HLS graduate (the “Fellow”); to provide training and supervision for the Fellow; to enhance the Fellow’s lawyering/litigation skills; and to promote the Fellow’s interest in pursuing a career in nonprofit litigation and environmental law.
Beagle/HLS Fellowship at NRDC Guidelines
Eligibility
The Beagle/HLS Fellowship will be awarded to a graduating Harvard Law School student, judicial clerk or recent alumnus/alumna (up to three years out of law school). Preference will be given to law clerks and third-year students. Applicants must be available to start work the fall following their application.
Selection Criteria
Fellows are selected by NRDC and a HLS Committee appointed by Dean Minow. NRDC and the Committee seek Fellows who have demonstrated an interest in, and commitment to, nonprofit law, especially environmental law, and who demonstrate promise for an outstanding career in nonprofit environmental law. This interest and commitment may be demonstrated through prior public service experience, personal essays, recommendations, extracurricular activities, law school course work, academic achievements, and current work plans.
Placement
The Beagle Fellow for 2015-2017 will be placed in the Washington, DC or the New York offices of NRDC. NRDC will try to honor the Fellow’s preferences as to which of the two offices s/he is placed in.
Fellowship Awards
The Fellowship award will be the starting salary for a new attorney or fellow at NRDC, according to the NRDC scale. For the year, 2013-2014, the salary was approximately $60K. NRDC will provide medical benefits for each Fellow equivalent to those provided to other NRDC employees, and will cover overhead expenses.
Application Materials and Procedures:
All applications must include:
• A cover letter, which should include a statement about which NRDC office the applicant would prefer to work in and which office(s) the applicant would consider working in.
• Resume
• Law school transcript
• Writing sample
• Two letters of recommendation, preferably including one from an HLS faculty member, and the name of a third reference
• A personal essay
Applications should be received by the Environmental Law Program, addressed to Kathy Curley, no later than September 26, 2014.
Selected applicants will be invited to interview with NRDC and must participate in the interview to be further considered for the Fellowship.
Questions may be directed to Kathy Curley, Environmental Law Program, Hauser 406, at (617) 495-3097 or curley@law.harvard.edu. Applications and correspondence should be sent to:
Beagle/HLS Fellowship at NRDC
Environmental Law Program
Harvard Law School
1575 Massachusetts Avenue
Hauser 406
Cambridge, MA 02138
Award Decisions
Applicants will be notified about the outcome of the selection process by early November 2014.
Each Fellow’s salary will be treated as eligible for the Low Income Protection Program (HLS’s loan repayment program). Each Fellow will be eligible, through HLS, for consideration for Kaufman and Skirnick supplemental funding.
