Faculty Directory

Jack Tuholske

Titles

  • In Memoriam
  • Professor of Law

Degrees

  • JD, University of Montana, 1985

Biography

Since graduating from the University of Montana School of Law with honors in 1985, Professor Jack Tuholske practiced public interest environmental litigation in state and federal court in Montana and the West for 35 years.  He had been lead counsel for over 50 published decisions, including over a dozen successful cases at the Montana Supreme Court in the fields of water pollution, land use, biodiversity, constitutional law, citizen suits and natural resource management.  In recognition of his public interest work, he received the William O. Douglas Award, the Sierra Club’s highest award, in 2002 and the Kerry Rydberg Award in 2010 by the University of Oregon Public Interest Environmental Law Conference.

Professor Tuholske’s passion for teaching led him into the classroom first at the University of Montana and then at Vermont Law School where he taught from 2003 to 2018.  Jack regarded VLS as an innovative institution and allowed him to create a unique two-week summer backpacking field seminar teaching public land management. In addition, he founded and was the Director of the VLS Water and Justice Program. He was appointed as the Faculty Advisor to the VLS U.S.-Asia Partnerships in Environmental Law and travelled to China fifteen times between 2011 and 2020.  In China Professor Tuholske worked with the Supreme People’s Court, National Judges College, National Procuratorate College, NGOs, attorneys, professors and students throughout China to collaborate in the development of environmental protection laws and practice.  In 2009 he also taught at the Law Faculty of University of Ljubljana in Slovenia as a Fulbright Scholar.

In addition to classroom teaching, he developed and taught the first online law class at VLS in 2011.  Professor Tuholske taught more than 30 online classes for VLS, designed and taught classes in climate crisis law and policy, administrative law and natural resources law.

His combination of courtroom advocacy, scholarship and classroom teaching provided him an “excellent bridge between legal theory and on-the-ground practice for environmental protection”.

Curriculum Vitae

Expertise

  • Environmental Litigation and Mediation

Departments

  • Administration
  • Environmental Law Center
  • New Economy Law Center
  • U.S.-Asia Partnerships for Environmental Law

Courses Taught

  • Administrative Law
  • Civil Procedure I
  • Climate Change Mitigation
  • Independent Research Project
  • Natural Resources Law
  • Public Lands Management: Montana Field Study
  • Water Resources Law
  • Watershed Management and Protection
  • Constitutional Law
  • Environmental Law