Conservation Warrior for the West

The Gig

We're looking for an aggressive lawyer built like a wolverine —scrappy, and utterly fearless in a fight with something ten times its size. Wolverines don't ask permission to take on grizzly bears over a carcass. They just do it, and they usually win. That's the energy we need.

Our organization fights to protect wild places, wildlife, and ecological integrity across the public lands of the American West, with a special obsession with the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem — the wolves, the grizzlies, the migration corridors, the last best places. We're small. We're underfunded compared to who we're up against. And we win anyway, because we're science-based, law-based and relentless.

We have nearly a century of combined expertise in ecology, science, law, regulation and policy and how to pull all that together for kick-ass advocacy on behalf of our public lands and the critters who depend on them.

We need an attorney who matches that aggressive, fighting spirit.

Who You Are

You're a recent law school grad (or close to it) who didn't go to law school to shuffle paper for a firm that bills by the tenth of an hour. You went to law school because you care and want to fight — fight against what's happening to our public lands, fight against agencies that rubber-stamp bad decisions, fight against industries that treat wild ecosystems like line items. You want to use your law degree as a tool for something that matters.

You are:

• Bold and aggressive in your briefs, in the courtroom and in negotiation. You don't flinch when opposing counsel has every advantage and twenty times the headcount. You out-prepare them, out-think them, and out-work them.
• A relentless researcher, reader and writer. FLPMA, NFMA, NEPA, ESA, Clean Water Act, administrative procedure — you either already know this terrain or you're hungry to master it fast.
• A genuinely excellent listener. This is non-negotiable. Being a wolverine in the courtroom means nothing if you can't listen to expert staff and actually hear what they know based on their decades of litigation, science and advocacy work. Our best cases are built on this deep and broad expertise— yours is to translate it into something a judge has to reckon with.
• Comfortable with a small-org grind. No armies of paralegals. No fancy office. Just you, sharp colleagues, and a mission worth losing sleep over.
• Willing to travel and get dirt on your boots across the western U.S., with regular time in and around the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem — because you can't fight for a place you don't know. Ecology knowledge is a major plus.

What You'll Do

• Work closely with our experts to develop cases, litigate and negotiate on behalf of wildlife, habitat, and public lands across the West
• Draft appeals and litigation on federal land management, wildlife, and environmental review decisions
• Represent the organization in administrative proceedings and in federal court

What You Bring

• J.D. from an accredited law school (bar admission or pending admission required — tell us your plan if you're not yet admitted)
• A demonstrated passion for environmental, natural resources, administrative, or public lands law (clinics, internships, journal work, or plain old obsession for the land all count)
• Strong logic, legal writing and research skills
• Willingness to hone these by working closely with our experts
• The willingness to go toe-to-toe with well-funded and powerful opposition and not back down
• Genuine humility to match the fight — you know the law, but you're not the expert on wolves, sage grouse, trout, water, or soil or agency rules, regulations and policy. You know who is, and you listen to them

What We Offer

• A mission you'll actually believe in
• Real litigation and negotiation experience, fast — small orgs mean big responsibility early
• A close-knit team that will have your back
• Salary commensurate with experience and nonprofit budget realities (details provided upon inquiry)
• The chance to say your work helped keep wolves howling and grizzlies roaming in one of the last wild places left in the Lower 48

Wimps need not apply.

If you want a cushy firm job, this isn't it. If you want to gain the expertise needed to spend your career fighting for wild places — and you're ready to bring both teeth/claws and ears to the job — we want to hear from you.