We have a unique opportunity for a new externship placement with the leading national predator protection (non-profit) group Project Coyote. The executive director of Project Coyote, and supervisor of the externship, is not a lawyer, but holds a masters in wildlife conservation and is very well versed in animal rights and wildlife management, having been a communicator and an activist with at least three nonprofits over the past two decades. As such, Professor Zellmer would supervise the student's work product closely.
Project Coyote is based in San Francisco, so the work would be done remotely via email, Skype, and tele-conference. The Project engages in legislative proposals, policy initiatives, and a broad range of other initiatives.
This externship would be offered to one student for three credits beginning this spring. This would be a valuable opportunity for students interested in animal rights and wildlife conservation. The externship would meet the following educational goals:
To encourage the further development of the student’s legal research, writing and drafting skills;
To expose the student to lawyering skills through participation in or observations of activities such as interviewing, counseling, oral and written advocacy, factual investigation, public hearings and the development of strategies for case management and the legislative process;
To develop the student’s advocacy skills through participation in or observations of administrative agency proceedings, lobbying activities and legislative hearings and debate;
To give the student practical legal experience and to enhance the student’s understanding of the application of the principles learned in law school to real world legal problems;
To give the student the opportunity to participate in, and reflect upon, the work of nonprofit institutions;
To encourage the student to explore and consider the different roles that lawyers have in the economy and in society, and to expose them to the range of career opportunities available to those individuals who possess a J.D. degree; and
To permit the student to gain practical experience in specialized areas of the law through experiences that will supplement the student’s course work within the law school.
Interested students should contact Professor Zellmer with an expression of interest (email is fine) and a resume.