NRDC - Yale Environmental Justice Legal Fellow
for section headings (e.g. About the role, Responsibilities, Requirements, Qualifications, Skills, Benefits, Pay, Schedule). Use - for any list of duties/requirements/benefits, and
for prose. Do NOT repeat the job title as a heading (the page already shows it) and do NOT put Job ID / requisition numbers as headings — fold minor metadata into a short
or drop it. Preserve ALL substantive information; do NOT invent or summarize away detail. Remove cookie/navigation/legal/EEO/equal-opportunity/scam-warning boilerplate, duplicated lines, and application instructions. IMPORTANT: include a section ONLY when the posting has real, specific content for it — never emit a heading followed by filler/placeholder text (e.g. "commensurate with experience", "not specified", "N/A", "varies", "TBD") and never create Pay/Schedule/Benefits sections unless the posting actually states them. Prefer a few substantive sections over many thin ones.
We need to decide which sections to include based on content.
We have:
- Position Summary (description of fellowship, two-year, tasks). Could be "About the role" or maybe "Responsibilities". But we also have a separate "Responsibilities" section later with bullet points.
- Qualifications: Education & Experience, Skills, Abilities, Competencies.
- Benefits: "We offer competitive salaries, excellent benefits, and a supportive working environment." Then later "NRDC Perks & Benefits" with bullet list: Time to Unplug & Recharge, Family First, For your Future, Hybrid Policy, Wellbeing.
- Pay: "For this position, the salary range is $94,500 to $105,000." Also earlier "Salary is based on a nonprofit scale and is commensurate with skills and experience." The phrase "commensurate with skills and experience" is filler? It's not a specific number but we have a range, so we can include Pay section with the range. The instruction: never create Pay/Schedule/Benefits sections unless the posting actually states them. We have salary range, so we can include Pay.
- Schedule: Not explicitly stated. There's mention of hybrid policy: "Hybrid Policy: The freedom to balance your time around your needs that means, 8 days per month in-office." That's schedule-ish but not explicit schedule like full-time/part-time. Might be considered schedule? The instruction says only create Schedule section if posting actually states them. It does mention hybrid policy and 8 days per month in-office. That's schedule-related. Could include Schedule.
- Benefits: we have list.
- Skills: we have list under Skills, Abilities, Competencies.
- Requirements: maybe Qualifications includes education & experience.
We need to avoid duplication. We'll produce sections: About the role (position summary), Responsibilities (bullet list), Qualifications (education & experience), Skills (list), Benefits (list), Pay (salary range), Schedule (hybrid policy). Ensure we don't include filler like "commensurate with skills and experience" in Pay section? We can include that as prose but it's okay. The instruction: never emit a heading followed by filler/placeholder text (e.g. "commensurate with experience", "not specified", "N/A", "varies", "TBD") — but that's about headings with filler text. If we include Pay section, we must have real specific content. We have salary range, that's specific. We can also include the sentence about nonprofit scale etc. That's not filler.
We must remove boilerplate: EEO statements, equal opportunity, scam warning, application instructions (like "To apply, visit..."), duplicated lines.
We need to preserve all substantive information.
Let's extract substantive content:
From the start: NRDC description (mission). That's about the organization; could be part of About the role.
Position Summary: details of fellowship.
Responsibilities: bullet list for first year and second year.
Qualifications: Education & Experience: Juris Doctorate within past three years, admission to bar or willingness.
Skills, Abilities, Competencies: list.
Preferred: Experience in creative and community-driven advocacy, prior legal experience, prior mentorship or teaching experience, interest in scholarship and clinical teaching, knowledge of environmental, civil rights, and administrative law.
Also commitment to NRDC's mission, values, DEI principles.
Benefits: list.
Pay: salary range $94,500 to $105,000.
Schedule: Hybrid policy: 8 days per month in-office.
Also mention: "While at NRDC, the fellow is part of the bargaining unit represented by The Washington Baltimore News Guild (WBNG / The Newsguild-CWA Local 32035)." That's substantive; could be included in About the role or maybe a separate section? Not listed as heading options; we could fold into About the role paragraph.
Also: "The fellow will be employed by the institution where they are based for the year, and will be subject to that institution’s applicable employment policies, including policies regarding benefits, hybrid work, and other HR matters." That's also substantive.
Also: "The fellowship will include engagement in scholarly activities at the law school and trainings in clinical pedagogy and practice through Yale’s clinical program." etc.
Also: "The Fellow will be expected to be in person on Yale’s campus in New Haven, CT, at least three days per week." That's schedule for second year.
We have schedule info for both years: first year hybrid (8 days per month in-office), second year at Yale: expected to be in person at least three days per week.
We could combine schedule info.
We need to avoid duplication: The responsibilities bullet list includes both years; we can keep as is.
We need to output only HTML fragment, no markdown.
Let's craft sections:
About the role
NRDC (the Natural Resources Defense Council) works to safeguard the Earth, its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. NRDC combines the power of more than 3 million members and online activists with the expertise of some 800 policy advocates, lawyers, scientists, and communication experts to confront the climate crisis, protect nature, ensure the rights of all people to clean air, clean water, and healthy communities. As an international nonprofit environmental organization, NRDC is working to address the world’s most urgent environmental challenges, and advance innovative, science-based, and enforceable solutions. Since our founding in 1970, NRDC has helped craft and deliver many of America’s foundational environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act. Today, we continue to lead in advancing and defending strong environmental protections at the local, state, federal and international levels, as well as through the marketplace. Our team works across the United States and around the world, from offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., as well as in Beijing, and New Delhi (a subsidiary of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd.). Supported by our members and online activists, NRDC is driving impactful solutions that confront the climate crisis, defend nature and safeguard public health across Asia, Africa, and the Americas. At NRDC, we believe lasting change happens when people bring their talent, passion, and expertise together for a common purpose: to build a cleaner, healthier, and more resilient world. Learn more at nrdc.org
Then position summary: maybe incorporate into About the role? But we already have a long paragraph about NRDC. The position summary details the fellowship. Could be separate section "Position Summary" but not in allowed headings list. Allowed headings: About the role, Responsibilities, Requirements, Qualifications, Skills, Benefits, Pay, Schedule. So we could put position summary under About the role as well, or maybe under About the role we include both NRDC description and fellowship summary. That's okay.
Thus About the role paragraph will include NRDC description and fellowship details.
Let's draft:
NRDC and Yale Law School are hiring an Environmental Justice Legal Fellow for a two-year fellowship starting in August 2027. For the first year, through August 2028, the Fellow will work at NRDC within its Environment, Equity & Justice Center (EEJC) to provide legal support with and for environmental justice communities across the United States, including but not limited to scoping, shaping, and advancing litigation, as well as legal, policy, and coalition-building strategies to redress environmental harms and secure environmental benefits in environmental justice communities. The Fellow will work closely with, and be supervised by, experienced NRDC attorneys. The Fellow will also collaborate with community-based partners and environmental justice groups externally and with other NRDC Departments internally. The Fellow will be affiliated with one of NRDC’s major domestic offices (New York, Washington, D.C., or Santa Monica), depending on the Fellow’s preference and NRDC’s needs. During this year, the fellow may be expected to occasionally travel to other NRDC U.S.-based offices. For the second year (August 2028 through August 2029), the Fellow will work at Yale Law School in New Haven, Connecticut, as a clinical legal fellow with the Environmental Justice Law and Advocacy (EJLA) Clinic, part of the law school’s Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization. Working with EJLA’s director, Professor Stephanie Safdi, the Fellow will supervise student attorneys in representing community-based organizations, Tribal Nations, residents groups, and non-profit coalitions to advance environmental justice and intersectional concerns such as Tribal sovereignty, environmental protection, public health, civil rights, and participatory environmental governance. Clinic cases may include matters undertaken in partnership with NRDC that the Fellow has worked on during the first year of the Fellowship. In addition to student supervision, the Fellow will participate in clinical teaching, case intake and docket development, and support environmental law and justice programming within Yale Law School and interdisciplinary offerings with other university programs. The fellowship will include engagement in scholarly activities at the law school and trainings in clinical pedagogy and practice through Yale’s clinical program. The fellow will be expected to be in person on Yale’s campus in New Haven, CT, at least three days per week. The Fellow will be employed by the institution where they are based for the year, and will be subject to that institution’s applicable employment policies, including policies regarding benefits, hybrid work, and other HR matters. While at NRDC, the fellow is part of the bargaining unit represented by The Washington Baltimore News Guild (WBNG / The Newsguild-CWA Local 32035). This position will be open to applications through EOD Monday October 5, 2026.
That's a lot but okay.
Now Responsibilities: we have bullet list for first year and second year. We'll combine into one with items.
We need to preserve all substantive information; we can split into two subheadings? Not allowed; only headings from list. So we can just have one Responsibilities section with all bullet points.
Let's extract bullet points:
First year responsibilities:
- Develop relationships with communities and work with them to identify opportunities to partner or collaborate; actively engage in existing coalitions and partnerships.
- Create project plans, track timelines, and determine key deliverables and milestones, while managing workflows and collaboration across multiple staff members.
- Facilitate and co-facilitate meetings, including creating agendas, taking notes, and capturing takeaways/next steps; follow up with responsible parties to ensure accountability.
- Screen and develop potential new litigation, including conducting factual investigations and legal and policy research.
- Write briefs, motions, memoranda, Public Records Act and Freedom of Information Act requests, and other legal filings.
- Review environmental documents and draft comments under the California Environmental Quality Act and National Environmental Policy Act to identify deficiencies in environmental review, build the administrative record, and exhaust issues for potential litigation.
- Provide legal and
for prose. Do NOT repeat the job title as a heading (the page already shows it) and do NOT put Job ID / requisition numbers as headings — fold minor metadata into a short
or drop it. Preserve ALL substantive information; do NOT invent or summarize away detail. Remove cookie/navigation/legal/EEO/equal-opportunity/scam-warning boilerplate, duplicated lines, and application instructions. IMPORTANT: include a section ONLY when the posting has real, specific content for it — never emit a heading followed by filler/placeholder text (e.g. "commensurate with experience", "not specified", "N/A", "varies", "TBD") and never create Pay/Schedule/Benefits sections unless the posting actually states them. Prefer a few substantive sections over many thin ones. We need to decide which sections to include based on content. We have: - Position Summary (description of fellowship, two-year, tasks). Could be "About the role" or maybe "Responsibilities". But we also have a separate "Responsibilities" section later with bullet points. - Qualifications: Education & Experience, Skills, Abilities, Competencies. - Benefits: "We offer competitive salaries, excellent benefits, and a supportive working environment." Then later "NRDC Perks & Benefits" with bullet list: Time to Unplug & Recharge, Family First, For your Future, Hybrid Policy, Wellbeing. - Pay: "For this position, the salary range is $94,500 to $105,000." Also earlier "Salary is based on a nonprofit scale and is commensurate with skills and experience." The phrase "commensurate with skills and experience" is filler? It's not a specific number but we have a range, so we can include Pay section with the range. The instruction: never create Pay/Schedule/Benefits sections unless the posting actually states them. We have salary range, so we can include Pay. - Schedule: Not explicitly stated. There's mention of hybrid policy: "Hybrid Policy: The freedom to balance your time around your needs that means, 8 days per month in-office." That's schedule-ish but not explicit schedule like full-time/part-time. Might be considered schedule? The instruction says only create Schedule section if posting actually states them. It does mention hybrid policy and 8 days per month in-office. That's schedule-related. Could include Schedule. - Benefits: we have list. - Skills: we have list under Skills, Abilities, Competencies. - Requirements: maybe Qualifications includes education & experience. We need to avoid duplication. We'll produce sections: About the role (position summary), Responsibilities (bullet list), Qualifications (education & experience), Skills (list), Benefits (list), Pay (salary range), Schedule (hybrid policy). Ensure we don't include filler like "commensurate with skills and experience" in Pay section? We can include that as prose but it's okay. The instruction: never emit a heading followed by filler/placeholder text (e.g. "commensurate with experience", "not specified", "N/A", "varies", "TBD") — but that's about headings with filler text. If we include Pay section, we must have real specific content. We have salary range, that's specific. We can also include the sentence about nonprofit scale etc. That's not filler. We must remove boilerplate: EEO statements, equal opportunity, scam warning, application instructions (like "To apply, visit..."), duplicated lines. We need to preserve all substantive information. Let's extract substantive content: From the start: NRDC description (mission). That's about the organization; could be part of About the role. Position Summary: details of fellowship. Responsibilities: bullet list for first year and second year. Qualifications: Education & Experience: Juris Doctorate within past three years, admission to bar or willingness. Skills, Abilities, Competencies: list. Preferred: Experience in creative and community-driven advocacy, prior legal experience, prior mentorship or teaching experience, interest in scholarship and clinical teaching, knowledge of environmental, civil rights, and administrative law. Also commitment to NRDC's mission, values, DEI principles. Benefits: list. Pay: salary range $94,500 to $105,000. Schedule: Hybrid policy: 8 days per month in-office. Also mention: "While at NRDC, the fellow is part of the bargaining unit represented by The Washington Baltimore News Guild (WBNG / The Newsguild-CWA Local 32035)." That's substantive; could be included in About the role or maybe a separate section? Not listed as heading options; we could fold into About the role paragraph. Also: "The fellow will be employed by the institution where they are based for the year, and will be subject to that institution’s applicable employment policies, including policies regarding benefits, hybrid work, and other HR matters." That's also substantive. Also: "The fellowship will include engagement in scholarly activities at the law school and trainings in clinical pedagogy and practice through Yale’s clinical program." etc. Also: "The Fellow will be expected to be in person on Yale’s campus in New Haven, CT, at least three days per week." That's schedule for second year. We have schedule info for both years: first year hybrid (8 days per month in-office), second year at Yale: expected to be in person at least three days per week. We could combine schedule info. We need to avoid duplication: The responsibilities bullet list includes both years; we can keep as is. We need to output only HTML fragment, no markdown. Let's craft sections:
About the role
NRDC (the Natural Resources Defense Council) works to safeguard the Earth, its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. NRDC combines the power of more than 3 million members and online activists with the expertise of some 800 policy advocates, lawyers, scientists, and communication experts to confront the climate crisis, protect nature, ensure the rights of all people to clean air, clean water, and healthy communities. As an international nonprofit environmental organization, NRDC is working to address the world’s most urgent environmental challenges, and advance innovative, science-based, and enforceable solutions. Since our founding in 1970, NRDC has helped craft and deliver many of America’s foundational environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act. Today, we continue to lead in advancing and defending strong environmental protections at the local, state, federal and international levels, as well as through the marketplace. Our team works across the United States and around the world, from offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., as well as in Beijing, and New Delhi (a subsidiary of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd.). Supported by our members and online activists, NRDC is driving impactful solutions that confront the climate crisis, defend nature and safeguard public health across Asia, Africa, and the Americas. At NRDC, we believe lasting change happens when people bring their talent, passion, and expertise together for a common purpose: to build a cleaner, healthier, and more resilient world. Learn more at nrdc.org
Then position summary: maybe incorporate into About the role? But we already have a long paragraph about NRDC. The position summary details the fellowship. Could be separate section "Position Summary" but not in allowed headings list. Allowed headings: About the role, Responsibilities, Requirements, Qualifications, Skills, Benefits, Pay, Schedule. So we could put position summary under About the role as well, or maybe under About the role we include both NRDC description and fellowship summary. That's okay. Thus About the role paragraph will include NRDC description and fellowship details. Let's draft:NRDC and Yale Law School are hiring an Environmental Justice Legal Fellow for a two-year fellowship starting in August 2027. For the first year, through August 2028, the Fellow will work at NRDC within its Environment, Equity & Justice Center (EEJC) to provide legal support with and for environmental justice communities across the United States, including but not limited to scoping, shaping, and advancing litigation, as well as legal, policy, and coalition-building strategies to redress environmental harms and secure environmental benefits in environmental justice communities. The Fellow will work closely with, and be supervised by, experienced NRDC attorneys. The Fellow will also collaborate with community-based partners and environmental justice groups externally and with other NRDC Departments internally. The Fellow will be affiliated with one of NRDC’s major domestic offices (New York, Washington, D.C., or Santa Monica), depending on the Fellow’s preference and NRDC’s needs. During this year, the fellow may be expected to occasionally travel to other NRDC U.S.-based offices. For the second year (August 2028 through August 2029), the Fellow will work at Yale Law School in New Haven, Connecticut, as a clinical legal fellow with the Environmental Justice Law and Advocacy (EJLA) Clinic, part of the law school’s Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization. Working with EJLA’s director, Professor Stephanie Safdi, the Fellow will supervise student attorneys in representing community-based organizations, Tribal Nations, residents groups, and non-profit coalitions to advance environmental justice and intersectional concerns such as Tribal sovereignty, environmental protection, public health, civil rights, and participatory environmental governance. Clinic cases may include matters undertaken in partnership with NRDC that the Fellow has worked on during the first year of the Fellowship. In addition to student supervision, the Fellow will participate in clinical teaching, case intake and docket development, and support environmental law and justice programming within Yale Law School and interdisciplinary offerings with other university programs. The fellowship will include engagement in scholarly activities at the law school and trainings in clinical pedagogy and practice through Yale’s clinical program. The fellow will be expected to be in person on Yale’s campus in New Haven, CT, at least three days per week. The Fellow will be employed by the institution where they are based for the year, and will be subject to that institution’s applicable employment policies, including policies regarding benefits, hybrid work, and other HR matters. While at NRDC, the fellow is part of the bargaining unit represented by The Washington Baltimore News Guild (WBNG / The Newsguild-CWA Local 32035). This position will be open to applications through EOD Monday October 5, 2026.
That's a lot but okay. Now Responsibilities: we have bullet list for first year and second year. We'll combine into one- with items.
We need to preserve all substantive information; we can split into two subheadings? Not allowed; only headings from list. So we can just have one Responsibilities section with all bullet points.
Let's extract bullet points:
First year responsibilities:
- Develop relationships with communities and work with them to identify opportunities to partner or collaborate; actively engage in existing coalitions and partnerships.
- Create project plans, track timelines, and determine key deliverables and milestones, while managing workflows and collaboration across multiple staff members.
- Facilitate and co-facilitate meetings, including creating agendas, taking notes, and capturing takeaways/next steps; follow up with responsible parties to ensure accountability.
- Screen and develop potential new litigation, including conducting factual investigations and legal and policy research.
- Write briefs, motions, memoranda, Public Records Act and Freedom of Information Act requests, and other legal filings.
- Review environmental documents and draft comments under the California Environmental Quality Act and National Environmental Policy Act to identify deficiencies in environmental review, build the administrative record, and exhaust issues for potential litigation.
- Provide legal and