Hello 1Ls,
Welcome to law school!
The UBC Environmental Law Group (ELG) seeks to connect students with environmental law and environmental justice issues. Our events provide opportunities for learning, activism, and fun.
Our main event annually is the Environmental Law Negotiation Competition in November – despite the name, there is no need to know anything about environmental law! Most of the participants are 1Ls, and it is a fun way to try out some advocacy skills early on and practice speaking well before your 1L moot. The event includes lots of food (of course) and a mixer with local environmental lawyers.
We also hold several smaller events throughout the year. Last term we held a clothing swap fundraiser in support of Pull Together. The $1,100 we raised will contribute to covering the legal fees of Tsleil-Waututh, Coldwater, and Squamish First Nations as they challenge the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion. Also, people got some great clothes out of this!
We also hosted an Environmental Law Career Panel with lawyers from government, a large firm, and Ecojustice, as well a video-conference discussion about the relationship between civil disobedience and environmental law with the founder of the Climate Defense Project. In the same term, some of us also travelled to Eugene, Oregon for a fun weekend of learning at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference.
Allard has several great environmental and natural resource law courses as well, which our members will be happy to talk about, but until then, come out to some events and meetings and stay ‘rooted’ through your first year. You can also follow us on Facebook (UBC Environmental Law Group) and Twitter (@EnvLawUBC) to keep up with environmental law news.
We’re looking forward to meeting you soon!
Your 2017 organizing team,
Lee, Kate G, Alisa, Hernando, Grace, Whitney, Annie, & Kate E.