Our legal team couldn’t fight for clean water in Orange County without the help of our interns. We would like to take a moment to recognize the amazing work of two of our most recent interns.
Meet Our Spring 2019 Legal Interns, Kelly and Patrick
Kelly Hatfield is a 2L from Chapman’s Dale E. Fowler School of Law in Orange, California. Before attending law school, she acquired her B.A. in Criminal Justice and a Paralegal Certificate from San Francisco State University.
Upon graduating in 2015, she worked at a plaintiff’s employment law firm in San Francisco as a paralegal. With her experience working in a law firm and exposure to learning about the environmental concerns in the Bay Area, Kelly was inspired to attend law school to study environmental law.
After obtaining her J.D., she plans to use her background and education to advocate for environmental justice and protection in the Bay Area.
Patrick Candelaria is a 2L student from Chapman’s Dale E. Fowler School of Law in Orange, California. Before attending law school, Patrick earned his Bachelor of Science in Wildlife Conservation Biology from the University of California, Davis.
As part of his undergraduate education, Patrick was involved with scientific research in ocean ecology, studying how a changing environment will impact marine biodiversity. Patrick was inspired by this to enter the field of law due to his concerns for environmental justice and to hold those responsible that further degrade the vital habitat of California’s unique ecosystems.
Patrick’s passion for the environment combined with his knowledge of conservation issues has encouraged his decision to pursue a career in environmental litigation with the goal of using his education to promote a cleaner and safer environment for humans and animals alike.
The Search Begins Again
Kelly and Patrick were such an immense help this semester, but unfortunately, their time with Coastkeeper is done. Though they’ll be hard to replace, we need to start looking forward to the next semester.
Are you a law student looking to use your knowledge and expertise to improve our local environment? Orange County Coastkeeper offers competitive semester-long legal internships for law students who are interested in gaining real-world experience in environmental law.
Legal interns work closely with Coastkeeper’s legal staff to protect our waters by drafting briefs, motions, comment letters, conducting legal research, case investigation and preparing testimony for administrative hearings.
Our legal team will begin accepting applications for the Fall 2019 semester in July and continue to accept applications on a rolling basis.
Visit our internship page to learn more about all the positions offered at Coastkeeper.
