We're Hiring!

Seeking Director

The Conservation Law Center provides legal counsel without charge to conservation organizations, works to improve conservation law and policy, and offers law students clinical experience in the practice of law and the profession's public service tradition. Over its twelve year history, it has served more than 150 conservation organizations and provided counsel in over 250 legal matters, from litigation to document drafting and from tax to water policy. The Center has offices at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law in Bloomington, and at the Indiana University McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis.

Job Description: Director

Location of Principal Office: Bloomington, Indiana 

Reports to: The Board of Directors of the Conservation Law Center

Job Summary: The Director leads the Conservation Law Center. Working with the Center’s Board and staff, the Director identifies areas of strategic priority for the Center, represents conservation clients, supervises the staff of the Center, leads the Center’s fund-raising efforts, teaches second and third year law student interns in the Center’s Conservation Law Clinics, and establishes and maintains relationships with The Indiana University Maurer School of Law, the Indiana University McKinney School of Law, clients, government officials, conservation organizations, philanthropic entities, and other public interest law firms.  

Position: As the leader of the Conservation Law Center, the Director manages an annual budget of over $400,000 which is funded with grants and contributions to CLC. The Director supervises and directs CLC, which provides legal counsel without charge to conservation organizations, works to improve conservation law and policy, and offers law students clinical experience in the practice of law and the profession's public service tradition. The Center’s founding Director is transitioning to a more limited role as Chair of the Center’s Board. The Center is nationally known for its expertise in the law of conservation easements, and the Center has represented land trusts in many conservation matters. The Center has litigated NEPA and ESA matters in federal courts, prevailing on a NEPA issue in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2016. In state court, the Center established, in a matter that went to the Indiana Supreme Court, that associational standing was available in Indiana administrative proceedings. CLC also prevailed in the Indiana Court of Appeals on a litigation that determined the applicability of the public trust doctrine on the shores of Lake Michigan.  The Director makes the final decision on whether the Center will accept a case or matter, and works on client matters and cases. The Director has principal responsibility for raising funds for Center operations; the CLC has a small and growing endowment, but the Director’s attention is required to raise most of the money required to operate the Center. The Director manages Center staff: a Senior Staff Attorney, two graduate Fellow Attorneys, a Development Director, and an Office Manager. The Director is supervised by the CLC’s Board of Directors. The Director is expected to qualify for a funded appointment as a Clinical Professor at the Maurer School of Law within a year of employment at the Conservation Law Center.

Qualifications:             

• Commitment to the mission of the Conservation Law Center
• J.D. Degree, and significant experience and accomplishments
• Excellence in written and oral communication
• Willingness and ability to raise funds
• Entrepreneurial spirit and facility at leadership and collaboration

Competitive Compensation and Benefits.

To Apply: Send a resume and a cover letter to W. William Weeks at wwweeks@indiana.edu or W. William Weeks, Conservation Law Center, 116 S. Indiana Ave., Bloomington, IN, 47408.