Here are the 10 best environmental law schools in the USA with a relatively fair acceptance rate and accurate information on their admission requirements, scholarship aids, and other vital information.
This post was packaged for potential participant of this topic. It can be accessed by other areas of discipline. You’ll need to achieve eligibility in any school of your choice.
If you have strong feelings for the natural and atmospheric terrain of your society, why not put those to work by practicing environmental law?
If you’re lucky enough to know the exact practice area you’re interested in post-graduation, then you probably want to take a look at the latest U.S. News Specialty Rankings.
Although it should be noted what specialty you want to practice as an attorney may vastly differ from the ideas you have before you enter law school.
The environment continues to be a hot topic in the United States. Everyone from a politician to your neighbor has an opinion of the state of the environment.
As you may have guessed, there are tons of laws surrounding the environment and a growing need for environmental lawyers who understand the ins and outs of the ever-changing legislation.
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What is Environmental Law?
Environmental law (also known as E.Law) is the broad area of law that examines a range of issues related to the environment; this includes water and hazardous waste.
Other environmental issues include; air quality, species protection, wetlands, biodiversity, agriculture, green initiatives, waste management, sustainability strategies, and alternative energy sources.
It also looks at the regulation and usage of our natural resources.
Did you know that there are laws in place worldwide and locally that regulate things such as noise levels to chemical discharges and remediation?
Issues such as pollutants and their containment, transport, and clean-up make up a large number of cases that you will be dealing with.
What’s more, the usage of fossil fuels such as oil and gas is also highly regulated and falls under the purview of an environmental lawyer.
E.law courses cover topics including climate change, conservation, energy policy, public health, food systems, and sustainability.
Though many law schools have classes in environmental law that students can elect to take, several American schools have standout programs.
Expertise in E.law can lead to careers at law firms, nonprofit organizations, corporations, or governmental agencies.
E.law focuses on the interplay between humans and the environment. With ongoing debates surrounding climate change, environmental law is quickly becoming one of the most relevant and highly sought law school concentrations.
Careers in environmental law can follow many paths. Some environmental lawyers work as advisors to businesses and corporations. Others represent individuals in environmental lawsuits.
Organizations that champion terrain protection also abound, as do opportunities to make a change in government agencies and policy roles.
A strong E.law program teaches students how to navigate this ever-shifting landscape.
In addition to a strong environmental law curriculum, top schools offer E.law institutes, climate centers, and the opportunity to learn from leaders in the field.
The following ten law schools offer some of the nation’s best environmental law programs.
Many people are being drawn to environmental law. It focuses on protecting our natural resources.
And climate change is affecting our lives in major ways, with experts saying that the recent wildfires in California, the deadliest ever, were fueled in part by atmospheric warming.
10 Best Environmental Law Schools in the USA
We’re looking at the rankings for a practice area that will become increasingly important as the impacts of global climate change and affect the world around us.
1. Lewis and Clark Law School
Lewis & Clark Law School was the first environmental law program in the United States. Offering 26 courses and 18 seminars, the program also includes an LL.M. in E. Law and a Master of Studies in Environmental and Natural Resources Law.
Along with a full-time externship, students can gain practical experience through internships in animal law, surrounding prosecution, natural resources law, and environmental justice and civil rights.
The school also hosts the Green Energy Institute, which manages projects and formulates policy on renewable energy, and the National Resources Law Institute.
The Law institutes coordinates over 20 education programs, including environmental law training for judges, lawyers, and domestic and international agencies.
You can speak to a Utility Saving Expert and learn how to save on energy. Also, the school publishes two respected law journals: Environmental Law Review and Animal Law.
Lewis & Clark Law School’s Environmental, Natural Resources, & Energy Law program shares the top spot with Pace University.
The extensive, year-long environmental curriculum allows students to choose from a breadth of courses.
Students can earn academic credit working in a medium externship recent placements have included law firms and government organizations in Oregon, the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.
And internationally at the Center for International E.Law in Geneva, Switzerland. Locally, students gain practical experience in public interest E.law through one of Lewis & Clark’s legal clinics, the Earthrise Law Center.
Official Website: Lewis & Clark Law School
2. Harvard University Law School
Harvard Law School offers one of the world’s most innovative and renowned programs in environmental law.
The school’s Environmental & Energy Law Program leads policy discussions on environmental, climate, and energy issues, and prepares students to do the same.
In addition to numerous courses focused on environmental law, the school offers student fellowships to fund summer work in the public interest environmental law field.
Opportunities to put classroom lessons to work starts early at Harvard Law School.
Through the school’s Student Practice Organizations, first-year students can test their legal skills by helping local musicians understand copyright laws or representing state prison inmates at disciplinary hearings, among other opportunities.
Older students can partake in HLS legal clinics, the largest offering of any school in the world. All students must complete at least 40 hours of pro bono, or volunteer, work before graduating.
HLS is unique in its grading procedures; instead of traditional letter grades, students receive a distinction of honors, pass, low pass, or fail.
The HLS buildings are folded into the university campus in Harvard Square, a hub of student life with restaurants, bars, and shops in Cambridge, Mass.
Students can live in on-campus dormitories, suites, and apartments, though more than 60 percent find housing off-campus.
To give legal education a global slant, students can check out the joint J.D./LL.M. program between HLS and the U.K.’s University of Cambridge or can study abroad for a three-week winter term or a semester.
Harvard provides a rigorous practical curriculum through its Emmett E.Law and Policy Clinic, which trains students to perform actual legal and policy work.
Students handle local, national, and international projects covering a range of environmental law issues in a variety of settings and gain experience from some of the world’s leading environmental law experts.
Official Website: Harvard University Law School
3. Vermont Law School
Vermont Law School campus, in the South Royalton Historic District, Royalton, Vermont.
VLS offers one of the country’s largest and leading comprehensive environmental law programs.
According to VLS, the school offers more degrees, more certificates, more faculty, and more research centers than any other school focused on environmental law.
Through the Environmental Law Center, students at VLS delve into critical environmental issues concerning climate, energy, land use, and more.
Beyond regular courses throughout the academic year, Vermont’s Environmental Law Center also assembles a summer session, which is focused specifically on environmental law and policy issues.
In addition to its J.D. program, VLS also offers a Master of Environmental Law and Policy program, which is focused on advocacy, regulations, legislation, and markets.
VLS is one of more than 800 institutions with graduate schools surveyed by U.S. News on an annual basis. This Law School offers a variety of programs including healthcare law and tax law.
For information about funding a graduate degree, including loans, financial aid, and scholarships, visit the Paying for Graduate School knowledge center.
Official Website: Vermont Law School
4. Berkeley School of Law – University of California
Berkeley Law was one of the first major law schools to enter the field of environmental law, and our program remains as strong as ever today.
Our Environmental Law Program offers students opportunities to take a broad range of courses in the environmental and energy field and to engage in cutting-edge research and writing.
It also offers the chance to explore interdisciplinary perspectives on the environment, to obtain vital practical experience, and to connect with the dynamic and cutting edge Bay Area environmental law community.
In 2018, our environmental law program was ranked third overall by US News and World Reports and was the highest-ranking environmental law program of the top 10 law schools.
In addition to its curricular offerings, the Environmental Law Program offers students opportunities to engage in interdisciplinary research with faculty and staff through the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment (CLEE).
CLEE works to develop smart, practical solutions to critical environmental and energy challenges including climate change, renewable energy, sustainable water, and healthy oceans.
Students also have the opportunity to engage in hands-on legal experience through the Environmental Law Clinic (ELC). ELC has three main goals:
Making students creative and effective environmental lawyers, making an environmental difference and addressing the environmental legal needs of underserved communities.
Students can also participate in Ecology Law Quarterly (ELQ), the nation’s leading environmental law journal.
Students may become members, and eventually editors, of this pre-eminent student-run journal, writing articles and editing works submitted by leaders in the field.
Additionally, the Environmental Law and Policy Program sponsors a series of public lectures on environmental law, which gives students further insight into vital policy issues.
In addition to its environmental law program, Berkeley also offers an Energy Law Program, which focuses on energy regulation, renewable energy and alternative fuels, and energy project finance.
Official Website: Berkeley School of Law
5. University of California – Los Angeles School of Law
The UCLA School of Law is a highly ranked and relatively young public institution that is about 60 years old.
Law students can cater to their legal education through specializations including Business Law and Policy,
Critical Race Studies and Entertainment, Media, and Intellectual Property Law.
Students can also earn joint degrees through programs offered in conjunction with other academic divisions at UCLA, such as a J.D. /MBA through the Anderson School of Management or a J.D. /M.A. in Afro-American Studies through the UCLA Center for African American Studies.
The School of Law has nearly 20 clinics for students to get hands-on legal experience and offers the course of a unique deposition in which students and faculty members take depositions in actual cases.
There are about 20 research centers and programs, including the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy and PULSE, the Program on Understanding Law, Science, and Evidence.
There are more than 10 law journals published, including the Entertainment Law Review and the Journal of Law & Technology, and there are more than 40 organizations for students to get involved in, too.
About 70 percent of the student body at the UCLA School of Law hails from California. Students may live in university-owned housing near the campus in Los Angeles.
Notable alumni of the UCLA School of Law include Henry Waxman, a U.S. Representative from California, and Kelly Perdew, a winner on the reality television series “The Apprentice.”
Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law offers a comprehensive environmental law program. Courses include E.Law, the E.Law Clinic, International E.Law, and Land Use, Public Natural Resources Law and Policy, and more.
A preeminent research institution, UCLA offers law students opportunities through partnerships with its other schools including the Sustainable Technology & Policy Program, a collaboration with the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
Official Website: Los Angeles School of Law
6. University of Oregon School of Law
The University of Oregon School of Law operates another forward-thinking environmental law program.
The school has a long-standing program and a robust curriculum that has educated some of today’s most influential environmental lawyers.
Oregon Law students have the opportunity to choose from seven multidisciplinary research projects: Conservation Trust; Energy Law and Policy; Food Resiliency; Global Environmental Democracy; Native Environmental Sovereignty; Oceans, Coasts, and Watersheds; and Sustainable Land Use.
The Journal of E.Law and Litigation allows students to strengthen their research, writing, and editing skills while increasing their knowledge of environmental law.
Oregon’s Environmental and Natural Resources Law (ENR) Center focuses on public interest environmental law and provides students practical experience while exposing them to the latest environmental law issues.
The University of Oregon is one of more than 600 institutions with graduate schools surveyed by U.S. News on an annual basis.
The University of Oregon confers degrees through various schools, such as the Lundquist College of Business, the School of Law, and the College of Education.
Official Website: University of Oregon School of Law
7. Georgetown University School of Law
The Georgetown Law Center is located near the heart of the American federal government in Washington, D.C.
In addition to the traditional J.D., the Law Center offers joint degree programs such as the J.D./Ph.D. in Government program, which examines the effect of the law on American government and political processes.
There are additional joint degree programs offered with other highly-ranked departments at Georgetown University, including a J.D./MBA in conjunction with the McDonough School of Business, as well as a J.D./M.P.H. program offered in conjunction with the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Georgetown University School of Law provides an extensive E.law curriculum. With its Washington, D.C., location, the school’s Environmental Law & Policy Program provides students unique practice opportunities.
Georgetown offers multi-level courses in domestic and international environmental law, as well as energy, natural resources, land use, historic preservation, and food law.
The Georgetown Climate Center is a major influence in the national dialogue surrounding climate change.
In addition to its Environmental Law J.D., the school also offers an Environmental Law LL.M. Core courses in the Environmental Law J.D. program.
The courses include Environmental Law, Advanced Environmental Law, International Environmental Law, Natural Resources Law, and the Environmental Research Workshop.
Students also have the opportunity to work as environmental advocates in the school’s Institute for Public Representation and Public Policy Clinic.
Official Website: Georgetown University School of Law
8. Columbia University School of Law
Columbia University is one of more than 700 institutions with graduate schools surveyed by U.S. News on an annual basis. Columbia University confers degrees through various schools.
Such as the Columbia Business School, the Law School, the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, and the School of Nursing.
Columbia University has long offered a well-rounded environmental law curriculum. The school’s Environmental and Energy Law program gives students insights into the most cutting-edge environmental issues.
In addition to its revered Earth Institute, Columbia’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and the Environmental Law Clinic study trends and seek solutions to the world’s most pressing ambient issues.
Columbia Law Clinic students train to become versed in key environmental law issues such as water, wetlands preservation, endangered species, environmental justice, smart growth, and clean air.
Students can also participate in several extracurricular activities focused on protecting the environment.
Through the E.Law Society, students can obtain scholarships and fellowships in environmental law and gain advocacy experience.
Official Website: Columbia University
9. The University of Colorado—Boulder School of Law
At the University of Colorado—Boulder Law School, students can graduate with a J.D. in as little as 2.5 years.
Students can focus their legal education through elective curriculums in areas including atmospheric and natural resource law and intellectual property, technology, and telecommunication.
There are also a variety of dual degree programs, such as a J.D./M.B.A. through the Leeds School of Business, a J.D./Master of Urban and Regional Planning via the College of Architecture and Planning, and a J.D./M.D. program through the CU—Denver School of Medicine.
In addition to a traditional legal curriculum, the school has an Experiential Learning Program that sets students up in clinics, externships, and a voluntary public service program that commits students to at least 50 hours of pro bono work before graduation.
Students can also get involved in school centers, such as the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship and the Natural Resources Law Center.
Colorado Law offers a unique interdisciplinary approach to environmental law.
The school issues several joint degrees, including a Doctor/Master’s in environmental studies (JD/ENVS), a Juris Doctor/Doctorate in Environmental Studies (JD/Ph.D.), and a Juris Doctor/Master of Urban and Regional Planning (JD/MURP).
Students can also obtain a Graduate Energy Certificate Program and an Interdisciplinary Graduate Certificate Program in Environment, Policy, and Society.
Students may also explore their interest in environmental law through Colorado Law’s Natural Resources Clinic and its Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment. Through knowledgeable staff, vigorous.
Curriculum and proximity to the Rocky Mountains, Colorado’s Natural Resources, Energy, and Environmental Law program prepares students to hit the ground running in law firms, corporations, nonprofit organizations, and governmental agencies.
Official Website: Boulder School of Law
10. New York University School of Law
New York University (NYU) School of Law prepares students for environmental law careers with an innovative curriculum led by some of the nation’s most distinguished scholars.
Students learn about some of the most pressing environmental issues through NYU Law’s seminars, which include instruction on food and agricultural law and policy, animal law, and international environmental law.
Students can also gain practical training and experience in NYU’s Frank J. Guarani Center on Environmental, Energy, and Land Use Law and the Institute for Policy Integrity.
The school’s student-run Environmental Law Society is another great way for students to get involved, network, and host environment-friendly initiatives.
Students can earn joint degrees through other schools at NYU, like the highly ranked Stern School of Business, or dual degrees with outside institutions including the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
There are more than 50 student organizations to check out, and students can live on the residential campus.
The school also offers foreign student exchange programs, giving law students a chance to study at about 15 universities worldwide.
Notable NYU Law School alumni include John Carrig, former president and chief operating officer of energy giant ConocoPhillips Co.; Evan Chesler, chairman of the law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP; and Paul Tagliabue, former commissioner of the NFL.
Official Website: New York University School of Law
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the best place to be an environmental lawyer?
Answer: Top Countries with best environmental democracy and law:
Lithuania 2.42
Latvia 2.31
Russia 2.25
United States 2.16
South Africa 2.16
United Kingdom 2.14
Bulgaria 2.12
Panama 2.02
Colombia 1.99
Note: This ranking is based on the new Environmental Democracy Index (EDI) which is the first-ever online platform that tracks and scores 70 countries’ progress.
The EDI focuses on determining the countries’ capacity in enacting national laws that promote transparency, accountability and citizen engagement in environmental decision-making.
Is environmental studies a good major for law school?
Environmental law is important for both individuals and corporations. For lawyers who represent corporations, they provide a critical service that enables the corporation to conduct business lawfully.
Lawyers who work for the EPA protect the public interest. Besides, lawyers help individuals protect their peace and safety when they’re personally aggrieved by rule-breakers.
Lawyers in the field have the opportunity to influence local, state, national, and international policies.
For lawyers who have personal goals to influence environmental policies, the area of law can provide that opportunity.
Environmental law describes a network of regulations and customary laws that address the effects of human activity on the natural environment.
These laws are also referred to as environment and natural resource law and center on the idea of atmospheric pollution.
In addition to this issue, environmental law works to manage specific natural resources and environmental impact assessment.
There are a few key areas that environmental law works to regulate to lessen the impact on the environment. Some of these areas include:
- Air Quality
- Water Quality
- Waste Management
- Contaminant Cleanup
- Chemical Safety
- Resource Sustainability
As you can see from the list above, environmental laws play a huge part in protecting humans, animals, resources, and habitats.
Without these laws, there would be no regulations concerning pollution, contamination, hunting, or even response to disasters.
This type of law works to protect land, air, water, and soil. Negligence of these laws results in various punishments like fines, community service, and in some extreme cases, jail time.
Without these environmental laws, the government would not be able to punish those who treat the environment poorly.
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What school is best for environmental law?
In summary, and without any from of hierarchy, here are the best environmental law schools in the in America:
- New York University School of Law
- The University of Colorado—Boulder School of Law
- Columbia University School of Law
- Georgetown University School of Law
- University of Oregon School of Law
- University of California – Los Angeles School of Law
- Berkeley School of Law – University of California
- Vermont Law School
- Harvard University Law School
- Lewis and Clark Law School
Conclusion
There are variety of issues environmental lawyers come across and they often represent both individuals and a company with environmental issues.
For example, you may represent someone who was exposed to contamination, or a company using a specific material that may be subject to certain environmental regulations.
E.law gives lawyers, and potential lawyers, the opportunity to combine their passion for law, as well as their passion for the environment.
Milieu issues aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. With the rise in climate change discussion, the environment is going to be a hot topic for years to come.
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