Fellowship Description

The United States Environmental Protection Agency's New England office in Boston, Massachusetts (Region 1) is seeking an Honors Attorney Fellow.  The Fellowship is a two-year appointment designed for recent law school graduates who have a strong interest in a career in environmental law or in the public sector and have excellent academic credentials, experience, and other attributes that demonstrate a significant potential for success.

• The Fellowship offers a unique opportunity for recently graduated attorneys to join an office dedicated to protecting public health and the environment in New England. The Region offers attorneys significant responsibility, the opportunity to handle a complex caseload that includes counseling and enforcement work, and extensive training and mentoring from colleagues with regionally and nationally recognized expertise.
• The Region has innovative initiatives addressing environmental justice, brownfields redevelopment, and urban environmental issues, as well as programs to protect our air, water, and land.

The Region's legal offices offer a diverse, supportive, and family-friendly work environment. The salary will be at the GS-11 level (salary currently $64,862), with promotion potential to the GS-12 level (salary currently $77,744). There is no promotion potential beyond GS-12. Comprehensive benefits include annual and sick leave, health insurance, life insurance, flexible work schedules, family medical leave, Thrift Savings Plan, and transit subsidy.  Learn more about benefits at EPA. Relocation expenses are not authorized.

Who Should Apply?

Region 1 seeks applications for its Attorney Fellowship from U.S. citizens who have graduated from an accredited law school within the past three years. The Fellowship is highly competitive, and applicants should have outstanding academic records. Applicants who graduated before May 2016 should have substantial professional legal experience after law school. The Fellowship begins In September or October, 2016, and the Fellow is expected to commit to a two-year term.

How to Apply

Applicants must submit the following materials (incomplete applications will not be considered):

1.  A resume describing your significant accomplishments, work experience, class rank (or other indicator of academic performance), day and evening telephone numbers, email address, and the names, addresses, and phone numbers of three references.  Among your references please include a current or former employer and a law school professor or advisor.

2.  A copy of your law school transcript.

3.  A cover letter briefly describing your interest in the Fellowship and your pertinent skills and background.  You may also wish to use your cover letter to highlight relevant experiences or circumstances which might not be evident from the balance of your submission.

Application materials should be sent by email to region1.fellowship@epa.gov and must be received by EPA no later than June 24, 2016. Application materials may be in Word or PDF formats. Email submissions should include "2016 Fellowship Application" in the subject line of the message.  If for any reason you cannot email your application, please contact Sally Burt at the phone number or email address below to arrange for mail delivery. Applications submitted through any other process or web site (such as by hand-delivery, fax, job fair, Symplicity or USA-Jobs web site) will not be accepted.

You should receive an automated response when EPA receives an application by email. If you do not, please contact Sally Burt at the email address below:

Sally Burt, Administrative Assistant
Office of Regional Counsel
US EPA Region 1
5 Post Office Square, Suite 100
Mail Code: ORA18-1
Boston, MA 02109-3912
email: burt.sally@epa.gov; phone: 617-918-1090

Application Process

Region 1 will invite selected applicants for interviews in Boston in July or August 2016, at the applicants’ expense. Applicants may request videoconference interviews if they have access to a teleconferencing facility compatible with EPA’s equipment. Each applicant invited for an interview must submit a writing sample and an official law school transcript copy prior to the interview. 

EPA provides reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities.  If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process, please call Sally Burt prior to June 24, 2016.  The decision on granting reasonable accommodations will be made on a case‑by‑case basis. 

EPA is an equal opportunity employer. Selection for this position will be based solely on merit without regard to race, color, religion, age, gender, national origin, political affiliation, disability, sexual orientation, marital or family status or other differences. EPA encourages people of color, veterans, and persons with disabilities to apply. If you qualify for veterans preference and you want the Agency to consider that preference as a positive factor in  reviewing your application, you must include in your application appropriate documentation such as DD214(copy 4), your VA letter, or Standard Form-15 (disabled veteran).