Trout Unlimited is the nation’s leading 501(c)(3) nonprofit conservation organization working to care for and recover rivers and streams and their trout and salmon populations. The 2027 Summer Legal Internship Program provides law students with supervised experience conducting legal research and writing related to water and fisheries governance, advocacy, permitting transactions, legislation, and litigation.

If you are a law student who shares our dedication to water conservation and fisheries protection and want to deepen your understanding of water, fisheries, and environmental legal issues in California, we encourage you to apply for a summer internship.

Unpaid. Must have access to summer fellowship funding from your law school.

About Trout Unlimited

Trout Unlimited is the nation’s leading 501(c)(3) nonprofit conservation organization working to care for and recover rivers and streams and their trout and salmon populations. Our ~370 employees and hundreds of local grassroots chapters bring people together across the United States to be champions for their rivers and help make our water cleaner and our communities healthier. 

Our conservation efforts are driven by science and focused on protecting, reconnecting, and restoring more than 200 priority waters across the country. In California, we have about 30 full-time staff, including a small but engaged law and policy team. Our law and policy team is on the forefront of conservation and water law, and works with partners on transactions to improve instream flows, advocate for better conditions for fish, draft amicus briefs in cases that would impact our mission, partner with strategic organizations and unlikely allies to pursue win-win projects and policies, and a variety of other activities responsive to current water and conservation issues.

Summer Intern Role & Responsibilities

Summer legal interns will have the opportunity to hone their legal research and writing skills, learn about Trout Unlimited’s conservation and policy efforts in California, and build professional connections and networks with our staff and partners. Our legal interns will work with California's Law and Policy Director to develop legal research and writing projects relevant to the students’ academic and career goals that intersect with Trout Unlimited’s work. Trout Unlimited will tailor students’ participation to their internship, academic, and career goals.

Trout Unlimited plans to hire one to two legal interns, depending on our anticipated capacity to supervise legal interns. Depending on the interns’ interests, possible projects may include: 

• Legal research and writing in support of Trout Unlimited’s California law and policy team projects and strategic planning; 
• Researching current litigation and agency actions in conservation and/or water law; 
• Evaluating potential legal solutions to environmental problems; 
• Tracking and understanding active bills in the California legislature; 
• Researching potential impacts of bills and proposed amendments; 
• Briefing our law and policy team and/or partners on current legal and legislative developments;
• …and other projects relevant to the summer interns’ interests and academic and career goals.

Application and Program Logistics

The Summer Legal Internship Program is open to law students enrolled in a law school located in California or who intend to practice in California. While the internship program is best suited for students between their 2L and 3L years, Trout Unlimited will also consider law students who will be between their 1L and 2L years during the summer internships. 

Summer interns generally participate for 40 hours per week for 10 weeks. Start and end dates are flexible and are determined in coordination with each intern based on their law school schedule and availability. 

Trout Unlimited’s summer internship program is unpaid. Students are expected to work with their law school to secure stipends through applicable summer public interest fellowships or other programs. 

Summer internships are remote. 

How to Apply

Submit a resume and cover letter to Trout Unlimited’s online portal.

Applicants must be:

• A law student at a California law school or who intends to practice in California.
• Interested in California water, conservation, natural resources, and/or environmental law.
• Capable writers, adept at legal research, excellent communicators, and able to work collaboratively.
• Able to secure funding from their law school or another funding source for summer public interest work.
• Able to work remotely and use their own computer during the internship.