Stanford's Envtl. Law Clinic seeks co-director

Stanford Law School invites applications for the position on its clinical faculty of Co-Director of the Environmental Law Clinic (ELC). This is an entry-level appointment to the clinical faculty as an Assistant Professor of Law (Teaching). The appointment will begin in the 2025-2026 academic year. Founded in 1997, the ELC is one of ten clinical programs making up the Mills Legal Clinic at Stanford Law School and is one of the nation’s preeminent environmental law clinics. It currently serves a broad range of local, regional, and national non-profit organizations, as well as tribes and indigenous people, in impact litigation, administrative proceedings, and policy advocacy before all levels of government. The subject matter of the ELC’s portfolio is similarly broad and diverse, encompassing public lands and endangered species; freshwater and terrestrial habitat conservation; coastal and marine resource protection; climate and energy policy; sacred site preservation; environmental justice; and water quality and quantity, among other areas. For instance, the ELC’s current active docket includes litigation over new oil and gas infrastructure; plastics pollution; pesticide regulation; logging and wildfires; coastal development; agricultural discharges; and species conservation. The ELC also regularly drafts amicus briefs, as time permits, on climate policy cases under the Clean Air Act, the California Coastal Act, and similar laws. The new Co-Director will collaborate with the existing ELC Director (who also holds an appointment in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability) to operate and build on the work of the existing Clinic. The Co-Director will partner with the existing ELC Director to carry the ELC’s success forward and adapt its pedagogy and practice to the changing needs of the times. The Clinic’s work is also supported by a Clinical Supervising Attorney. All ELC attorneys maintain the Clinic’s ongoing docket of cases over the summer months, when law students are generally absent. The Co-Director will provide detailed supervision to second and third year law students as they work as frontline attorneys on behalf of ELC’s clients. The Co-Director will supervise students in all facets of lawyering practice, including screening new matters and potential clients; investigating factual and legal issues; formulating case strategies with clients; reviewing administrative records, developing expert testimony, and pursuing discovery; drafting comment letters, trial and appellate court briefs, complaints, and petitions; and presenting argument before state and federal courts and administrative agencies. The CoDirector will be responsible for teaching substantive seminars, student workshops, and sessions to develop professional integrity, ethics, and judgment. All of the clinics at Stanford Law School operate on a full-time basis, with the expectation that each clinic is offered full-time in two out of three quarters that make up the academic year. The ELC also provides advanced clinic opportunities in the remaining academic quarter. 2 Duties of the Co-Director include: ? In-person supervising of Stanford law students during all three academic quarters; ? Identifying and developing clients; ? Managing ongoing projects and clients, including over the course of the summer; ? Maintaining and adapting the ELC’s curriculum and pedagogy; ? Supervising a Clinical Supervising Attorney; ? Supervising Clinic support staff; ? Teaching the clinical seminar during the two quarters each academic year that the Clinic is operating in its full-time mode; ? Supervising Advanced Clinic student work on a range of complex matters, including with intense oral argument preparation; ? Collaborating with clinical and other faculty at the Law School; ? Attending conferences and interacting with faculty at other institutions; ? Participating in faculty governance at the Law School; ? Participating with other clinical faculty in the governance of the Mills Legal Clinic; and ? Acting as liaison with the public and the Law School community. We seek candidates with the following qualifications: ? Distinguished practice experience for at least 8-10 years focused on environmental litigation and administrative practice; ? Demonstrated excellence in clinical teaching (or the supervision of law students) or demonstrated potential for such excellence in teaching and supervision; ? Strong commitment to clinical education and a willingness to ensure that students are at the center of the client relationship and case work; ? An academic record that demonstrates intellectual curiosity and the capacity to be an active participant in the Law School’s academic community, as well as the environmental and climate/energy fields more generally; ? Membership in the California State Bar, or a willingness to take the examination necessary for admission as soon as possible (prior to supervision of students); ? Excellent writing and analytic skills; ? A track record of directing complex projects and teams; ? Ability to work in a self-directed and entrepreneurial environment; ? A track record of working well in a collegial environment; ? Sound judgment and exceptional integrity; and ? Strong organizational and management skills. Interested applicants should send a cover letter and resume (with at least three references) to Jayashri Srikantiah, Associate Dean of Clinical Education, Stanford Law School, via the following email address: millsclinic@law.stanford.edu. Applicants who have taught in a law school setting (clinical or non-clinical) should also submit teaching evaluations for the three most recent academic terms. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until the position is filled but applicants are strongly encouraged to submit their materials by April 2, 2025. 3 The expected base pay range for this position is $238,000 - $265,000. Stanford University has provided a pay range representing its good faith estimate of what the university reasonably expects to pay for the position. The pay offered to the selected candidate will be determined based on factors including (but not limited to) the experience and qualifications of the selected candidate including years since terminal degree, training, and field or discipline; departmental budget availability; internal equity; and external market pay for comparable jobs. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.