Using real life and hypothetical fact patterns and legal outcomes, this course will teach you environmental law from a litigator’s perspective. While we will read the leading cases under key U.S. federal environmental statutes, such as the Clean Water Act, CERCLA/Superfund, the Solid Waste Disposal Act/RCRA, and the Endangered Species Act, including developments in constitutional law that influence climate and environmental law, our focus will be hands-on. You will learn by doing. Students will draft demand letters and responses, client memos, complaints, memoranda in support of or in opposition to dispositive motions, as well as make oral arguments and negotiate with their colleagues. This course will challenge you to wrestle with some of the most active questions in current environmental practice – climate change, adaptation, and resiliency; historic and contemporary environmental justice issues, including the unequal distribution of environmental harms and benefits, and the efforts and tactics to redress environmental injustice. You will learn how traditional environmental laws - CWA, CERCLA, SDWA, RCRA - are being used (or not) to address not only climate issues, but also the risks presented by emerging contaminants – plastic, nurdles, and per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances – known as PFAS, or the "forever chemicals."
You will be required to view environmental questions from a variety of different perspectives, and thereby acquire essential lawyering skills, including statutory interpretation, constitutional analysis, and effective argument. While litigation is the underlying theme of the course, environmental law and the importance of sound science is its foundation. It is designed to provide practical training for future lawyers on the application of environmental law to real world problems, including corporate law, real estate, and bankruptcy.
Students will be graded based on class participation, the quality of submitted writings, oral presentations, and noted improvement. This course is an experiential course and can be used to help fulfill the experiential graduation requirement. Because of the heavy emphasis on student participation, enrollment is limited. While the survey course in Environmental Law offers a helpful background, it is not a required prerequisite for this course.