Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation

Networking and scholarship opportunities in Natural Resources, Environmental, Energy, and Oil & Gas Law 

Penn State Law is a constituent law school member of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation (RMMLF).  RMMLF is a large national nonprofit organization that “fosters the scholarly and practical study of the law concerning oil and gas, mining, energy, water, public lands, environmental protection, and related areas of natural resources law.” Many of the members of RMMLF are law firms from around the country (not just from Rocky Mountain states), so when students attend RMMLF events they have the opportunity to network with attorneys from around the country who work in the legal fields listed above.  We encourage PSL students to take advantage of the opportunities that RMMLF offers to constituent law schools.

1. Funding for travel to RMMLF conferences and institutes 

Each year PSL Law has $3,000 available to reimburse students’ travel (transportation and hotel) expenses related to RMMLF institutes and conferences. These conferences cover a wide range of subject areas, from offshore drilling to updates in natural resource law, and are often attended by attorneys from around the country. As mentioned above, they are therefore a great networking opportunity in addition to a learning opportunity.  RMMLF waives the registration fee associated with the conference. To see the available conferences go to https://www.rmmlf.org/conferences. 

There is no application deadline for the travel funding, but you of course need to request the funding prior to the date of the conference or institute you plan to attend. Also, because PSL Law has $3,000 to dole out, we need to receive all student requests for travel funding by a certain date so that we can decide how to best divide up the available funding.

1. Scholarships

Each year RMMLF awards certain deserving students tuition scholarships. These can be quite significant—awards in the past have been up to $10,000.

Eligibility: A law student enrolled full time . . . who can demonstrate a commitment to study natural resources law or who is undertaking the study of natural resources law is eligible to apply for these tuition scholarships. Incoming LLM Students and JD 1Ls: If you have applied to [PSL], but have not yet been accepted, you may still apply for a scholarship, although scholarships will only be awarded for tuition at these schools. Scholarships may cover partial or full tuition costs. Criteria include the following:

• Potential to make a significant contribution to the field of natural resources law

• Academic ability

• Leadership ability

• Year in law school

• Financial need

Applications are typically due in late February for JD students and mid-March for LLM and SJD students. Full information is available here: https://www.rmmlf.org/professors-and-students/scholarships.

Before you send your scholarship application to RMMLF, please first e-mail it to Professor Walters (dkw5367@psu.edu) and career services (copying both on the same email).  Career services staff and the environmental certificate professors will work with you to ensure that your application is as strong as it can possibly be. Prepare your application well in advance of the deadline because you need a letter of recommendation, etc. 

1. Grants for student networking with law firms 

You can apply for money for a networking event for your student organization and a local law firm or firms that practices in the RMMLF fields described above (oil and gas, energy, natural resources, etc.). Please run your application past Professor Walters (dkw5367@psu.edu) before sending it so that we can be sure the application fits all of the criteria and so that we can know which networking events have been planned. 

https://www.rmmlf.org//-/media/Files/Professors-and-Students/studentnetworkingapppdf.pdf

1. Membership in RMMLF 

Full-time students can become Annual Members of the Foundation for only $20 ($25 after February 22). See https://www.rmmlf.org/membership.

For further questions contact: dkw5367@psu.edu