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Partner/Director, Sommer & Barnard
“My professors were engaging and bright in a way that encouraged me to strive for the most defensible answer to a legal problem.”
Attorney, United States Environmental Protection Agency
“In environmental law, you have to be able to see and understand both sides—and that’s what makes it challenging and fun.”
Clients call on environmental lawyers to grapple with difficult legal, scientific, and economic questions. Our program will prepare you for these demands. Our faculty, Professors John Applegate, A. James Barnes, Robert Fischman, and Kenneth Richards are top scholars in the field, and they’re known for their accessibility. Professors William W. Weeks, Jeffrey B. Hyman, and Andrea R. Need offer the clinical component of the Environmental Law Program through our innovative Conservation Law Center, Inc. You can also take advantage of IU Law’s close relationship with the School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
Each environmental law course is offered at least once every two years, so every student has a chance to take them during their second or third year. Click here for our schedule for the next two years.
The Conservation Law Clinic allows second- and third-year students to work with staff attorneys of the Conservation Law Center, Inc. (which offers the clinic in cooperation with the school) to provide legal services to non-profit organizations and other clients in support of natural resource conservation. Students will gain specific knowledge of laws relating to the work they do on particular conservation issues. The clinic will present opportunities for general skills development in research, advocacy, legislative drafting, and administrative practice. Students will also gain experience in the broader application of non-legal disciplines by working with experts in the biological sciences, ecology, agriculture, and forestry.
Faculty-supervised internships and independent research offer students opportunities with environmental lawyers, state or federal agencies, and NGOs. In recent years, students have received academic credit for work at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Other notable organizations and offices hosting Indiana Law students include:
The Washington Public Interest Program offers students credit for their work in non-profit and government agency internships. It also helps students establish a network of Washington attorneys in their field.
The law school regularly hosts interdisciplinary policy workshops on important problems that cross the boundary between science and law. Students have the opportunity to participate in the workshops through advanced seminars that are taught during the semester in which the workshop occurs. Students help organize the workshop and study the subject so that they can participate in round table discussions with the invited academics and policymakers. Some recent examples:
The School of Public and Environmental Affairs: All students may apply up to 6 credit hours of SPEA courses toward their law degree. Recommended courses include:
Students seeking more depth in environmental science or policy analysis can pursue a joint degree with SPEA. This four-year degree program leads to a JD and either a Master of Science in Environmental Science or a Master of Public Affairs degree. IU Law’s environmental law faculty strongly encourage students with an interest in environmental law to consider the joint degree, as it will provide them with a foundation for the interdisciplinary practice that increasingly dominates environmental law.
Most IU law graduates will practice environmental law in familiar ways, such as advising clients, negotiating agreements, and defending and prosecuting administrative and judicial actions. They find jobs all over the country, practicing in law firms; on their own; or in the legal departments of governments, business, or nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
An increasing number of our graduates do not practice law in these familiar ways. Some, especially alumni of the joint degree program in environmental law, are administrators responsible for environmental regulatory programs in the public sector or for regulatory compliance in the private sector. Others are consultants who are hired for their scientific or technical expertise in addition to their legal knowledge; advocates who urge legislatures or agencies to approach environmental issues in particular ways; or environmental mediators whose work spans the range of environmental concerns from global warming to endangered species, pollution control and the cleanup of hazardous waste.
The School of Law is known for the accessibility of its outstanding faculty. In studying environmental law, students often engage in one-on-one work with prominent teachers and scholars. Environmental law is the primary focus for Professors John Applegate, A. James Barnes, Robert Fischman, Jeffrey Hyman, and William Weeks.
Many other faculty, including David Fidler, Donald Gjerdingen, and Jeffrey Stake, teach courses in related areas.
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