Environmental
Overview
Students interested in environmental law should take the core Environmental Law course, offered every year in the fall; Natural Resources Law, offered every second year when feasible; and Energy Law Regulation and Policy, offered every year in the fall. JD students interested in environmental law should strongly consider taking the Environmental Law course in the fall of their 2L year because it provides a foundation for other classes and clinics. International Environmental Law is the core class for students interested in this topic. Given the centrality of administrative law to US environmental law, students interested in US environmental law benefit from taking classes such as Advanced Administrative Law. In addition to the foundational classes students can choose to take a variety of seminars, such as Animal Law, Energy & Climate Law and Policy, Environmental Justice, Food Law and Policy, and Urban Environmental Law.
The law school offers several clinics and a lab in the environmental space that provide distinct experiences.The Regulatory Policy Clinic, run by NYU Law’s Institution for Policy Integrity, provides students an opportunity to apply federal administrative law, and many clinic projects concern environmental law. The Environmental Law clinic run by the Natural Resources Defense Council allows students to work on litigation and policy reform in the US from within a large environmental NGO. The Environmental and Climate Justice Lab enables students to work on projects with environmental justice communities throughout the US. Students interested in an internationally oriented clinical experience in environmental law might take The Earth Rights Research and Action clinic or the UN Diplomacy Clinic.
In keeping with its tradition of leadership in this area of study, the Law School now offers the Environmental and Energy Law LLM, a master’s program for students with a strong future professional or academic interest in environmental and land use law.
The environmental course offerings at NYU Law are complemented by a vibrant intellectual life. Our environmental centers engage with issues through research and discussion, regularly inviting highly regarded speakers to campus to address the community.
- Guarini Center on Environmental, Energy, and Land Use Law
The Frank J. Guarini Center on Environmental, Energy, and Land Use Law focuses on environmental and energy challenges that range from global climate change to regional energy policy.
- Institute for Policy Integrity
The Institute for Policy Integrity is a nonpartisan think tank dedicated to improving the quality of government decisionmaking. It produces original scholarly research in the fields of economics, law, and regulatory policy and advocates for reform before courts, legislatures, and executive agencies.
- Center for Human Rights and Global Justice
The Center for Human Rights and Global Justice is a leading action-research hub that contributes to the global human rights project through scholarship, education, field building, advocacy, and legal practice.
- Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy
The Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy advances research and debate on housing, neighborhoods, and urban policy.
- Tax Law Center
The Tax Law Center seeks to protect and strengthen the tax system through rigorous, high-impact legal work in the public interest.
- Climate Litigation Accelerator
The Climate Litigation Accelerator (CLX) is a global collaborative hub for research, advocacy, and strategic litigation on the climate emergency. Working with scholars, activists, and litigants from around the world, CLX initiates and supports efforts that build the speed and scale necessary to spur action on the climate emergency within the limited timeframe left to avoid triggering extreme scenarios of global warming. CLX helps fill gaps in existing practice, connects litigants and experts in different fields (from climate science to strategic communications to ecology to climate economics), and spearheads and supports climate lawsuits and other forms of advocacy.
- Environmental Law Journal
Environmental Law Journal, a student-run publication, is one of the leading environmental law journals in the nation. It publishes pieces that reveal and analyze the expanding links between environmental and land use policy as well as administrative, corporate, constitutional, criminal, energy, insurance, international, property, tax, and tort law. Annual symposia also address crucial themes for the evolving world, such as renewable energy, the future of the utility industry, and American gas exports.
At NYU Law, students are encouraged to take advantage of all the Law School has to offer, from working directly with faculty on their research, to getting involved with our centers, to participating in clinics and student organizations. Our centers give environmental law students robust opportunities to flesh out their experiences, and graduates can take the next step in their education through our specialized LLM program or our fellowships. In addition to forging relationships with faculty and alumni, students should also connect with the Office of Career Services and the Public Interest Law Center (PILC) to explore other options for enhancing their journeys. Here are some opportunities for those specifically interested in environmental law:
- Student Groups and Journals
The Environmental Law Society sponsors issue-focused panels featuring prominent environmental lawyers and scholars; legal projects in which it partners with both local and national environmental organizations to provide research assistance; and community service events. Each fall, the organization also hosts a hike on Bear Mountain.
The Student Animal Legal Defense Fund engages in legal research involving questions surrounding animal rights and animal welfare, working to educate the community about the intersection between animal rights and the law.
The Environmental Law Journal, a student-run publication, is one of the top environmental law journals in the nation.
- Clinical Work
The UN Diplomacy Clinic places students in the Permanent Missions of member states at the United Nations to act as legal advisors. In this role, students will assist the Permanent Missions in their engagement in international diplomacy, with a specific focus on international and environmental law.
The Environmental Law Clinic emphasizes environmental litigation and advocacy from the public interest point of view. Clinic participants work under the supervision of attorneys at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
The Regulatory Policy Clinic, sponsored by the Institute for Policy Integrity, focuses on practice before federal agencies and courts to help students develop a set of core administrative lawyering skills. Students look at environmental rule makings in particular.
- Postgraduate Options
The Environmental and Energy Law LLM welcomes foreign-trained and US lawyers interested in careers in environmental, land use, and energy law. Individuals who aim to work for governments, international organizations, or NGOs; who aspire to cutting-edge private practice with law firms; or who will pursue academic careers study with leading experts in these areas.
The Institute for Policy Integrity is a nonpartisan think tank dedicated to improving the quality of government decision-making. It produces original scholarly research in the fields of economics, law, and regulatory policy and advocates for reform before courts, legislatures, and executive agencies. The institute regularly hires legal and economic fellows.
Faculty
Robert C. Kopple Family Professor of Taxation
Judge Edward Weinfeld Professor of Law
Faculty Co-Director, Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy
Max E. Greenberg Professor of Contract Law
William T. Comfort, III Professor of Law
Lloyd C. Nelson Professor of International Law
Charles L. Denison Professor of Law
Professor of Practice and Distinguished Scholar in Residence
Co-Director of the Legislative and Regulatory Process Clinic
Vice Dean, Global Programs
Murry and Ida Becker Professor of Law
Director, Institute for International Law and Justice
Faculty Director, Guarini Institute for Global Legal Studies
AnBryce Professor of Law
Dean Emeritus
Faculty Director, Institute for Policy Integrity
Professor of Law
Chair, Center for Human Rights and Global Justice
Director, Earth Rights Research & Action (TERRA) Clinic
Director, More-than-Human Rights (MOTH) Program
Professor of Law
Faculty Director, Center for Human Rights and Global Justice
Director, Global Justice Clinic
Faculty Director, Robert L. Bernstein Institute for Human Rights
Wilf Family Professor of Property Law
Director, Environmental and Energy Law LLM Program
Affiliated Faculty
- Ingrid Gould Ellen
Adjunct Faculty
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“I came to law school so that I could fight for environmental justice and equal access to environmental protections and benefits. I picked NYU Law so I could be surrounded by classmates also passionate about public interest work, and since coming here, I’ve met so many people doing amazing things in all sorts of different areas.”
Areas of Study
Get a sense of our academic specialties and the faculty that teach them—as well as the centers, colloquia, lectures, and student organizations that underscore them.
- Antitrust, Intellectual Property, & Information
- Cities & Land Use
- Constitutional, Civil Rights, & Democracy
- Corporate & Commercial Law
- Criminal Law & Administration
- Environmental
- Family, Gender, & Sexuality
- Global & International
- Human Rights
- Immigration
- Labor & Employment
- Law & Security
- Legal Theory, History, & the Social Sciences
- Litigation & Procedure
- Regulation & Public Policy
- Taxation