Clinic: Environmental

• Semester: Fall 2022
• Course ID: 697C
• Credit Hours: 6
• Unique: 29510

Description

ENVIRONMENTAL CLINIC – 6 credits, pass/fail (application required)

Students in the Environmental Clinic work with non governmental organizations and underserved communities throughout Texas to advocate for solutions to today’s pressing environmental problems, including environmental injustice and climate change.  Students think creatively about how to use the law to protect and improve environmental quality and public health. 

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:

• Clean Air Act and Safe Drinking Water Act enforcement actions in federal court,
• comments on Environmental Impact Statements, 
• permitting and rulemaking proceedings before courts and administrative agencies,
• civil rights complaints, and
• community environmental education and pollution monitoring.

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.

In the weekly two-hour seminar students practice navigating environmental statutes and regulations and discuss environmental laws, environmental justice, the role of lawyers in social movements, 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 Clinic Program Coordinator Katy Thaler (kthaler@law.utexas.edu, 512-232-2454).