Environmental law is an area of strength for the law school, and all month, the law school along with the broader university community are engaging in events and advocacy to raise awareness of the urgency of addressing climate change.
Environmental Law expert in Podcast
In this week's episode of the Miami Law Explainer, "Carbon Emissions in the Crosshairs," environmental law and climate change law and policy expert Professor Jessica Owley uses the West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency case before the U.S. Supreme Court to unpack the stalls and needs to lowering carbon emissions.
The faculty director for Miami Law's Environmental Law Program, Owley is a leading expert on private land conservation and conservation easements. Her interdisciplinary work explores ways to mitigate and adapt to climate change and further other environmental goals in the context of drastic change. Her work is cited widely and has received multiple awards, including the 2019 Morrison Prize for sustainability research. She annually participates as an observer at the annual treaty negotiations for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Owley holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management from the University of California—Berkeley, where she also received a J.D. and a Master of Landscape Architecture.
Blogging about Water Rights
Students from Miami Law's Human Rights Clinic posted on Human Rights at Home blog for World Water Day. The article, "Celebrating World Water Day by Calling for Respect for Our Environment and Indigenous Communities," was written by students Cameron Ewing (Legal Intern), Samantha Johnson (Legal Intern), and Braelyn Saumure (Student Fellow), and also Acting Director of the Human Rights Clinic and Director of Miami Law's Human Rights Program, Tamar Ezer. Ezer is co-editor of the blog along with R. Denisse Córdova Montes, Acting Associate Director of the Human Rights Clinic.
Miami Law and Earth Month Events
In addition to the podcast, the law school is hosting and sponsoring a variety of events related to the environment.
This year marked the International Moot Court program's inaugural entry in the International Environmental Moot Court Competition, the world's largest moot court competition devoted exclusively to the global environment. It was a timely entry with the law school's recent launch of its Environmental Law Program.
Miami Scholar Ashley Vazquez, 3L, Kate Ruston, 2L, and Marianne Eisenhart, 3L and HOPE Fellow, led the charge in representing Miami Law for the first time in the competition's 25-year history, with the team emerging second in the North American rounds.
Miami Law's HOPE Public Interest Resource Center also hosted "Environmental Advocacy: A Celebration of Everglades Restoration and Preservation" in celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the Everglades National Park and the publication of Marjory Stoneman Douglas's The Everglades: River of Grass, with the director of Everglades Policy at the National Audubon Society Kelly Cox, a 2016 J.D./M.P.S. in marine affairs.
"In Hot Water: Finding Ocean-Based Solutions to the Climate Crisis" was the topic of the University of Miami Distinguished Alumni Lecture Series with climate scientists and policy experts, including Greenberg Traurig shareholder and co-chair of environmental practice Kerri Barsh, J.D. '84, and host and president of the University of Miami Alumni Association and a partner at Gaebe, Mullen, Antonelli & DiMatteo Devang Desai, B.A. '97 J.D. '03.
On April 18, there will be an "Earth Week Panel Discussion on Biscayne Bay Nutrient Pollution" organized by the Miami Law team that won the Environmental Law and Policy Hack and sponsored by the Environmental Law Society.
"Climate Action Required" Thursday, April 21, is a panel discussion with faculty, a lawyer, artist, and a high schooler sharing their journeys in the fight for a sustainable future and includes Miami Law's Professor in Practice Xavier Cortada. Also, "Graduate Students for the Earth at UM" will gather to discuss their role in making The U part of the solution, including the Green Grad Group, the Sustainability Initiative at RSMAS, the Sustainability Club at Miami Herbert Business School, the Environmental Law Society at Miami Law, and the Green Student Committee at Miller.
On April 22, Miami Law's Environmental Law Society is hosting various events. Also the Environmental Law Program is hosting a discussion with Andrea Reynolds, senior litigation attorney for Our Children's Trust who will discuss federal and state of Florida climate change litigation Juliana vs. United States and Reynolds vs. State of Florida.
A complete listing of Earth Month activities at UM is here.
More on environmental law at Miami Law
