Meet our 2018 summer interns!

Each year interns spend their summer with Trustees for Alaska. They conduct legal research, draft pleadings, participate in client meetings and assist with litigation. They provide critical legal support to Trustees while gaining valuable legal experience and seeing our great state. Meet our 2018 summer interns, Maggie and Jenna! 

Maggie, Brownie and the Matanuska Glacier. Photo courtesy Maggie Massey.

Maggie Massey: Oregon law student returns to old stomping grounds

Maggie Massey is a rising third year student at the University of Oregon School of law. She is a Bowerman fellow in the Environment and Natural Resources Law Center’s Native Environmental Sovereignty Project, an active member of the Native American Law Student Association, and a volunteer with Access the Law, a free legal service for veterans.

As a law student, Maggie has worked with Our Children’s Trust to represent youth plaintiffs asserting their constitutional right to a clean and healthy atmosphere.  She has also worked with the Oregon Law Center to assist low-income clients with a variety of civil matters ranging from housing insecurity to unemployment. Maggie grew up in Bozeman, Montana and earned a combined Environmental Studies – Sociology degree from Whitman College.

Maggie in New Zealand. Photo courtesy Maggie Massey.

Prior to law school, Maggie was the Environmental Justice Program Director at Alaska Wilderness League in Anchorage, and a staff member of the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council’s science department in Fairbanks.

She, and her husky-sidekick Brownie, are thrilled to return to their favorite state for the summer. Their bucket list includes pack-rafting, fishing, chasing ground squirrels, eating blueberries, and lending a hand in support of the great work at Trustees.

“I’ve long admired the dedicated and impactful work that Trustees for Alaska does to protect Alaskan communities and ecosystems. It is an honor to be a part of their team this summer.”

Jenna along Symphony Lake trail, Alaska. Photo courtesy Jenna Lewis.

Jenna Lewis: Colorado law student explores approaches to environmental advocacy

Jenna Lewis is a rising third-year law student at the University of Colorado Boulder. Originally from the Chicago area, Jenna attended Loyola University Chicago, where she earned her B.A. in Sociology and Political Science and a minor in Urban Studies-Sustainability.

While in college, Jenna realized the need for strong environmental advocates in many career fields, and later decided that law school was the next step. She chose the University of Colorado for its environmental law program, and the state’s immeasurable natural beauty and ample skiing and hiking opportunities.

Jenna is pursuing an Environmental, Natural Resources, and Energy Law Certificate, and has immersed herself in the extensive environmental law curriculum and several extracurricular opportunities. Last summer, Jenna interned with a small public-interest environmental firm and with a city attorney’s office.

During the last school year, she served as a liaison between the Environmental Law Society and the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment, and as a student attorney in the Getches-Green Natural Resources and Environmental Law Clinic.

Jenna at Zion National Park. Photo courtesy Jenna Lewis.

She also worked as a staff writer for the Colorado Natural Resources, Energy, and Environmental Law Review, where she now serves as an articles editor. Her student article focused on various approaches to environmental advocacy will be published in the next issue.

After law school, Jenna hopes to continue exploring her passion for public-interest environmental work and to use her legal skills to advocate for a healthy planet and truly sustainable resource management.

“I am thrilled to be spending my summer working with Trustees for Alaska,” she said. “The impressive team of attorneys works hard to protect Alaska’s valuable natural resources, diverse wildlife, and vast public lands for generations to come. Both professionally and personally, I treasure the opportunity to contribute to this work, and I am especially excited about the added bonus of getting to explore all that Alaska has to offer!”