Spring 2026 Litigation Intern

NRDC is a non-profit environmental advocacy organization. We use law science and the support of 3.1 million members and online activists to protect the planets wildlife and wild places and to ensure the rights of all people to clean air clean water and healthy communities. NRDC was founded in 1970 and our people helped write some of Americas bedrock environmental laws including the Clean Water Act and many of the implementing regulations. Today our team of more than 700 lawyers scientists economists policy advocates communications experts and others work across the United States and the globe from our offices in Beijing; Chicago; New Delhi; New York; San Francisco; Santa Monica; and Washington D.C.

NRDC is seeking litigation interns to work with the Litigation Team associated with our San Francisco Chicago and Washington D.C. offices.

Position Summary
The Litigation Team is a group of approximately 40 lawyers paralegals and other operations staff who pursue litigation across a broad range of environmental and public health issues in collaboration with and on behalf of communities most impacted by environmental injustices (including Black indigenous and people of color and low-income and rural communities). Over the past five years we have litigated cases against the federal government to prevent climate pollution challenge agency approvals of toxic chemicals and pesticides resist the suspension of clean water safeguards oppose offshore drilling and seismic exploration for oil and gas defend national monuments and protect energy efficiency standards among other matters. We also bring enforcement cases against corporate and governmental entities whose violations harm human health and the environmentincluding to protect the people of Newark New Jersey and Flint Michigan from lead in drinking water; to remediate toxic pollution in the Penobscot River in Maine; to abate mold in New York City public housing for residents with asthma; and to halt air pollution from a coal-fired power plant in Illinois.

Legal interns play an active role on the frontlines to protect our planet and the communities that depend on it. Our interns do concrete work in support of our litigation including substantive writing and research and collaborate with NRDC litigation attorneys.

The internship typically lasts about 10 weeks beginning at the start of the interns spring semester and ending before exams. Start and end dates and other scheduling details are negotiable but we look for a minimum time commitment of two days (14 hours) a week over the course of an academic term. This posting will be open until December 12th 2025.

The most common intern assignments are legal memos sometimes coupled with informal oral presentations to case teams. Interns may also depending on assignment availability and interest contribute to the drafting of other litigation documents such as briefs and complaints. Interns are also invited to participate in litigation planning and strategy meetings.

This internship is designed for current law school students in their second or third year of a J.D. program or in an LLM assessing candidates we look for:

• Commitment to NRDCs mission and values;
• Strong legal writing analytical and oral communication skills;
• Experience effectively working on a team;
• Creativity and resourcefulness;
• Commitment to public service equity and justice;
• Demonstrated ability to work with people across different social identities and backgrounds; and
• Record of academic and/or professional accomplishment.

A successful candidate need not satisfyall ofthese criteria.In particular becausea key purpose of oursemesterlegal intern program is to help our interns learn and develop new legal skills we welcome applicants who have room to grow as legal writers researchers and communicators.NRDC is committed to advancing diversity equity and inclusion both in our work and in our workplace. We believe that celebrating and actively welcoming diverse voices and perspectives is essential to solving the planets most pressing environmental problems and we encourage applications from candidates whose identities have been historically under-represented in the environmental movement.

We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of race color religion gender gender identity or expression marital status sexual orientation national origin citizenship age disability veteran status or any other characteristic protected by federal state or local law. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

This position is: a paid internship with a stipend equivalent to $28.57/hour paid bi-weekly over the course of the assignment.

The incumbent will not qualify as an employee fellow volunteer or independent contractor of NRDC nor will the incumbent be guaranteed employment at the end of the internship term.

NRDC operates under a hybrid work model. Employees are required to come into the office 8 days per month.

As a science-based organization NRDC aims to do our part to help contain the COVID-19 public health crisis. For the sake of health safety and equity we ask that people be vaccinated unless they have an approved medical or religious accommodation or other exemption in accordance with state and local law. We consider a person to be vaccinated two weeks after receiving one full course of a CDC-approved accordance with state or local law new hires will be asked to attest to vaccination. Those wishing to do so may request medical or religious accommodations or other exemptions. NRDC treats all vaccination-related data confidentially in keeping with local state and federal laws.

Applications for2026 Spring Litigation Team Term Internship can be submitted online at will need to electronically submit a cover letter transcript resume contact information for two references and a legal writing your cover letterpleaselet us know how you learned about theposition andindicateallthe NRDC offices to which you are applying as well as any order of preference among the may address your cover letterto Hiring no phone calls emails or in-person résumé drop-offs.

If you experience technical problems while applying or if you are a person with a disability and need assistance applying online please reach out to iCIMS Customer Care at 1-.

For more about NRDC visit .