Summer at the Environmental Law Center

Term 1: THREE WEEKS SESSION

May 27 – June 12

(Exam Weekend June 14 – 15)

Ocean and Coastal Law

(3 credits)

Schedule: Tues May 27 – Fri May 30; Mon Jun 2 – Thur June 5; Mon Jun 9 – Thur June 12; Class time is 9:00am – 12:00pm

Course Description: Long neglected by lawmakers despite its essential ecological functions, the marine environment has increasingly been the focal point of conservation and natural resource management efforts. As a foundation for studying the laws that govern the marine environment, the course considers the natural components of estuarine, coastal, and marine ecosystems and the current conservation issues confronting them. We will review domestic and international laws and treaties relating to coastal management, pollution, protected areas, endangered species, fisheries, marine mammals, wetlands, marine spatial planning, and offshore energy resources, and examine alternative approaches to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of marine resources. The course considers the effectiveness of these legal regimes in providing rational and comprehensive management and protection of marine resources in the face of emerging threats from climate change, crashing fish stocks, and energy shortages, focusing on current events such as the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the International Whaling Commission debate over commercial whaling, and climate change threats to the Arctic.

Instructor:

JOSH EAGLE

Solomon Blatt Professor, Joseph F. Rice School of Law, University of South Carolina

Eagle’s research focuses on natural resources law and, in particular, on property law, ocean and coastal law, and wildlife law. Professor Eagle is a co-author of two law school textbooks, OCEAN AND COASTAL RESOURCES LAW and NATURAL RESOURCES LAW AND POLICY, and the author of many law review articles, peer-reviewed articles, and book chapters. He has served on two National Academy of Sciences study committees, multiple state working groups, and has testified before state legislatures, Congress, and at the White House. Before becoming a professor, Professor Eagle practiced law at the National Audubon Society and the U.S. Department of Justice and helped found the Stanford Fisheries Policy Project.

Three Essentials of the Electric Grid

(three 1-credit modules)

Module A:

Three Essentials of the Electric Grid: Engineering

(1 credit)

 Schedule: Week 1: Tues May 27 – Fri May 30; 9:00am – 12:00pm

Course Description: The engineering realities of energy infrastructure systems can greatly constrain the choices that lawyers and policy analysts might otherwise make. This module will cover the engineering fundamentals inherent in electric power grids and will explain how these engineering realities affect market and regulatory choices.

Instructor:

CHRIS ROOT

Chief Operating Officer, Vermont Electric Power Company

Root joined VELCO as chief operating officer in March 2014. He previously served as senior vice president of Network Strategy, a branch of National Grid. He completed the Program for Management Development at Harvard University Graduate School of Business and has authored, co-authored, and presented papers at various forums.

He received his BS degree in electrical engineering from Northeastern University and his MS in engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Module B:

Three Essentials of the Electric Grid: Business

(1 credit)

Schedule: Week 2: June 2-5

Course Description: This module will explore the key aspects related to the finances of the electric grid with a particular focus on understanding energy project finance and economics, including how they relate to a utility’s revenue requirement. The course will introduce students to basic financial statements, the importance of understanding tax impacts, and how to construct and evaluate a basic financial model for a distributed energy project, such as a solar or energy storage resource.

Instructor:

STEVEN LETENDRE

Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs, Fermata Energy

Dr. Letendre works to promote policies, regulations, and wholesale market reforms that unlock the value that V2G offers to the grid and customers. He has also worked collaboratively with numerous organizations including the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, California Air Resources Board, Green Mountain Power, and Smart Electric Power Alliance, among others. He has published over 100 technical reports and articles, which have been featured in numerous leading energy journals including The Electricity Journal, Public Utilities Fortnightly, Solar Today, Transportation Research, and Energy Policy.

Letendre holds a master’s degree in economics from Binghamton University and a doctorate in energy policy from the University of Delaware.

Module C:

Three Essentials of the Electric Grid: Legal

(1 credit)

Schedule: Week 3: June 9-12

Course Description: With the rise in urgency to address the climate crisis, the U.S. will need to

sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions and transition to a low-carbon economy. This module will examine this transition in the electric power sector, exploring in practice how the power of law and policy can be brought to bear through clean energy advocacy to make much-needed progress on mitigating the worst impacts of climate change. Through classroom discussion and exercises, this course will use real case studies related to “hot” issues for today’s electricity regulators, stakeholders, and market participants and explore substantive policy and skills- based knowledge, demonstrating how practitioners in the field are advancing clean energy policies at the national, regional, state, and local levels.

Instructor: Caroline Reiser

Caroline Reiser

Reiser litigates and advocates as a member of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s (“NRDC”) Sustainable FERC Project, a coalition-based initiative housed within NRDC that promotes the transition to a clean, low-carbon, and sustainable energy future. She previously advocated in support of communities impacted by the nuclear fuel chain as part of NRDC’s nuclear team. Before joining NRDC, Reiser worked as an attorney for Emory Law School’s Turner Environmental Law Clinic. Reiser is a graduate of the University of California Santa Barbara and the University of Irvine School of Law.

Ecology

(3 credits)

Schedule: June 2-5 and June 9-12

Mondays and Wednesdays 9:00am-1:00pm; Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:00am-4:00pm

Course Description: Ecology is an integrative science that can provide insight into many contemporary environmental problems. Through visits to a variety of field sites in central Vermont, readings, and lectures, this course will explore the principles of ecology using a hands-on, interdisciplinary approach. Course work stresses the inventorying of biotic and physical components of a landscape (pieces), examining how these pieces are distributed (patterns), and determining what forces drive these patterns (processes). Topics will include interpreting the natural and cultural histories of a landscape, biodiversity conservation, and the scientific method, among others. This course requires minimal previous scientific understanding. This is a limited-enrollment course.

Instructors: Walter Poleman & Tom Lautzenheiser

WALTER POLEMAN

Senior Lecturer, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Vermont

Poleman teaches courses in integrated field science, landscape ecology, and measurements and mapping of natural resources. He also serves as the director of the Place-based Landscape Analysis and Community Engagement

(PLACE) Program, a partnership of the University of Vermont and Shelburne Farms, which provides local residents with a forum for exploring and understanding the natural and cultural history of their town landscape. He received his BS degree in biology from Cornell University and his MS and PhD degrees from the University of Vermont.

TOM LAUTZENHEISER

Senior Conservation Ecologist, Central/West, Massachusetts Audubon Society

Lautzenheiser is an expert field naturalist concentrating on plants,  reptiles, amphibians, butterflies, and landscape interpretation. He is also a skilled community ecologist with particular interest in wetlands and rich northern hardwood forests. Lautzenheiser is responsible for guiding ecological management planning for Massachusetts Audubon’s 33,000-acre sanctuary network and works with his land protection, science, and property management colleagues to ensure that Massachusetts Audubon’s activities consistently achieve their conservation goals. He received his BS degrees in biology and environmental studies from Tufts University and his MS degree in natural resource planning/ecological planning from the University of Vermont.

Term 1: Weekend Intensive

May 30 – June 1

Food System Equity and Critical Race Theory

(1 credit)

Schedule: Friday 1-5pm; Saturday 9:30am-12:00pm and 1:30-4:00pm; Sunday 9:00am-12:00pm

Course Description: At the turn of the twentieth century, Blacks owned 16-19 million acres of land; today, they own less than two million acres. Significant legislation and institutional policy perpetuate anti-black racism, which is firmly rooted in disproportionate property dispossession.

The corresponding wealth inequities in land have far-reaching implications for political, economic, and health inequities. This course will explore the unique opportunities presented by agriculture system policy to create a model for eliminating systemic

anti-blackness. The course will lay an analytical foundation through examining readings on critical race theory and agriculture policy. The course will explore, as a case study, the policy priorities of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund,

a nonprofit cooperative association serving Black farmers, landowners, and cooperatives as they advocate for a community-led, cooperatively owned, equitable food system.

Instructor:

DÃNIA DAVY

Senior Policy Advisor, U.S. Southeast Region, Oxfam

At Oxfam, Davy leads state-level policy advocacy in Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and North Carolina amplifying the leadership of feminine and minoritized peoples on the frontlines of worker abuses and climate change. Prior to her current role, she served as director of land retention and advocacy at the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund. She began her legal career as a Skadden Fellow at the NCABL Land Loss Prevention Project implementing a project she designed that provided community education and estate planning services to improve Black farmers’ access to legal services in the rural South. She currently serves on the board of the Southern Rural Development Center. She received her BA degree from Brown University and her JD degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Animal Undercover Investigations

(2 credits)

Schedule: Thursday 5/30, 1-5pm; Friday 5/31, 8am-12pm & 1-5pm; Saturday 6/1, 8am-12pm and 1-5pm; Sunday 6/2, 8am-12pm

Course Description: What are undercover investigations? Why do animal advocacy organizations conduct them? In this course, students will explore a variety of legal considerations as they relate to conducting undercover investigations of animal operations. Specifically, students will examine the intersection of criminal law, tort, and ethical issues, as well as what does and does not constitute actionable animal cruelty.

We will discuss evidentiary issues, taking action, pursuing litigation, and corporate liability. We will examine how undercover investigations have changed the legal landscape for animals as well as the methods by which the industry has pushed back at this animal advocacy tactic. Throughout the course, we will discuss the ways in which undercover investigations and resultant prosecutions implicate social justice issues, assessing whether the stated goal of deterrent effect outweighs the potential disparate impact on individual low-wage workers.

Instructor:

MARGARET YORK JD’15

Senior Policy Counsel, Director of LGBTQ+ Family Law and Policy, Family Equality

York was previously an attorney at the South Royalton Legal Clinic at VLGS. Prior to working at the SRLC, she worked as a family law attorney in Windham County, Vermont, where she represented clients in divorce, parentage, custody, and adoption proceedings. She also supported the specific legal needs of the LGBTQ community. She has worked as a contract juvenile defense attorney representing children and parents in abuse and neglect cases, and her background also includes working with various nonprofits focused on animal welfare issues. She received her JD degree from Vermont Law School and her BA degree from Sonoma State University.

Term 1: Weekend Intensive

June 6-7

Climate and Environmental Sustainability

(1 credit)

Schedule: Friday 11:00am-1:00pm & 3:00-5:00pm (Burlington, VT); Saturday 11:00am-1:00pm & 3:00-5:00pm (South Royalton, VT)

Course Description: This course will provide an in-depth look at current climate and sustainability regulation, as well as the issues arising from voluntary climate pledges and sustainability policies. Although the course will focus on laws in the United States, it will consider them within the broader context of international efforts. Students will develop a strong understanding of current legal requirements, the factors driving companies to develop and implement climate and sustainability policies, laws governing “greenwashing,” and best practices for complying with and anticipating legal requirements in this area.

Instructors: Karen McGaffey

Karen McGaffey

Perkins Coie, LLP

McGaffey has more than 30 years of experience practicing environmental and energy law. She counsels clients on compliance and regulatory matters under federal and state environmental laws, advises them on the environmental aspects of business transactions, and represents them in environmental litigation. McGaffey co-leads Perkins Coie’s national energy law practice. With an emphasis on project development, she counsels clients on the development of all types of energy facilities, including wind, solar, hydrogen, renewable fuels, electricity storage, and transmission lines. McGaffey regularly advises clients on strategic business and policy matters concerning energy facility siting, renewable energy, climate change, and sustainability.

Introduction to Cannabis Law

(1 credit)

Schedule: Schedule: Friday 11:00am-1:00pm & 3:00-5:00pm (Burlington, VT); Saturday 11:00am-1:00pm & 3:00-5:00pm (South Royalton, VT)

Course Description: This course will survey historical and policy considerations relating to cannabis regulation and enforcement, explore the current and anticipated regulatory landscapes, and integrate considerations of note to practitioners in this rapidly developing field. While understanding the roots of cannabis

prohibition is essential to our study, our conversation on contemporary regulation will focus primarily on transactional and administrative elements.

Instructors: Benjamin Varadi & Tim Fair

BENJAMIN C. VARADI

Assistant Professor of Law, Vermont Law and Graduate School

Prior to joining VLGS, Varadi was an attorney in private practice, primarily representing cannabis entrepreneurs, as well as leaders in other emerging industries, regulated vices, and cultural outskirts. He was previously a partner at a New Orleans firm, a research fellow at the Tulane Center for Intellectual Property Law and Culture, managing attorney of the Common Ground Relief Legal Clinic, and a guest lecturer at the Loyola University New Orleans College

of Law Technology and Legal Innovation Clinic. He has taught continuing legal education and industry workshops on a wide variety of legal and technical topics. He is a member of the Board of Directors for Firefly Gathering, a permaculture and earth skills education resource.

He received his JD degree from Tulane University Law School and his BA degree from Burlington College.

TIMOTHY FAIR JD’12

Founder, Vermont Cannabis Solutions

Fair has been a vocal advocate for both cannabis and overall drug policy reform for most of his adult life. Since becoming an attorney in 2012, he has been fortunate enough to be part of the statewide movement to legalize cannabis in Vermont. Fair has been featured on a number of podcasts and radio shows, including The “Ganjapreneur Podcast”, VPR’s “Vermont Edition,” Paris Marketing’s “Creative Warrior” podcast, and a weekly segment on the “In The Weeds” radio show. Fair has spoken on the topic of cannabis law at numerous seminars and events across the country and helped design and teach the first continuing legal education course on Cannabis Business Law in Vermont. He received his JD degree from Vermont Law School.

Term 2: Two Weeks Session

Tues. June 16 – Thur. 19; Tues. June 28 – Thur. 26 (No class: June 19)

(Weekend Exam: June 28-29)

Land Conservation Law

(2 credits)

Schedule: 8:30am – 12:00pm

Course Description: Increasingly important in our efforts to protect ecological diversity, climate resiliency, historic places, working lands, scenic viewsheds, open spaces, and public uses of land are conservation tools and processes such as donation of conservation easements, purchase of sensitive lands, and private/public partnerships for land conservation. Students will research and review the swiftly developing body of law and legal issues accompanying the use of conservation easements and will gain a practical understanding of both the legal and nonlegal dimensions of land conservation transactions involving conservation easements. In addition, students will actively engage in the progression of a conservation easement transaction, beginning with early negotiations, drafting, and financial/ tax analysis, and proceeding along a spectrum to donation, amendment and termination evaluation, violation, and enforcement. Each student will be responsible for engaging in role-playing exercises throughout the conservation transaction process to assess various financial/tax scenarios, identify and resolve disputes related to the conservation transaction, and negotiate and draft a conservation easement.

Instructor:

JESSICA JAY JD/MSEL’97

Founding Partner, Conservation Law, P.C.

Jay represents easement holders and landowners to conserve working landscapes and environmentally significant properties in Colorado and the Rocky Mountain West. She engages easement holders, professionals, and landowners in educational workshops. She teaches Land Conservation Law at Denver University Law School. She collaborates with the conservation community to defend conservation easements and their incentives, shape emerging conservation law and policy, and inspire new conservation endeavors. Jay received her JD and MSEL degrees from Vermont Law School and her BA degree from Bowdoin College.

Biodiversity Protection

(2 credits)

Schedule: 8:30am – 12:00pm

Course Description: Across the globe, wildlife and its habitat are increasingly threatened by human-caused habitat destruction, exploitation, poaching, illegal trade, invasive species, disease, and climate change. This course examines what biodiversity is, the growing threats to it, and U.S. and international laws to combat those threats. The course focuses on statutes, case law, environmental ethics, and current controversies to highlight legal, scientific, and political strategies for protecting biodiversity. Particular emphasis is placed on the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

Instructor:

DAVID TAKACS

Professor of Law, University of California Hastings College of the Law

Takacs has been a consultant for international NGOs and U.S. government agencies, analyzing legal and policy issues pertaining to REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) and global climate change. His scholarly work addresses carbon offsetting, biodiversity conservation law, the human right to water, and legal personhood for nonhuman entities. Before his legal career, he was a professor in Earth Systems Science & Policy at CSU Monterey Bay, a lecturer in the John S. Knight Writing Program at Cornell, and a Peace Corps Forestry Volunteer in Senegal. Takacs received his JD degree from the University of California Hastings College of the Law, his LLM degree from the School of Oriental & African Studies at the University of London, and his BS, MA, and PhD degrees from Cornell University.

Environmental Justice

(2 credits)

Schedule: 1:00pm – 4:30pm

Course Description:

Since 1979, the environmental justice movement is aimed at avoiding, minimizing, or mitigating is proportionately adverse human health and environmental impacts, including social and economic impacts, on minority, indigenous, and/or low-income communities, and for those communities to be engaged meaningfully in environmental decision-making processes. This course examines this environmental and public health problem. It explores how environmental justice concerns are framed and addressed/resolved through, among other things, acts of civil disobedience; federal, state and local government initiatives; litigation; citizens’ suits; public comment letters; collaborative problem solving; and alternative dispute resolution. This course examines the extrinsic link between environmental justice and sustainable development, and how the EPA, the ABA, and NGOs have been engaged in a number of initiatives to secure sustainable communities for all in the U.S.

Instructor:

BARRY E. HILL

Visiting Scholar, Environmental Law Institute

Hill has been the senior counsel for environmental governance of the Office of International and Tribal Affairs at U.S. EPA; the director of the Office of Environmental Justice at EPA; the associate solicitor of the Division of Conservation and Wildlife; and the director of the Office of Hearings and Appeals of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Prior to that, he was of counsel at Dickstein Shapiro, LLP; special counsel to the attorney general of the District of Columbia; legal counsel to the inspector general of the EPA; and an assistant district attorney in Brooklyn. He has been the recipient of several distinguished achievement awards in environmental justice. He is the author of Environmental Justice: Legal Theory and Practice. He has authored or co-authored more than 20 articles in scholarly and professional journals. He received his BA degree from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York; his MA degree from Howard University; and his JD degree from Cornell.

Term 2: Weekend Intensive

June 20-22

Farmworkers and the Law

(1 credit)

Schedule: Friday-Sunday, 10:00am-12:00pm and 1:00pm-3:00pm

Course Description: There are over two million farmworkers growing, tending, harvesting, and packing agricultural products in the United States yet they have long been excluded from core labor protections. This course looks at the ways law and policy have failed these essential workers and the movements, campaigns, and worker-led initiatives seeking to address these deficits. The course materials bring together sociological insights with legal analysis to ensure students understand the context in which law and policy operate. Focus areas include wage and hour law, the H-2A visa program, the joint employer standard, occupational health and safety, and worker-led organizing efforts.

Instructor:

EMMA SCOTT

Clinical Instructor, Food Law and Policy Clinic, Lecturer on Law, Harvard Law School

Scott leads the FLPC’s Sustainable and Equitable Food Production Initiative, including advocacy on farm bill policy, food system workers, and equity in USDA programs. She is the supervising attorney for the Mississippi Delta Project (an HLS student practice organization) and leads the FLPC’s ongoing partnerships in the Mississippi Delta region. Prior to joining FLPC, she served as an attorney-fellow at California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation in the Labor and Civil Rights Litigation Unit (supported by Justice Catalyst). Before that, she clerked on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California for the Hon. John A. Mendez. She received her JD degree from Harvard Law School and her BS degree from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Offshore Wind Permitting

(1 credit)

Schedule: Friday 1:00pm-5:00pm; Saturday 9:30am-12:00pm & 1:30-4:00pm; Sunday 9:00am-12:00pm

Course Description: Offshore wind development in the U.S. is growing at a rapid pace as companies invest hundreds of millions of dollars to obtain offshore leases from the federal government and the right to invest billions more to develop, construct, and operate massive offshore wind farms. This course will examine the statutory and regulatory frameworks that govern offshore renewable energy leases, and the permitting requirements associated with project development and construction and the ways in which they have been challenged in the courts. Students completing this course will obtain a firm understanding of the permitting framework for offshore wind projects and the potential legal challenges associated with their development, construction, and finance.

Instructor: Joshua Belcher

JOSHUA BELCHER JD/MSEL’08

Partner, Holland & Knight LLP

Belcher has an international, multidisciplinary practice guiding clients through mergers and acquisitions, financings, project development, and energy and environmental commodities transactions, with a focus on helping companies identify and manage complex environmental and regulatory business risks. He has extensive experience in both the development and acquisition of utility-scale energy projects, including wind (onshore and offshore), solar (onshore and floating), solar plus storage, renewable natural gas, biomass, and combined heat and power facilities. He has advised several offshore developers in the nuances of federal law applicable to the leasing, siting and permitting of offshore wind projects and related infrastructure. He received his JD and Master of Studies in Environmental Law degrees from Vermont Law School.

Term 3: One Week Session

July 7 – 10

(Exam Weekend: July 8-9)

July 14 – 17

(Exam Weekend: July 19-20)

Environmental Jurisprudence

(1 credit)

Schedule: July 7 – 10

Course Description: Federal Environmental Policy under Trump II: In this course we will survey the second Trump Administration’s ongoing efforts broadly to alter federal environmental policy, including its efforts to undo numerous Biden Administration rules and broadly to reverse or terminate numerous federal climate policies.

Instructor:

SEAN DONAHUE

Partner, Donahue, Goldberg, & Littleton

Donahue’s practice is focused on appellate litigation, with a focus on complex environmental and administrative law cases in federal and state appellate courts. He served as law clerk to then-D.C. Circuit Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and to Justice John Paul Stevens. After entering practice at Jenner & Block, he spent four years at the Appellate Section of the Department of Justice’s Environmental and Natural Resources Division. Since establishing his own practice in 2002, he has represented environmental and public health organization parties in numerous major environmental and clean energy cases in the Supreme Court and the courts of appeals. He has taught at Iowa College of Law, Washington & Lee University School of Law, Georgetown University Law Center, and Stanford Law School. He received his JD degree from the University of Chicago Law School.

The Rights of Nature

(1 credit)

Schedule: July 7 – 10

Course Description: Can law save the planet? This course investigates a legal movement that in recent years has been the subject of enormous interest and excitement both in the United States and abroad. Known as the Rights of Nature, this approach begins from the premise that existing environmental law is inadequate to the problems of climate change, mass extinction, and habitat loss. It proposes strategies based on granting legal personhood to aspects of nature. The course explores both the promise and problems with this strategy around the globe while also excavating the field’s origins, current practice, and future.

Instructor:

JAMES SALZMAN  

Donald Bren Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law, Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, University of California Santa Barbara and University of California Los Angeles

In more the seventy articles and seven books, Professor Salzman’s broad-ranging scholarship has addressed topics spanning trade and environment conflicts, the history of drinking water, environmental protection in the service economy, wetlands mitigation banking, and the legal and institutional issues in creating markets for ecosystem services. He has lectured on environmental law and policy on every continent except Antarctica and has served as a visiting professor at Yale, Stanford, and Harvard, as well as at universities in Australia, Sweden, Israel, Italy, and Portugal. Prior to teaching, he worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the OECD, and as the European Environmental Manager for Johnson Wax.

Professor Salzman received his MSc and JD degrees from Harvard and his BA degree from Yale College.

Renewable Energy Development

(1 credit)

Schedule: July 7 – July 10

Course Description: This course will provide an in-depth look at the legal and regulatory issues associated with the development and project financing of renewable energy projects such as wind, hydro, solar, and battery storage. After completing this course, students will have a solid understanding of how to help vet the economics of renewable projects and get them permitted, financed, built, hooked-up to the grid, and operational.

Instructors:

BRIAN POTTS JD’04

Partner, Husch Blackwell

Potts has appeared in more than 50 administrative proceedings and dozens of federal and state court cases. He has been involved in billions of dollars’ worth of business transactions and has helped his clients obtain regulatory approvals to build more than $4 billion dollars’ worth of utility infrastructure in various states, including conventional power plants, transmission lines, wind farms, and solar facilities. He is a contributor at Forbes.com, where he regularly offers commentary on energy and environmental law topics. Potts received his LLM degree from the University of California Berkeley, his JD degree from Vermont Law School, and his BS degree from Centre College.

KAREN MCGAFFEY

Perkins Coie, LLP

Karen McGaffey has more than 30 years of experience practicing environmental and energy law.  Karen counsels clients on compliance and regulatory matters under federal and state environmental laws, advises them on the environmental aspects of business transactions, and represents them in environmental litigation.  Karen co-leads Perkins Coie’s national energy law practice.  With an emphasis on project development, Karen counsels clients on the development of all types of energy facilities, including wind, solar, hydrogen, renewable fuels, electricity storage, and transmission lines.  Karen regularly advises clients on strategic business and policy matters concerning energy facility siting, renewable energy, climate change, and sustainability.

Prosecuting Environmental Crimes

(1 credit)

Schedule: July 14 – 17

Course Description:  Congress established three avenues for enforcing federal pollution and wildlife statutes—administrative, civil, and criminal. This course explores when criminal prosecution is the appropriate choice and how to build the most impactful case. See, through past prosecutions, how to raise public awareness of and change conduct that threatens human health and the environment.

Instructor:

DEBORAH L. HARRIS

Chief, Environmental Crimes Section,

U.S. Department of Justice

Harris supervises an office of 42 prosecutors responsible for the prosecution of environmental and wildlife crimes nationwide. She coordinates national legislative, policy, and training efforts in the criminal enforcement program, and co-chairs the Department’s Environmental Crimes Policy Committee. She has worked in the Environmental Crimes Section since November 1999. Previously, she was a staff attorney for the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia.

Harris received her LLM in trial advocacy from the Georgetown University Law Center, her JD degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law, and her BA degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

International Climate Litigation (1 credit)

Schedule: July 14 – July 17

Course Description: This course examines the rapidly evolving field of international climate litigation. Students will explore legal actions addressing climate change across various jurisdictions and tribunals, including the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). A focal point of the course will be an in-depth examination of the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion on the obligations of states in respect of climate change, currently under advisement with a judgment expected in 2025. The course also addresses structural attributes and examples of climate litigation in foreign jurisdictions such as the Netherlands, Colombia, Pakistan, Germany, and Australia. The course emphasizes skill development, enabling students to effectively address emerging issues in this dynamic field. It will likely include a simulated argument before an international tribunal, providing practical experience in international legal proceedings. No prior exposure to international law, climate law and policy, comparative law, or international tribunals is expected or required.

Instructor:

DAVID A. WIRTH

Professor of Law, Boston College Law School

Wirth teaches environmental, administrative, public international, and foreign relations law. Previously, he was senior attorney and co-director of international programs for the Natural Resources Defense Council and attorney- advisor for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs for the U.S. Department of State. He is the author of more than five dozen books, articles, and reports on international environmental law and policy for both legal and popular audiences. A graduate of Yale Law School, he holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in chemistry from Princeton and Harvard, respectively.

Term 4: One Week Session

July 21 – 24

(Exam Weekend: August 25-26)

July 28-31

(Exam Weekend: August 2-3)

Environmental Law and Policy in the Developing World (1 credit)

Schedule: July 21 – 24

Course Description: This course introduces students to the challenges faced by developing countries in creating, implementing and enforcing effective environmental laws and policies. It compares systems of environmental governance in developing countries with a particular focus on countries in Asia and Africa. Many of these countries, despite accounting for only small shares of global environmental problems like climate change, are among the principal victims of them. Building on the work of Vermont Law’s U.S.-Asia Partnership, this course examines several case studies that illustrate how environmental law and policy is evolving in the developing world.

Instructor: Robert Percival

ROBERT PERCIVAL

Director of the Environmental Law Program, Robert F. Stanton Professor of Law, University of Maryland

Percival served as a law clerk for Judge Shirley M. Hufstedler of the Ninth Circuit and for Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White, and spent six years

as an attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund. He has served as a visiting professor at Harvard Law School and Georgetown University Law Center. He is the principal author of the most widely used environmental law casebook. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing in 2008 and has worked with China’s Supreme People’s Court, the National People’s Congress, the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection, and the China Council on International Cooperation for Environment and Development. He has presented lectures at more than 30 Chinese universities and in 2009 he represented the U.S. State Department on a lecture tour of China.

Percival received his JD and MA degrees from Stanford University and his BA degree from Macalester College.

Public Lands Management: Montana Field Study

(2 credits)

Schedule: July 21 – 24 (Off site in MT)

Course Description: The Montana Field Study is a unique experiential learning opportunity. This class focuses on National Forest Management. Students experience forest management, wilderness, recreation, and roadless issues first-hand, in the wilds of Montana and Idaho. Almost the entire class is held in the field; we camp and hike into remote places. Instructor permission is required; contact the Environmental Law Center for further information.

Instructor:

CHELSEA L.M. COLWYN MELP’11

Staff Attorney, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Ms. Colwyn has worked as a Fulbright Scholar in Adelaide, South Australia,
studying environmental water buybacks; a Research Fellow with Vermont Law School’s Water and Justice Program, studying the history of the U.S. Forest Service and California water law; a Hansard Society
Research Fellow at the London School of Economics, studying England’s privatized water sector; and at American Rivers. She received her JD degree from Yale Law School, where she was selected as a Wyss Scholar for western conservation; her MELP degree from VLS; and her BA degree
from Dartmouth College.

Limited to 12 students.

Introduction to the Farm Bill

(1 credit)

Schedule: July 21 – July 24

Course Description: Throughout the history and political development of federal food and agricultural policies — from their origin in the 1930’s (the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl) through the most recent farm bill debate in Congress — American food and agricultural policies have been the subject of strenuous debate and criticism. Contemporary criticisms include concerns about the health of people and the environment, while other concerns focus on federal spending and governmental footprint. Much attention is focused on the Farm Bill, omnibus Federal legislation that authorizes myriad food and agricultural policies for the Nation. This class provides an introduction to these policies and to the difficult, complex, but incredibly resilient, Farm Bill.

The class is designed to introduce federal agricultural and food policies while also helping develop an understanding of public policymaking, Congress, and Federal legislation. It will cover farm assistance, risk management, natural resource conservation, low-income food assistance, and other related policies. Students will also learn about the Congressional budget disciplines and partisan polarization, with a focus on the impacts these have had on the process of policymaking and legislating. At the conclusion of this course, students should be able to understand the scope of the Farm Bill, analyze the programs and policies authorized by it, and articulate nuanced views on the substantive policy issues, political dynamics, and legislative processes of the modern Farm Bill.

Instructor:

Jonathan Coppess

Leonard and Lila Gardner-Illinois Farm Bureau Family of Companies Endowed Associate Professor of Agricultural Policy in the Department of Agricultural & Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Coppess is a member of the Farmdoc project and a frequent contributor to Farmdoc Daily. He leads the Gardner Agricultural Policy Program and the Policy Design Lab. He is the author of two books on the legislative history and political development of farm policy (THE FAULT LINES OF FARM POLICY, 2018; and BETWEEN SOIL AND SOCIETY, 2024).

Coppess previously served as Chief Counsel for the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, as well as on a temporary, part-time basis as a special counsel. Prior to his service on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, Coppess served as the Administrator of the Farm Service Agency at USDA and Legislative Assistant to Senator Ben Nelson. Prior to his time in Washington, DC, he was a litigation associate at Freeborn & Peters LLP in Chicago, IL.

Coppess earned his Bachelor’s from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and his Juris Doctor from The George Washington University Law School in Washington, DC.

Animal Welfare Law

(1 credit)

Schedule: July 28-31

Course Description: A broad and rapidly evolving field of law has developed concerning the welfare of animals that are used for a variety of human purposes, including food, entertainment, research, and companionship. Animals used for these purposes often endure a wide range of abuses that diminish animal welfare while also having an impact on humans. Public views about such uses of animals are rapidly changing. The class will combine traditional principles of animal welfare laws and advocacy with laws typically applied in the wildlife conservation context, such as the Endangered Species and Marine Mammal Protection Acts.

This class will examine the role of law in understanding and reforming the relationship between humans and animals and improving the condition of animals maintained for human profit and entertainment. Students in the class will learn the role of legal institutions and regimes in promoting animal welfare. Past and current litigation, regulatory, and legislative efforts on behalf of animal welfare will be covered, with case studies and current developments.

Instructor:

HEATHER D. RALLY

Independent Consultant

Rally has led investigative and enforcement actions in cases of abuse of animals in roadside zoos, circuses, and other captive-animal exhibits in the U.S. She has specific training in marine mammals and serves on the Advisory Committee of the Whale Sanctuary Project and as a veterinarian for the Oceanic Preservation Society. She has been a featured speaker in several professional forums and has lectured on wildlife conservation and animal welfare topics at colleges and universities across the country. She has published numerous articles on ocean conservation and wildlife and is a co-author of the chapter on “Animal Welfare and the Endangered Species Act” in the third edition of the American Bar Association treatise on The Endangered Species Act Law and Policy (2021). Rally received her DVM degree from the Western University of Health Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, and her BS degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Global Energy Law & Policy

(1 credit)

Schedule: July 28-31

Course Description: Global Energy Law and Policy explores the current policy framework in a particular region outside of the United States with a focus on clean energy policies. The course will explore the region’s policy development process, the current energy policy framework, policies implementing global and regional climate commitments and emerging issues.

Instructor: Anna Butenko

Post Term 4

Environmental Governance Field Study

(1 credit)

Course Description: This field study course will provide students with an in-depth understanding of the legal and policy issues surrounding environmental governance.

Instructor:

Robert Percival

Director of the Environmental Law Program, Robert F. Stanton Professor of Law, University of Maryland

Percival served as a law clerk for Judge Shirley M. Hufstedler of the Ninth Circuit and for Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White, and spent six years

as an attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund. He has served as a visiting professor at Harvard Law School and Georgetown University Law Center. He is the principal author of the most widely used environmental law casebook. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing in 2008 and has worked with China’s Supreme People’s Court, the National People’s Congress, the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection, and the China Council on International Cooperation for Environment and Development. He has presented lectures at more than 30 Chinese universities and in 2009 he represented the U.S. State Department on a lecture tour of China.

Percival received his JD and MA degrees from Stanford University and his BA degree from Macalester College.

Energy Law: Professor Mijin Cha, University of California Santa Cruz

Climate Law: Madison Condon, Boston University School of Law

Environmental Law: Sharmila Murthy, Northeaster University School of Law and the College of Social
Sciences; White House Council on Environmental Quality

Animal Law: TBD

Media fellows have access to our distinguished faculty and visiting policy leaders. They can
meet for on- or off-record conversations with these experts, developing new insights, meeting
new sources, and gaining renewed enthusiasm for covering the critical issues in climate change,
animal law, energy, food and agriculture, and other areas. Each fellow will choose to audit a
course from a selection of topics within their specific fellowship category.

Our three Environmental Law Media Fellows audit environmental courses for two weeks in June or July. These fellows will receive a $1,250 stipend, free housing, and a tuition waiver (travel not included) (one week is available at a $625 stipend).

Our two Environmental Law Media Fellows may
audit one two-week, two-credit environmental course in June or July. These fellows will receive
a $1,250 stipend, free housing, and a tuition waiver (travel not included).

Thanks to funding from the American Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals® (ASPCA®), our two Animal Law Media Fellows will receive free housing, a tuition waiver, a $750 stipend, and travel reimbursement. Fellows may audit the weekend-intensive Undercover Investigations of Animal Operations or one-week Animal Welfare Law course.

View the Summer Session Course Catalog for all course descriptions and schedules for more
information.

Media fellows also take part in the Summer Session’s lunch series, “Hot Topics in Environmental
Law,” delivering a 45-minute, informal lecture on an environmental, food and agriculture, or
animal law and policy topic of their choosing. Outside of classroom time, fellows can also enjoy
the beauty of our campus, historic South Royalton, and rural Vermont. Family members are
welcome.

Fellowships are open to journalists who cover issues such as natural resources, energy, legal
affairs, public health, food and agriculture, animal law and policy, and other environment related subjects. They are open to staff, freelance, and independent reporters, writers, editors,
and producers who are working full-time as journalists. Journalism students and teachers,
public relations practitioners, and contributors to newsletters, magazines, and other media
controlled by industry, government, or advocacy groups are not eligible.

Fellows are selected based on the quality of their ability to reach a broad audience including
the applicant’s work history, samples, and commitment to covering environmental law and
policy, animal protection, or agriculture and farm systems topics and their potential for
increasing understanding of these issues nationwide.

VLGS looks for journalists who are from different geographic areas, at different career stages, in
different types of media, and who work for a variety of news organizations. Journalists from
BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and other underrepresented communities are encouraged to apply.

Apply Today

For questions or inquiries, please contact ELC@vermontlaw.edu.

COMING SOON!

COMING SOON!

COMING SOON!