The majority of students who intern at the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment go on to careers in public interest law. Many go into environmental law or environmental justice work. The eight featured here have taken their CRPE experience with them into the field...

Adrienne Bloch, 2000

Adrienne is a staff attorney at Communities for a Better Environment, an environmental justice organization in Oakland, California. Prior to law school, she worked for a wide variety of non-profit organizations.

“My summer at CRPE exposed me to different ways communities can use civil rights statutes, such as Title VI, to advance environmental justice concerns, and the importance of working in coalition on these issues. This helps ground me in the work that I do now where I primarily use environmental statutes to empower communities.”

Joshua Konecky, 1993

After externing for a year with CRPE to help prevent Chemical Waste Management from constructing a hazardous waste incinerator near Kettleman City, Joshua went on to become a civil rights and class action lawyer. He now represents plaintiffs in discrimination, disability rights, and labor rights cases at the public interest law firm of Schneider & Wallace in San Francisco.

“The CRPE externship was a watershed experience for me. It was during this time that I began to really understand how to advocate assertively, creatively and with respect for the clients I am serving.”

Jerilyn Mendoza, 1994

Jerilyn is Policy Director of Environmental Defense’s Environmental Justice Project Office in Los Angeles and Vice President of the Board of Harbor Commissioners, which oversees operations at the Port of Los Angeles, the largest container port in North America.

“By far, the summer I worked at CRPE was the most fascinating and fun summer of my life. Working with Luke (still one of my favorite bosses), researching the applicability of environmental law to Native land, planning the legal intern educational lunches -- the combination of experiences stretched my intellectual muscles and cemented my commitment to this kind of difficult but meaningful work for the long-term. You just can't get this kind of experience in law school, and its essential if you want to have a respectful connection to your clients in community lawyering.”

Jorge Sanchez, 1993

Jorge is a staff attorney in the Chicago office of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, concentrating on employment and immigrants’ rights litigation.

“My semester-long internship with CRPE gave me the opportunity to do real legal work. My research helped our farmworker clients challenge Kern County’s siting procedures for a toxic waste dump.”

Melissa Scanlan, 1996

Melissa founded and directs Midwest Environmental Advocates in Madison, Wisconsin, the state’s only non-profit environmental law center.

“Clerking at CRPE after my first year of law school taught me about community lawyering and still influences my practice today.”

Katie Silberman, 1999

Katie is currently the Administrative Director of the Science and Environmental Health Network , a non-profit organization in Oakland, where she advocates for environmental health and justice through policy work with local governments and collaborations with affected communities and other advocates. She was the first Ralph Santiago Abascal Fellow following her graduation from the University of California-Hastings College of the Law.

“Interning at CRPE was a great boost to me in truly believing that my dream could come true: I could actually make a career in public interest law; I could advocate for environmental health and justice in a really meaningful way; and I could use my law degree in the way that I wanted, not how everyone else was telling me at law school. CRPE was also helpful practically, as I got to learn how small non-profits work, draft my own litigation documents, develop relationships with leading practitioners, and build confidence in my own abilities. Those are the real things that help you start your career after law school, not anything that you learn inside the academy.”

Cristina Viesca-Santos, 1992

Christina Viesca-SantosAfter a stint at El Paso Legal Assistance Society and the Texas Workers Compensation Commission, assisting injured workers present their claims in administrative hearings, Cristina went to work for the El Paso County Attorney’s Office as an Environmental Prosecutor, where she prosecutes environmental crimes.

“CRPE taught me the importance of grass roots education of people affected by environmental racism, to allow people to make an educated choice as to whether to allow an environmental hazard to be placed in their ‘backyard.’ CRPE also showed me how corporations work to target certain areas and/or people, and some of the legal challenges to their permit applications. Luke Cole ‘made me’ give my first presentation on landfills and how they work, in Spanish, to a group of farm workers in Buttonwillow, CA. I’ll never forget that experience, with all of my nerves and satisfaction that I was able to teach something worthwhile.”

Jennifer Yogi, 1999

Jennifer Yogi is a staff attorney at the Northwest Justice Project, which provides civil legal services for low-income residents of Washington State. She is currently working with the Native American Unit, representing parents in tribal court dependencies and advising clients in a variety of legal issues including family law, consumer rights and public benefits.

“My internship at CRPE was the best experience I had during law school. We received excellent mentoring for exciting work challenging laws and practices that disproportionately impact low-income communities and communities of color. The experience was inspirational and instrumental to my current practice.”