In January 2014, 2L and 3L students at the University of British Columbia will have the opportunity to take part in a new externship program that combines two weeks of classroom activities with nine weeks of work experience in environmental and natural resources law.
This program will fulfil a long-standing need at UBC Faculty of Law to offer students a clinical and intensive program in environmental law.
The three-month Global Environmental & Resources Law Externship program will be taught by professor Benjamin Richardson, director of UBC’s Centre for Law and the Environment, who also holds the Canada Research Chair in Environmental Law and Sustainability. Prior to joining UBC, Richardson was the co-director of the award-winning Intensive Program in Aboriginal Lands, Resources & Governments at Osgoode Hall Law School, a program that helped inspire the design of GERLEP.
“Our approach is to provide students with an opportunity to gain the practical skills needed to pursue a career in the area of environmental and natural resource law,” says Richardson. “The program also allows our students to make a valuable contribution to the work being done by external organizations in this area of law.”
GERLEP not only caters to students seeking experience in the traditional environmental or resources law opportunities, such as an environmental NGO or government agency, but also appeals to students interested in corporate social responsibility, aboriginal legal issues, and other areas that touch on the environment and resources development.
