A Visionary Legal Fellowship for Retired, Semi-Retired, or Late-Career Legal Professionals
May 11-18, 2025 (1 week) in Durango, Colorado (USA)
Are you a seasoned legal professional who is retired, semi-retired, or late-career and eager to make a lasting impact on our planet’s future? Come join us at Earth Law Center!
Through ELC’s innovative Earth Lawyers Fellowship Program, you can contribute to the field of Earth law, a global movement to align human laws with the laws of Nature. You will work on real-world projects in a clinical setting, using legal tools such as the Rights of Nature, legal guardianship of Nature, bioregional governance, and other innovative approaches.
In addition to lawyers, others with deep involvement in the legal field such as politicians, paralegals, judges, and lobbyists are welcome to apply. This is our second year running the program, and we are thrilled to see the fellowship gaining new momentum.
What is Earth Law? Earth law is the idea that ecosystems have the right to exist, thrive, and evolve—and that Nature should be able to defend its rights, just like people can. Earth Law Center, founded in 2008, is at the forefront of a movement to advance Earth law via legal models, legislation, advocacy, and education. We work in countries around the world and through a wide range of programs and initiatives including drafting new laws, contributing to legal cases from a Rights of Nature perspective, forming grassroots partnerships, offering Earth law education, and much more.
What Will You Do? Participants will work closely with our expert team, engaging in legal and educational initiatives advancing Earth law across the world. Examples of projects from the first cohort include analyzing dam removal from a Rights of Nature perspective, developing ecocentric zoning rules, creating a legacy giving program for ELC, writing a legal memo on giving Nature its own board seat at the United Nations, and supporting legal guardianship of Nature in local communities.
Who should apply? Any retired, semi-retired, or late-career legal professional with a passion for environmentalism and the ability to meet the fellowship’s time and travel requirements.
Fellowship Details
Location: Durango, Colorado.
Dates: Monday, May 12, 2024 to Friday, May 17, 2025, with option for longer stays. (Participants are encouraged to arrive Saturday or Sunday and depart the following Saturday or later.)
Housing: You’re welcome to find your own housing in or around Durango, or we can assist in finding you lodging with a local supporter.
About Durango: Enjoy a week, or longer, working at ELC’s headquarters office in beautiful Durango, Colorado. Durango is one of the premier locations in Colorado for mountain biking and river sports, and it offers close proximity to numerous national forests and wildlife areas as well as Mesa Verde, Silverton, Telluride, and more.
Additional details:
Receive an in-depth, expert orientation to the Rights of Nature movement and other ecocentric legal models and movements.
Build relationships with other fellows in your cohort as well as ELC’s passionate team of young lawyers, law student fellows, and interns.
Contribute from your existing areas of expertise, whether your prior work was in environmental law or in a different area altogether.
This is an unpaid fellowship.
Join us in shaping a world where the law protects, respects, and champions Nature.
***
APPLY BELOW
