Environmental Law and Policy Clinic
By Frances Presma/Photos: Don Hamerman
On The Horizon: An Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic At Duke
DukeLaw faculty have approved the establishment of the Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, a joint undertaking of the Law School and the Nicholas School for the Environment and Earth Sciences. With fundraising in progress, the Clinic could open as early as January 2007.
“It is no exaggeration to say that Duke is developing into the leading academic institution in the world for environmental students. Establishing an environmental clinic is a fundamental piece in this development,” says Professor James Salzman. “We have top flight faculty in all areas of environmental health, law, and policy, and we are starting to attract more and more students to Duke because of our environmental strengths. The joint degree program between the Law School and the Nicholas School probably has more students than any other top law school.”
Experiential learning is critically important for training the next generation of environmental leaders.
- Professor James Salzman
The $70 million gift to the Nicholas School from Duke Board of Trustees Chairman Pete (T’64) and Ginny Nicholas has made possible the hiring of additional environmental faculty across the University–including Salzman, who holds a joint appointment at the Nicholas School. The gift also launched the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, headed by Tim Profeta ’97, the only environmental policy institute of its kind in a university.
“Experiential learning is critically important for training the next generation of environmental leaders. It’s one thing to write a paper for a class and talk about hypothetical issues that arise in environmental conflicts, but it isn’t the same as solving real problems for real clients,” says Salzman.
“A hallmark of environmental work is that it is interdisciplinary,” he continues. “Environmental scientists and lawyers do things differently, view the world differently, and ask different questions. Yet their separate expertise in law, science, and policy has to come together to meaningfully address environmental issues.”
There is no shortage of those in the Southeast, says Salzman. With the highest rate of population growth in the country, the region’s natural environment is suffering loss of open space, watershed pollution, air pollution, biodiversity loss, and myriad environmental health risks, translating to an abundance of opportunities to do hands-on work that teaches while strengthening environmental protection.
The Clinic will have litigation capability and Salzman anticipates a focus on alternative methods of resolving disputes as well.
“Much of the creative problem solving in environmental matters takes place prior to litigation,” he says. Mediation, negotiation, conflict resolution, and participatory processes could all be employed. In addition to being transaction designers and litigators, law students could contribute entrepreneurial solutions to environmental dilemmas.
“For instance, if the Clinic was brought into a green-space initiative intended at curbing development at an early stage, we would want to explore a solution in tradable development rights,” says Salzman. “You essentially give up the right to develop in a certain area in exchange for the right to develop elsewhere.”
Brettny Hardy ’07, a joint degree student, looks forward to having a clinical option on the curriculum. “Taking part in the problem-solving process helps you to understand all the factors that go into decision-making. I think it would be enormously helpful.”
“Today’s environmental challenges are multifaceted and require multi-disciplinary problem solving,” says John Adams ’62, co-founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council, who will chair the Clinic’s advisory board. “The Environmental Law and Policy Clinic will play an invaluable role in giving students hands-on experience and training in finding common ground among experts and various stakeholders, particularly here in the Southeast which is experiencing such rapid growth.”