3L LAURA SMITH INTERNS WITH THE TEXAS WATER DEVELOPMENT BOARD

Laura Smith Headshot.jpgLaura Smith is a 3L at Texas A&M University School of Law. She earned her undergraduate degree in Government from the University of Texas at Austin. Laura now primarily focuses her legal education on environmental litigation, and her long-term goal is to work for either an environmental nonprofit or government agency. 

This past summer, Laura worked at the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB). Laura was one of three Texas A&M students to be accepted into an internship program sponsored by the Texas State Bar’s Environmental and Natural Resources Law Section, which places students with one of the eight environmental agencies in Texas, including the TWDB. 

Because her internship was remote this summer, Laura spent a large portion of her time working on research projects. She said that most of her projects paired perfectly with the work she did for Texas A&M Law Professor Gabriel Eckstein. For more than a year, Laura has co-managed a groundwater research project for Professor Eckstein seeking to categorize all the groundwater laws across the United States by jurisdiction. Laura said that this research was extremely beneficial for her internship because the TWDB had her researching the Water Infrastructure and Finance Innovation Act, which focuses on using brackish groundwater instead of desalination for potential drinking water sources. Some of her biggest research questions revolved around how to value water and how government agencies should apply regulations to groundwater, which she had also researched for her project for Professor Eckstein.

In the long term, Laura plans to work in environmental litigation at either a nonprofit or government agency. She said that her work at the TWDB was a significant step in that direction because it allowed her “the opportunity to experience agency work, governmental regulation, and policymaking.” Laura recommends that any student interested in environmental litigation take either a trial advocacy class or alternative dispute resolution class, as litigation is a crucial part of any environmental litigation work. She also notes that if students are not interested in those classes, it could indicate that they may be more suited for transactional work. In addition, Laura stated that “students should get involved with professor-run research because it not only adds to your resume, but it expands your knowledge of environmental law and makes you even more useful at a summer internship.”