Student Opportunities Through HELI
Through the Hubbell Environmental Law Initiative, Iowa Law students gain hands-on experience, national exposure, and critical support to launch careers in environmental, energy, and natural resources law. HELI provides summer stipends, conference travel, field-based learning, and mentorship to help students engage directly with environmental law.
HELI Summer Grant Program
HELI's summer grants are designed to ease the financial burden of University of Iowa law students working in unpaid summer positions. These grants awards support students in unpaid public interest or public service positions in environmental law. Applications open in January for the upcoming summer positions.
Professional Development
HELI provides funding for students interested in environmental law to travel to professional development opportunities. We support students who have been invited to present their papers at conferences, as well as students interested in going to environmental conferences.
Field-Based Learning
The Hubbell Environmental Law Initiative hosts a recurring environmental law field course. The interdisciplinary intersession course, titled “Wildlife and Habitat Conservation Law,” introduces law students to the law of species and habitat protection, focusing on animals and plants located in the Macbride Nature Recreation Area.
Hubbell Summer Grants Program
Through HELI, Iowa Law continues to support students passionate about public interest and public service careers in environmental law by providing summer stipends that make these experiences possible. Over the 2024–2025 academic year, the HELI team built and strengthened partnerships with a broader range of environmental organizations whose work focuses on issues relevant to Iowa and neighboring states.
2025 Summer Grants Recap
15
86 %
8
Partner Organizations
For Summer 2025, students are gaining valuable experience with the following organizations:
Clean Wisconsin
Driftless Water Defenders
Ducks Unlimited
Environmental Investigation Agency
Illinois Environmental Council
Iowa Environmental Council
Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy
Missouri Coalition for the Environment
Missouri Department of Natural Resources
Polk County Air Quality Division
Sierra Club – Iowa Chapter
Sierra Club – National Organization
The Nature Conservancy – North America Agriculture Program
University of Iowa's Environmental Compliance
Summer Grant Student Profiles
HELI Summer Grant Student Profiles
All Summer Grant Profiles
Hubbell Graduation Award for Excellence in Environmental Law
Environmental Law Moot Court Team
Iowa Law Environmental Moot Court Team Advances to Quarterfinals at National Competition
Other Ways to Engage in Environmental Opportunities at Iowa Law
Environmental Law Society
Iowa ELS is a student-run organization that aims to increase awareness of environmental issues. HELI supports the Environmental Law Society at Iowa Law by supporting student ideas and advocating for issues that are raised during regular ELS meetings. Iowa Law’s ELS is a member of the ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources' (SEER) Environmental Law Society Network (ELSN). The ELSN brings environmental law students from schools across the U.S. together to exchange ideas, succeed professionally, and positively impact their communities. The ELSN fulfills this mission by (1) providing resources for students to start or improve environmental law societies at their schools, (2) fostering a relationship between environmental legal professionals and students, and (3) hosting national events.
Moot Court
Iowa Law is an enthusiastic participant in Jeffrey G. Miller National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition (NELMCC) at Pace University Haub School of Law. The Pace Moot Court Competition is one of the nation’s largest interschool moot court competitions. With Iowa Law’s Clinical Professor Mary Ksobiech, Iowa Law has established a moot court participation and elimination process, with the plan to have an Iowa Law cohort represented in the competition that will take place this Fall, 2023 and into Spring 2024. This experience will provide another robust opportunity for students to deepen their experience in environmental, natural resources, and energy law during their time at Iowa Law.
Professional Opportunities - Internships and Externships
During their time at the Law School, our students take regular advantage of externships with state agencies, federal agencies, nonprofit and advocacy groups, and other nonprofit organizations. In the past three years, Iowa Law has supported students who have externed at numerous locations, including the Iowa Environmental Council, Iowa Attorney General – Environmental Division, Deere & Company Law Services Group, and the Office of the Tribal Attorney at Yurok Tribal Council.
Students work part-time during the school year and full time on internships during the summers at companies, state and federal agencies, and law firms around the country and internationally on a range of natural resources, environmental, and energy law projects.
Clinical Work CELP
The University of Iowa College of Law’s Community Empowerment Law Project (CELP) clinic has provided opportunities for students interested in environmental law to engage in clinical practice during their time at Iowa. While the CELP clinic is relevant to anyone interested in pursuing public interest environmental advocacy, there are several specific projects of note that are directly connected to the mission of FNRELs projects with a direct connection.
Upcoming Events of Interest - See You There!
The Private Sector and the Planet: Zoe Beck, VP of Sustainability at HCA Healthcare
Join the Hubbell Environmental Law Initiative, Vanderbilt Law School’s Private Climate Governance Lab, and the Tippie Social Impact Community for The Private Sector and the Planet speaker series.
We are excited to welcome Zoe Beck, VP of Sustainability at HCA Healthcare, for the third installment of the Private Sector and the Planet speaker series on Tuesday, March 24, at 12:10 p.m. Her talk is called "Leading Sustainability in Practice: Corporate Responses to Climate Risk."
As health care systems...
The Current State of Climate Regulation: Revisiting the Endangerment Finding
The EPA’s proposal to reconsider its long-standing Endangerment Finding raises major questions about the future of climate and public health protections in the United States. In this discussion, panelists will begin by explaining what the Endangerment Finding is, why it matters, and how administrative law shapes EPA’s authority to revisit it. The discussion will then turn to the scientific response to EPA’s proposal, including how a coalition of more than 100 climate and health experts came...
Beyond ESG: How Environmental Governance Actually Works Inside Companies
Join the Hubbell Environmental Law Initiative, Vanderbilt Law School’s Private Climate Governance Lab, and the Tippie Social Impact Community for the fourth and final program in the Private Sector and the Planet series. We are pleased to welcome Jessica Hinman, Director of Sustainability & CSR at Krause Group.
In her talk, “Beyond ESG: How Environmental Governance Actually Works Inside Companies,” Jessica will move beyond the public-facing conversation about Environmental, Social, and Governance...
The Private Sector and the Planet: Jessica Hinman, Director of Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility at Krause Group
Join the Hubbell Environmental Law Initiative, Vanderbilt Law School’s Private Climate Governance Lab, and the Tippie Social Impact Community for The Private Sector and the Planet speaker series.
For our last speaker of the 2025-2026 speaker series, we are excited to welcome Jessica Hinman, Director of Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility at Krause Group.
In her talk, “Beyond ESG: How Environmental Governance Actually Works Inside Companies,” Jessica will move beyond the public-facing...
The Social Impact of AI Roundtable Discussion
Protecting Water, Protecting Community: Short Films & Dialogue on Indigenous Land and Water Defense
Join us for an evening of short films and community conversation exploring movements to protect water, land, and community.
The program will feature a curated selection of short films highlighting water protection movements in the Midwest, and beyond. Following the screenings, Dakota elder and historian Tim Mentz Sr. and Sikowis Nobiss, Cree-Saulteaux of the George Gordon First Nation in Saskatchewan and the founder and executive director of the Great Plains Action Society, will participate in a...