2025 Fall (September-November)
Join a small, advanced cohort of six top law students from across Canada for a special hands-on, practice-focused edition of CELL’s public interest environmental litigation program. Immerse yourself in active litigation with an award-winning legal team and make an impact in an important real-world case. Learn how to develop and run complex litigation files and think like a litigator. Our program benefits any law student keen on gaining hands-on litigation experience before graduation and in doing work for public interest clients.
About CELL
The Pacific Centre for Environmental Law and Litigation (CELL) is a national charity dedicated to advancing legal education by training and inspiring Canada’s next generation of public interest environmental litigators. Since 2016, 20 cohorts of students, hailing from virtually every Canadian law school, have completed our program.
Program Description
CELL’s program provides law students with opportunities to reflect upon and develop the legal toolkit necessary to be advocates in complex litigation. You will join a small, focused team of six top law students from across Canada to work with our instructors and lawyers from other partner law firms on a real public interest environmental case.
Over eight weeks, you will be introduced to different aspects of a real environmental litigation file as we prepare to head to trial. With the guidance and mentorship of award-winning professors and practicing lawyers, you’ll make real contributions to the case by assisting with research, drafting motions, reviewing evidence, and more. Given that the focus of this session is hands-on experiential learning, students will be expected to contribute, on average, between 4 and 6 hours per week to this work, in addition to weekly team meetings of 1-2 hours.
Working on this case will highlight evidentiary, procedural, and ethical issues that arise in environmental litigation. Through weekly team meetings, you will learn how to work as part of a legal team on complex environmental litigation. We will explore such questions as:
- How do I develop a legal strategy for the case?
- What kind of evidence would be needed to support the legal strategy?
- How do I obtain such evidence?
- How do I manage and work with clients?
- How do lawyers collaborate in a large legal team?
- What ethical and professional conduct issues should I be aware of when running a complex litigation file?
Here’s what recent alumni have said about the program:
“CELL was truly the most impactful experience of my first year of law school. Nothing has been more valuable than the exposure I’ve gained to active litigation and the insights behind these cases. The guest speakers were extremely inspiring, and Professor Tollefson and Mr. Ho delivered succinct lectures and facilitated interesting discussions. I am so grateful for this experience, and I look forward to following CELL’s work throughout the rest of my legal career.”
— Elizabeth Collins, Cohort 19 – Spring 2023 (uOttawa)
“CELL has been a fantastic opportunity and I can truly say that it has been a highlight of my legal education.”
— Aimee Huntington, Cohort 15 – Fall 2021 (U of Calgary)
“CELL was a formative experience during my time at law school. I developed invaluable legal skills through my exposure to ongoing cases and engagement with novel and complex legal questions. CELL also shaped my long-term career goals. I can’t recommend CELL enough.”
— Michaela Aeberhardt, Cohort 13 – Fall 2020 (UVic)
Application Process
Law students interested in applying for CELL’s 2025 Fall cohort should email their completed application form, together with the supplemental documents identified in the form, to Sean Vriesen, Program Director, at svriesen@pacificcell.ca no later than 11:59 PM Pacific time on Monday, September 15, 2025. Priority will be given to 3Ls, but exceptional 2Ls are welcome. Shortlisted candidates will be contacted to arrange a short interview at a mutually agreed date and time between September 9 and September 17. Completion of upper year courses in environmental law and law of evidence is an asset. Applicants must be available to attend weekly team meetings of 1-2 hours in duration and to contribute 4-6 hours per week working on the case. The first session will take place in the week of September 22, 2025, with the specific date and time to be determined with the successful applicants.
If you have any questions or want more information about CELL and its program, please contact Sean Vriesen, Program Director, at svriesen@pacificcell.ca.
Updated 8 September 2025.