Student Opportunities
Experiential Learning Opportunities for Law Students
The 91视频 Energy and Climate Center (PECC) offers dynamic opportunities for students from the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at 91视频 to engage in hands-on legal research and advocacy at the forefront of energy and climate law.
Externship Program
PECC is seeking student externs for the fall semester to assist with the following projects:
- Emerging Energy Economies of Downstate New York (鈥淓EED鈥): EEED is a two-year initiative designed to support communities across New York City, Long Island, and the Lower Hudson Valley in advancing community-scale energy solutions that increase affordability and support local economies. Through EEED, PECC, in collaboration with the Land Use Law Center, aims to: (i) strengthen coordination among organizations actively supporting communities; (ii) identify shared, region-specific implementation barriers and solutions - EEED Barriers & Solutions Memorandum; (iii) Connect energy planning with local economic development, affordability, resilience, and infrastructure needs; (iv) provide technical assistance to help move communities toward feasible project pathways; and (v) translate local needs and implementation experience into policy, programmatic, and resource recommendations. The student extern will primarily assist with preparing the EEED Barriers & Solutions Memorandum.
- Investor-State Dispute Settlement (鈥淚SDS") Working Group: PECC has been asked to join the official ISDS Working Group that emerged from the Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuel Conference organized by the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative. This working group is being led by the Center for Economics and Policy Research in partnership with the Colombian Ministry of the Environment. This multidisciplinary group of policy expert will examine the role that ISDS plays in inhibiting a just transition away from fossil fuels, and will prepare a practical briefing for environmental ministries and other officials who are approaching these issues from a climate perspective, as opposed to an investment law perspective. The students extern will primarily assist with drafting materials for the briefing on the background of ISDS in the international arbitration system, States' climate-related treaty obligations, and how ISDS is used to inhibit implementation of those obligations.
- ISDS Amicus Brief Collaboration with Cornell Law School: PECC has signed an agreement with the Cornell Law School Transactional Disputes Clinic, where we will be preparing an amicus brief in an ICSID arbitration between Woodhouse Investment and West Cumbia Mining and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This arbitration arises from an ISDS where West Cumbria Mining Limited planned to build a coal mine in the UK. The UK initially approved of the environmental impact statement for this project but later revoked that approval pursuant to a judicial order. This builds upon the research that PECC conducted related to the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative.
Interested students should email PECC Executive Director, Michael Hamersky, mhamersky@law.pace.edu their resume and a brief cover email explaining their interest in the particular project they are applying for.
Energy and Climate Law Scholars
PECC offers opportunities for law students to conduct significant research on energy and climate law issues, with an opportunity to be featured in PECC鈥檚 regularly occurring publications, academic journals, and other scholarly sources. Energy and Climate Law Scholars will also play a crucial role in shaping PECC鈥檚 research priorities and digital footprint. There is no minimum time commitment requirement, but Scholars will be expected to contribute to at least one piece of research or scholarship.
PECC is accepting student submissions for its REACT by PECC newsletter. Students should submit an original article between 500-1,000 words and be on a topic related to the energy and climate. Potential topics for consideration can be found on PECC's website, but students can also consider topic areas not discussed on the website. Top submissions will be published in the REACT by PECC newsletter, which will make students eligible to be a 91视频 Energy and Climate Scholar. Submissions should be emailed directly to PECC's Executive Director, Michael Hamersky at mhamersky@law.pace.edu.