VOLUNTEER LEGAL INTERN POSITION

(January – April 2012)

Full-time or Part-time available

 

 

About Santa Monica Baykeeper

Founded in 1993, the Santa Monica Baykeeper's mission is to protect and restore Santa Monica Bay, San Pedro Bay, and adjacent waters through enforcement, fieldwork, and community action. We work to achieve this goal through litigation and regulatory programs that ensure water quality protections in waterways throughout L.A. County. Baykeeper’s numerous legal victories include:

·      1999 settlement with the US EPA forcing the agency to develop more than 90 TMDLs for impaired Los Angeles area water bodies over a 13-year period;

·      2004 settlement with the City of Los Angeles of Baykeeper’s Clean Water Act citizen suit to eliminate sanitary sewer overflows resulting in several billion dollars worth of sewer system improvements and 80% reduction of sewer overflows;

·      More than a decade-long ongoing systematic litigation campaign to force metal recycling and auto dismantling facilities’ compliance with Clean Water Act stormwater permits and eliminate toxic pollution from entering Los Angeles area rivers and coastal waters;

·      In ongoing citizen suits, established the liability of the City of Malibu and the Los Angeles County and the Los Angeles County Flood Control District for violations of the Los Angeles municipal stormwater permit prohibition on discharge of waste into the Mugu Lagoon to Latigo Point Area of Special Biological Significance.

We consistently advocate for stronger water quality protections in policies, regulations and permits developed and adopted by federal, state and local agencies, including the US EPA, the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB), the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board (LA RWQCB), the California Coastal Commission, LA County Board of Supervisors and city councils.

 

 

Santa Monica Baykeeper’s Legal Intern Program

Santa Monica Baykeeper’s legal interns assist with oversight of past settlement agreements and judgments to ensure full compliance with the law, help with existing and new cases, and advocate in the regulatory and legislative arenas for policies that will enhance protection of our waters.

 

Specifically, interns will have the opportunity to:

·      Research and draft comment letters to federal, state, regional and local agencies and attend public hearings on proposed water quality policies, regulations and permits.

·      Participate in ongoing casework and work on developing new cases. Interns will be responsible for performing issue-specific legal research, drafting pleadings and memoranda, conducting discovery and fact-analysis, and attending court hearings with staff or partnering attorneys.

·      Draft Public Records Act Requests and 60-day Notice of Intent letters to file Clean Water Act citizen enforcement suits.

 

 

TO APPLY: Send resume, cover letter, writing sample, and three references to Tatiana Gaur, Staff Attorney: tgaur@smbaykeeper.org.

 

 

An Equal Opportunity Employer

www.smbaykeeper.org