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Our honor roll showcases programs and achievements from law schools across the country.
Environmental law continues to grow with a focus on energy, climate, land use, national and state policies, pollution control and animal law. If you’re interested in this field of law, look for a school with a wide variety of well-developed courses and a certificate program that will strengthen your resume while broadening your horizons.
University of Denver Sturm College of Law students in the EnvironmentalLaw Clinic are working on some of themost pressing environmental issues facingColorado. Last year, students won asignificant victory on behalf of the Centerfor Biological Diversity and Food & WaterWatch in an administrative appeal of thewater pollution permit for factory farmsin Colorado. On behalf of their clients,students argued that the permit’s failureto require pollution monitoring violatedthe Clean Water Act. The state and thefactory farm industry have appealed thedecision, and clinic participants continueto work on the case.
University of Colorado Law School’s Getches-Wilkinson Center has received a$400,000 gift from the Walton FamilyFoundation. The funding will providesupport for the Western Water PolicyProgram, which conducts research andleads discussions on management of wateracross the West, with a focus on theColorado River Basin.
University of Miami School of Law launched its inaugural Everglades Law and Policy short course in January. Students kayaked and walked through Big Cypress National Preserve and stayed in cabins on the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s Big Cypress Reservation before making their way to Lake Okeechobee and visiting the Herbert Hoover Dike. Students learned firsthand about infrastructure, water quality, endangered and threatened species, flood control, agriculture and public land management issues.
Georgia State University College of Law’s Center for the Comparative Studyof Metropolitan Growth offers programsfor students and professionals to deepentheir understanding of the challenges facinggrowing metropolitan regions, includingthose related to environmental law,land use law, housing law, and preservation of cultural and historic resources. Thecenter provides opportunities to work collaborativelytoward worldwide solutions.
University of San Diego School of Law’s Energy Policy Initiatives Centerstudies energy policy issues affectingCalifornia and the San Diego Region. Itsmission is to increase awareness and understandingof energy- and climate-relatedpolicy issues by conducting research andanalysis that informs decision-makers andeducates law students. The center sponsorsthe Energy Law and Policy Clinic inwhich students work with state agencies toresearch climate change and energy issuesthat affect Californians.
University of California, Berkeley, School of Law’s EnvironmentalLaw Clinic served a Notice of Intentto Sue on the U.S. Navy and EPA onbehalf of Greenaction for Health andEnvironmental Justice last December,seeking to enforce the federal Superfundlaw (CERCLA). The controversy, featuredon NBC-TV, is over inadequate cleanupof San Francisco’s former Naval Shipyardat Hunters Point. The Navy for decadesused the site to clean vessels that were contaminatedwith radioactive fallout fromWorld War II activity in the Pacific. TheNavy’s partial re-testing has since foundradioactive material still on site.
Marquette University Law School students in the environmental law programparticipate in significant researchprojects, and in some cases co-author theresulting publications. Within the pastyear, projects featuring students in prominentleadership roles have included majorfederal grants to study PFAS regulationand nonpoint source pollution, and otherprojects such as examining the potentialfor direct reuse of wastewater and workingwith a regional government agency todevise legal and policy strategies to controlthe amount of chloride entering surfacewater and groundwater.
University of Wyoming School of Law students participating in the Energy,Environmental and Natural Resources LawClinic work directly with attorneys fromthe Water and Natural Resources Divisionof the Wyoming Attorney General’s Officeon cases involving the State of Wyoming,state agencies or state officials. They havedrafted motions and represented the statein proceedings before the Wyoming Oil& Gas Conservation Commission andIndustrial Siting Council.
Check out the Spring preLaw 2024 digital issue article to view the law school honor roll.
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