In This Issue:

October 1999 -- Vol. 28, No. 2

liaison notes

Last October, while attending the fall meeting of the ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources in Hilton Head, S.C., I was introduced to a lawyer from the Environmental Protection Agency’s New York office. That wouldn’t be so strange, except that I work in the same office, and I had never met her. In fact, I was at a table with about a dozen leading lawyers from all areas and sides in the rapidly growing field of environmental law. As the Law Student Division’s liaison to the section, I was the only law student in the crowd, which made me a bit of a novelty.

My position as a student liaison last year gave me a great opportunity to work with one of the ABA’s “primo” sections. The section financed my attendance at many of its meetings and incorporated me and my work into a number of its programs and initiatives. As you could imagine, it’s rare for a law student to be given exposure to such a well-seated and knowledgeable group of lawyers. I received just that opportunity, however, simply because I chose to fill out the application to be an LSD liaison to one of the many ABA sections. In my view, every law student in the ABA should try to pursue this opportunity with a section that interests him or her.

Shortly after the Hilton Head meeting, I received a phone call from a lawyer asking me to participate in the section’s annual book, Year In Review. It’s a widely used year-end summary of environment, energy, and resource statutes, issues, and rulings, and he wanted me to help research and produce a portion of the book. I jumped at the opportunity, not because my name would appear in a footnote giving me credit for helping compile a chapter, but because I could learn a lot about what questions to ask and how to do certain types of research previously unknown to me. All the while, I was offered help from four prominent lawyers in the field willing to show me the ropes.

I also worked on programming and recruitment efforts last year while sitting on the section’s membership committee. This position kept me busier than any of my other activities. I made contacts with environmental law program administrators and journal staffs around the country, participated in workshops, and worked with section leaders as they planned strategies for promoting environment, energy, and resource legal fields to law students and lawyers.

You don’t have to be an LSD liaison to reap the benefits of a section. In fact, I could have done all this, met all of these interesting people, and gotten this involved just by showing up and asking to participate. Now that I have moved over to the LSD’s Board of Governors and a new liaison is taking my place, I will still be involved in the activities of the Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources as a member—a membership that costs just $5 for ABA law student members.

You may not know what area of law you want to pursue right now while you’re just trying to find time to study. Believe it or not, despite working at EPA and being the liaison to the Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, I’m still not certain environmental law is the field I’ll end up in. My ultimate decision, however, will be more informed now. I could never have gotten answers to my career interest questions unless I joined this section, read its magazines and publications, and actively participated in activities and dialogue.

To learn more about joining the Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, check out its web site at www.abanet.org/sonreel/ home.html—and remember, section liaison positions are available to every law student. All you have to do is ask. •

Tom Prol, a third-year student at New York Law School, is the Law Student Division’s 2nd Circuit governor. This article does not reflect the opinions or endorsement of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.