Jacqueline Hillman, ’26, chose the Abrams Environmental Law Clinic as an experiential learning opportunity for multiple reasons. Having grown up in the Bay Area, she had witnessed the cutting edge of environmental policy innovation. This  formative experience planted the seed of her interest in environmental work. Then, as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, Hillman worked for Josh Becker, chair of the California Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee, who partly inspired her to go to law school. From there, Hillman’s interest in environmental law only grew. 

Now a student in the clinic, Hillman not only finds the work extremely valuable to her future career goals—but she also has a personal tie to it, as many of the cases she works on have a local impact in Michigan, the place she went to college and where many of her family members live. 

The Abrams Environmental Clinic, led by Clinical Professor Mark Templeton, is one of the Law School’s 15 clinics. Through its work, the clinic attempts to solve some of the most pressing environmental problems throughout Chicago, the State of Illinois, and the Great Lakes region. 

Please describe the case or project you are working on in your clinic.

I’m currently working on the Consumers Energy 2025 rate case in Michigan. Essentially, utilities operate as monopolies over their service areas in each state. The government grants this monopoly status in exchange for oversight through a utility commission. Our clinic represents an intervenor, or party, to the proceeding that represents specific interests which could be affected by the Commission’s decision. In the current case, we are representing Urban Core Collective, a Grand Rapids-based nonprofit organization that aims to support historically marginalized communities by promoting equal access to education, economic prosperity, health, power, and influence. The Abrams Clinic makes arguments on behalf of Urban Core Collective regarding a variety of issues, including affordability, environmental justice, and the reliability of energy infrastructure. 

What is your specific role in this case? 

As a full member of the team, I’m involved in every stage of the rate case, including drafting discovery questions, direct and rebuttal testimony, and briefing. We are currently at the initial brief stage of the case. I had the immense privilege of conducting a cross examination of a company witness. The cross examination focused on corporate membership dues costs that the company seeks to recover via ratepayers in this case.

What skills have you developed through this experience? 

The most valuable skill that I’ve developed is understanding exactly how to prepare for real litigation. Mooting the examination was particularly essential in my preparation process, especially because it allowed me to practice with different demeanors of the same witness not knowing how the witness would respond day-of. The extensive preparation facilitated by Prof. Mark Templeton and Clinical Fellow Alex Miskho, as well as some of my peers, enabled me to pivot on the spot during the cross examination. It is much easier to think under pressure when you have already thought through many possibilities during mooting.

What are your biggest takeaways from working on this case?  

One unique aspect of rate cases is that they have a compressed timeline. Statutorily, each case must conclude within ten months of filing, so the clinic has the opportunity to work on multiple cases all the way through. I have found this view of the lifecycle of a case especially valuable because most litigation can stretch out over multiple years, meaning law students rarely see cases through to completion, so this accelerated process is a great opportunity to both learn about each stage in multiple iterations and see how the clinic’s impact grows from case to case.

Has there been anything about this experience that has surprised you? 

In terms of the cross examination itself, I was surprised by the level of technical complexity that we were able to navigate in order to elicit important information for our client and their interests. Despite my lack of technical background, I felt prepared to adjust my line of questioning on subjects like cost allocation methodologies and inconsistencies in financial calculations between testimony and company documents. I am especially grateful to my team for their support in navigating this complex material.

How has this experience changed your view of the law, the legal system, and/or your role as an advocate? 

My experience in clinic as a whole has given me a new perspective on how to be an effective advocate in a repeat-player system. In utility regulation, engaging with the same companies, commission, and other intervenors means that everyone knows one another, understands the informal norms and extrajudicial dynamics, and has institutional memory of past proceedings. Being effective in this environment requires more than just ascertaining a positive result in the immediate case. Advocacy in such a system requires longer-term strategic thinking, collaborative tradeoffs, and an understanding of institutional constraints.

How has your clinical work influenced your career goals or sense of purpose as a future lawyer? 

My clinical work has reinforced my interest in litigation, particularly in interdisciplinary, complex practice areas. These cases have shown me that I’m drawn to advocacy that requires more than just legal expertise and that I am capable of understanding nuanced, unfamiliar areas of the law.

Additionally, even though I primarily work on one sub-team of the clinic, the sheer breadth of diverse work that the clinic engages in has been eye-opening for me. Seeing my colleagues work on these different matters—from community-based pollution to endanger species advocacy to international law—has shown me how interconnected the environmental law landscape is, reinforcing my interest in this work and more generally in a practice setting suffused with procedural variety and substantive depth.

What advice would you give a fellow student considering enrolling in a clinic? 

I would tell a fellow student that your contribution to a clinic will be one of the highlights of your law school experience. It’s important to approach the work with compassion, and to understand the communities your work will impact and the stakes of your contributions more broadly. Though clinic can be demanding, it will be enormously rewarding, enabling you to grow immensely in your legal acumen and collaborative skills, with the support of extraordinary mentors and peers.