FACULTY & STUDENT RESOURCES
Environmental Courses
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School Course Catalog
LAW-35500A Environmental Law A
J. Freeman Spring M, Tu 1:00 - 3:00
This introductory course will focus on the variety of legal mechanisms we use to address environmental harms such as air and water pollution, global climate change, and habitat destruction. We begin with common law property doctrines such as nuisance, but most of the course focuses on the key federal environmental statutes: the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and Superfund (which regulate hazardous waste), and the Endangered Species Act. These statutes will be studied in some detail so that students emerge with a basic understanding of their key provisions. In addition to federal statutes, we will discuss important matters of policy, including state efforts to address climate change as well as recent developments in Commerce Clause, Takings and Standing jurisprudence that affect federal environment regulation; the role of cost-benefit analysis and science in environmental regulation; and the emergence of "contractual" or negotiated approaches to environmental regulation. Finally, we will discuss the political economy of environmental regulation, specifically the role played by interest groups (both industry and environmental organizations) in producing, implementing and enforcing environmental law. Students wishing to earn clinical credit in environmental law for Fall 2007 must do so under the supervision of the Environmental Law and Policy Clinic Director. Beginning in Spring 2008, students may enroll directly in the new HLS Environmental Law and Policy Clinic. The course on administrative law would be helpful but is not a pre-requisite.
LAW-36975A Federal Public Land and Resources Law
J. Leshy Fall M, Tu 1:00 - 2:30
This course covers the principal laws and legal doctrines that govern management of nearly one-third of the nation's land base, that owned by the U.S. government. It begins with a history of federal land policy, exploring how and why such a large body of lands came to be in federal ownership. Then attention is turned to constitutional issues, the relationship between the executive and the legislative branches, judicial review questions, generic laws that govern most federal lands decisions (such as the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act), the federal land planning process, and laws and policies that govern management of national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, recreation and conservation areas, wild & scenic rivers, and wilderness. Considerable attention will be given to contemporary policy disputes over such lands and resources. There are no prerequisites. Credit is based upon a final examination.
LAW-39000A International Law A
D. Kennedy Fall M, Tu, W, 10:00 - 11:55
This course examines the history of ideas, legal doctrines, institutional and administrative structures that organize and legalize international economic and political life. We will consider the theoretical and doctrinal arguments which have structured thinking about international legal issues. The course considers basic doctrines of public international law about the sources of law and the international legal process. We consider the use made of these materials in addressing such issues as human rights, environmental policy, terrorism, and war. The course compares the public international legal tradition with the neighboring fields of international institutions, international economic law and comparative law. We will examine both the history of international legal argument and contemporary scholarship, which is innovative and theoretical. We will focus on the various ways of thinking and talking about institution building and international dispute resolution and about the projects, personal and professional, visible in the discipline's basic doctrinal materials. There is no prerequisite, although in past years, about half of the students in the course, including many graduate students, have had some previous exposure to international law.
LAW-41100A Land Use Law
J.B. Ruhl Spring Th, F 10:00 - 11:30
This course examines the history of ideas, legal doctrines, institutional and administrative structures that organize and legalize international economic and political life. We will consider the theoretical and doctrinal arguments which have structured thinking about international legal issues. The course considers basic doctrines of public international law about the sources of law and the international legal process. We consider the use made of these materials in addressing such issues as human rights, environmental policy, terrorism, and war. The course compares the public international legal tradition with the neighboring fields of international institutions, international economic law and comparative law. We will examine both the history of international legal argument and contemporary scholarship, which is innovative and theoretical. We will focus on the various ways of thinking and talking about institution building and international dispute resolution and about the projects, personal and professional, visible in the discipline's basic doctrinal materials. There is no prerequisite, although in past years, about half of the students in the course, including many graduate students, have had some previous exposure to international law.
LAW-41360 Law of Climate Change (The)
R. Ballentine Winter TBA
This course will explore the rapidly developing legal, business and policy frameworks relating to climate change. We will trace the development of public and private sector responses to the mounting evidence of climatic shifts with a focus on the debate and design of proposed policy responses. The course will cut across numerous disciplines. The material we cover will be relevant not only to those interested in environmental law, but also to those interested in administrative law, public policy, international law, and corporate law. Students considering careers in business or policy will also find the course useful. At the international level, we will review treaty negotiations, other multi and bi-lateral government frameworks, and comparative national responses. At the domestic level, we will examine regulatory and other legal frameworks that are emerging at the federal, state, and local levels. We will also closely consider non-governmental programs and responses and the legal and policy implications of those measures, including: analysis of corporate risk, governance and advocacy; the increasingly clear financial implications of climate change with a focus on the investor community; the entrepreneurial response to global warming; and the evolving roles of non-profit organizations. The course will include an in-class exam.
LAW-48350A Water Law
J. Leshy Fall Tu, 5:00 - 7:00
This course will explore important contemporary issues in water allocation law and policy (but not cover water pollution). It will generally address the riparian (eastern) and appropriative (western) rights systems that are applied to surface water, the various legal doctrines applied to groundwater, federal laws that apply to water allocation (including the water rights of Indian tribes), the role of governmental institutions like special water districts, and interstate water disputes. There are no prerequisites. Credit is based on either a final examination or a substantial paper, at the student's option.
LAW-94611A Human Rights and the Environment: Advocacy Seminar A
T. Giannini Fall M, 5:00 - 7:00
Over the past half century, human rights law and international environmental law have made great strides--largely independent of one another. This course examines the connection between human rights and the environment, and efforts to bridge the two distinct legal discourses in the context of advocacy and social movements. What are the origins of efforts to link human rights and environmental movements and where are these movements headed? What do the movements share in common and where do they diverge? What are the main challenges and dilemmas facing those engaged in rights promotion and defense? This seminar introduces students to human rights and environmental advocacy through participation in supervised projects, as well as readings, class discussion, role-playing and participatory evaluation of advocacy strategies. The clinical projects will involve work individually or in small groups in collaboration with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and/or before intergovernmental bodies. The projects will also expose students to ethical and strategic issues that arise in the course of doing fact-finding and advocacy and balancing the often differing agendas of the western international NGOs and their counterparts in the (frequently non-western) Global South. Class sessions will focus on analysis of advocacy from the recent history of the human rights and environmental movements.
LAW-94611A Human Rights and the Environment: Advocacy Seminar B
T. Giannini, B. Docherty Spring M, 5:00 - 7:00
See course description for Advocacy Seminar A above.
LAW-96435A Law and Policy of Ecosystem Services: Seminar
J.B. Ruhl Spring Th 5:00 - 7:00
This seminar uses the emerging theme of ecosystem services as a lens for examining current topics in environmental and natural resources policy. The seminar is constructed as a progression through four units: (1) the ecological, geographic, and economic context of ecosystem services; (2) the existing status of property rights, regulatory regimes, and social norms relevant to ecosystem services; (3) a series of case studies; and (4) envisioning the design of legal instruments and institutions to better account for ecosystem service values. Topics examined include wetlands mitigation banking, agricultural subsidy policy, ecosystem management on public lands, pollution trading markets, common law remedies, coastal zone protection, fisheries management, and global climate change. Themes that will be emphasized include the application of law & economics theory to problems of undersupply of ecosystem services, the construction of property rights in natural capital and ecosystem services, and the use of market-based instruments as a means of providing incentives for socially desirable management of natural capital. The seminar will meet once a week for two credits. It is open to J.D. and LL.M students. Although Environmental Law is a useful course for background appreciation of the topic, there are no prerequisites and ample background on the law and policy topics under consideration will be provided through the readings and class discussion.
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