Adeline Rolnick L’18

Growing up on the banks of the Hudson River—in her biased opinion, the most beautiful Superfund site this side of the Mississippi—it was perhaps inevitable that Adeline would grow up to become a professional environmentalist. She developed a keen academic interest in environmental policy at Harvard College, and graduated with a B.A. in Social Studies in 2012. After college, Adeline spent three years working at the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) in Washington, D.C. As part of NWF’s government affairs team, she worked to advance policies that safeguard wildlife and habitat, protect clean air and water, and connect children, youth, and families with the outdoors.

Adeline is pursuing a Master of Environmental Studies at Penn in addition to her JD, and is interested in taking an interdisciplinary approach to studying how law can be a tool for finding creative solutions to environmental challenges. She is especially passionate about the intersection between environmental policy and social justice, and plans to use her legal career to continue working for policies that protect both our natural resources and our communities. At Penn, Adeline is Chair of the Environmental Law Project and Philanthropy Editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and co-chaired the 2017 Equal Justice Foundation Auction. During her 1L summer, she served as a litigation intern for the Natural Resources Defenses Council (NRDC), and during her 2L summer she will be interning for the Appellate Section of the U.S. Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division and for the New York State Attorney General Environmental Protection Bureau. After graduation, Adeline will be clerking for a year for the U.S. District Court for Eastern District of Pennsylvania, followed by a year on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.