Course Description: Environmental Clinic
- Taught by Kelly Haragan and Erin Gaines
- 6 credits (pass/fail) — offered Fall, Spring
- FAQs for prospective students
- The Clinic is open to students who have completed their first two semesters.
Students in the Environmental Clinic work with communities throughout Texas to advocate for solutions to today’s pressing environmental problems, including pollution, the lack of access to clean drinking water, and climate change.
Students work in teams, under the supervision of clinic faculty, and should expect to spend approximately 12 hours per week working on clinic cases. Recent clinic projects have included:
- assisting communities that lack access to safe drinking water,
- enforcing environmental laws,
- commenting on Environmental Impact Statements,
- participating in permitting and rulemaking proceedings before courts and administrative agencies,
- providing community environmental education and pollution monitoring, and
- conducting environmental policy research.
The casework allows students to gain practical experience with factual investigation and analysis, community education, administrative research and advocacy before regulatory agencies, and legal drafting and litigation support. It also challenges students to think about the strengths and weaknesses of current laws for addressing environmental problems.
In the weekly two-hour seminar students practice navigating environmental statutes and regulations and discuss environmental laws, administrative law, the role of lawyers in environmental protection, climate change, and other environmental topics of interest to the class.
The Clinic is open to students who have completed their first two semesters. There is no prerequisite for the clinic.
To apply for the Clinic, please submit the online application.
For additional information regarding the clinic, contact Clinic Director Kelly Haragan (kharagan@law.utexas.edu, 512-232-2654) or the Clinic Program Coordinator at environmentalclinic@law.utexas.edu.