Practicing Environmental Law

Practicing Environmental Law brings the excitement of environmental law practice into the classroom. The book covers the traditional subject matter of an environmental law course, but in a new way. Each chapter includes multiple case study-style problems, which confront students with an environmental problem and a range of supporting materials. As students work through the book, they will develop an environmental justice advocacy strategy, decide whether to bring novel Clean Air Act litigation to address climate change, consider whether fireworks displays are point sources of water pollution, assess whether the Army Corps of Engineers must prepare an environmental impact statement for a new utility line, negotiate an enforcement settlement, and negotiate the contents of a landscape-scale habitat conservation plan-among many other exercises. They also will review, and use, affidavits, administrative orders and guidance documents, biological opinions, white papers, letters, and other document types, in addition to many statutory and regulatory excerpts and court cases. In short, they will simulate the work that environmental attorneys actually do.

The casebook will teach students the basics of environmental law, and also help them gain deeper understanding of, and heightened enthusiasm for, a crucially important legal field.