Siena Schaar ʻ23 and Hiʻilei Casco ʻ23 visited Molokaʻi on a case assignment during their summer clerkship at Earthjustice.

We had the opportunity to interview Siena Schaar ʻ23 who completed her summer clerkship at the Earthjustice Mid-Pacific Office in the summer of 2022.

1. What was the focus of your work this summer? Please describe your primary role and/or responsibilities.
This summer I worked as a law clerk at Earthjustice’s Mid-Pacific Office. In this role, I worked directly with Earthjustice attorneys on active litigation in both the state and federal court systems. I was responsible for conducting legal and factual research, and drafting a variety of documents, including: research memoranda, advocacy documents for submission to administrative agencies, legal arguments for memoranda in support of motions, and expert and organizational standing declarations. I also supported attorneys by bluebooking and cite-checking draft and final attorney work-products.

2. What skills and/or knowledge (if any) was expected of you?
I was expected to have solid research, writing, analytical, editing, and bluebooking skills. In relation to research, I was expected to be comfortable using digital research databases, such as Westlaw, Lexis, and LLMC Digital, as well as conducting legal research in print form at the law library (e.g., for discrete legislative history research). I was also expected to have knowledge of the Hawaiʻi Environmental Policy Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Endangered Species Act, among other relevant environmental laws and policies that Earthjustice typically litigates. Finally, I was expected to have solid oral advocacy and interpersonal skills in order to work with clients (and attorneys) on a regular basis.

3. What was the most memorable thing you learned through your experience? Or just share a memorable day on the job 🙂
While clerking this summer, Hiʻilei Casco (’23) (my fellow clerk & BFF) and I were given the opportunity to go to Molokaʻi on a case assignment. We spent five full days camping on a rural farm and fishpond and working from a tent with extremely limited wifi. Despite this, we got a ton of legal work done! It was truly a crash course in environmental field lawyering that I don’t think we could have gotten at any other law firm. I could not have asked for a better experience working at Earthjustice MPO with some of Hawaiʻi’s best and brightest environmental attorneys. Go geev um, EJ MPO!!

Mahalo for sharing with us and all the best on your future endeavors, Siena!