Marika Sitz served as the coordinator of OWC from 2017-2018. She is a rising third-year law student at the University of Oregon School of Law.
To the Oregon Water Coalition Board & Membership:
I will be starting my third and final year of law school in a few short weeks. I am now less than a year away from graduating. Law school, like almost every other aspect of our normal daily lives, was made notably harder by the pandemic. This upcoming semester, all my classes will be held online. In light of these challenging circumstances, I am incredibly appreciative of OWC’s continuing support. The intent of this letter is to provide updates about my last semester and about my upcoming year.
For the past twelve weeks, I have been working as a law clerk at Jordan Ramis P.C., primarily in the water law practice group. In this capacity, I have interacted with a few people from the Northeast Oregon region, and I have particularly enjoyed those opportunities. Overall, my time at Jordan Ramis has been a fantastic learning experience. As many of you know, learning outside of a classroom is incredibly important so I always appreciate that chance to do that. I will continue to work as a clerk through fall semester, albeit on a part-time basis.
In the academic sphere, I was lucky enough to be accepted for a new fellowship this year. As I have shared in previous updates, I was a fellow on the Oceans, Coasts, and Watersheds Project at the Environmental and Natural Resources Center for the past two years. As a fellow, I researched a variety of water-related topics. My main focus last year was to explore the Colorado Water Code and the ways in which that code has been implemented. Colorado manages its water allocations very precisely and intensely, so it was interesting to compare their system to Oregon’s own management scheme. After two years in this fellowship role, I decided that I wanted a change in my final year, and I was selected as a Public Law and Policy Fellow. Through this new fellowship, I have the freedom to choose my own research topic. I plan to spend the next few months writing a policy brief on an Oregon water law/policy issue (still TBD, ideas are welcome!).
On the subject of Oregon water policy issues, last week I received final approval of my legal writing requirement paper, which focused on the Division 33 rules. The writing requirement is a key graduation requirement, and I did a majority of my research and writing through an intensive water law-focused writing colloquium last semester. The paper outlines the rule history and provides a critique about the ways in which OWRD currently deploys the rule. My experiences in the Umatilla Basin certainly informed my interest and perspective on this topic.
In my final academic update, I am working hard to finish all my required classes as early as I can. This fall, I will be taking an overloaded semester (17 credits) in order to complete all my required coursework by the end of this semester. This will allow me to participate in a full-time externship during spring 2021, my last semester of law school.
The support I have received from OWC has helped me make all the above-listed projects, accomplishments, undertakings a reality, and I really cannot begin to describe how thankful I am for the continued support. I also want to emphasize the importance of this program for future students, in all different fields. I am grateful to have been the “guinea pig,” but I sincerely hope that this scholarship program will not end with me. I would love to see another future lawyer, policymaker, or scientist benefit from the OWC funding to further their education and give back, in some way, to their Eastern Oregon community. I am happy to talk about what this program has meant for me with any OWC member or potential scholarship applicant.
I encourage any OWC member with questions about my experiences or my future plans to reach out to me directly.
Sincerely,
Marika
marikasitz1 [at] gmail [dot] com