This past summer I interned with the Air, Water, and Natural Resources Section within the Environmental Division of the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office. Going into the internship, I was interested in environmental law and had previously worked on environmental issues in the nonprofit space.

Spending my summer with the Air, Water, and Natural Resources Section built on my prior experiences, deepened my interest in environmental law and utilized my newly acquired legal skills for a truly impactful internship experience. I worked directly with several attorneys on several projects including drafting briefs, conducting legal research and attending client meetings. My supervisors did an incredible job of assigning different projects to expose me to as many types of work as possible.

Additionally, they openly communicated with the interns to determine what kinds of work we liked, did not like and how that could help them cater future assignments to align with our preferences. No two days were the exact same, and I very quickly realized that the attorneys in the Air, Water, and Natural Resources Section have an impressive breadth of expertise that allows them to provide legal representation for three of North Carolina’s most important environmental regulatory agencies within the Department of Environmental Quality: the Division of Air Quality, the Division of Water Resources, and the Division of Marine Fisheries. The attorneys in this section helped me to refine and develop the skills that have contributed to their success, which made me feel confident and excited going into my second year of law school.

In addition to enjoying the projects I had the privilege of working on, the entire Air, Water, and Natural Resources team was welcoming and encouraged questions to ensure that the interns were as informed as possible. The team took every opportunity to make sure we were included and truly cared about us getting as much as we could out of the experience. Perhaps most meaningfully, the team took the time to get to know the interns more personally and cared about our goals, interests, and passions. I had great conversations with members of the Air, Water, and Natural Resources team about topics ranging from how I decided to go to law school, my personal hobbies and even my predictions for the 2023-24 college basketball season. I could not have asked for a better team to work for this past summer, and I feel fortunate to have worked with such great people.

The Zoning, Planning, and Land Use Scholarship was a large part of why I enjoyed the summer and learned as much as I did. After not receiving grant funding from my law school, I was in a stressful and difficult position where I did not have enough money to cover my living expenses as an unpaid intern. The Zoning, Planning, and Land Use scholarship helped me focus on completing my work assignments and developing my legal skills instead of thinking about how I would be able to afford rent, groceries, and other expenses. I am extremely grateful for the scholarship and the flexibility it allowed me to grow as a law student this past summer.

Next summer, I will be a summer associate for Weil, Gotshal & Manges in their New York office. I am interested in both litigation and corporate work, and I look forward to exploring both practice areas as a summer associate. I am particularly excited about the opportunity to gain exposure to environmental work in the setting of a large law firm. I am certain that my experiences as an intern this past summer will benefit me as a summer associate, and I would like to thank the North Carolina Bar Association for the support this scholarship provided me in getting to this point.

April 23, 2024/by ZPLU