The University of Miami School of Law is co-hosting the 2025 Environmental Law and Policy Hack Competition in collaboration with the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University. The event aims to empower students to engage in innovative legal problem-solving on pressing social and environmental issues.
The competition is part of the University of Miami's Climate Resilience Institute's two-day Resilience 365 conference, in conjunction with the inaugural Miami Climate Week in partnership with Miami Dade County.
This year, the competition revolves around the critical questions: How do we capture and monetize the broad value of nature-based solutions and the ecosystem services they provide? How can we convert the so-called "resilience dividends" into a viable financial structure that perpetuates and scales investment? Participants will explore viable financial structures to sustain and scale investments in urban resilience-building infrastructure.
"This competition draws upon the strengths of the University of Miami School of Law as a center of innovative interdisciplinary approaches to the environment," said Jessica Owley, who oversees Miami Law's Environmental Law Program. "Opportunities like this one prepare students for working collaboratively on real-world problems."
The final competition will be held March 23 at the Frost Institute of Molecular Science on the Coral Gables campus. The contest will be judged by Owley, Katrina Fischer Kuh from Pace University Elisabeth Haub School of Law, Lauren Sorkin from the Resilient Cities Network, and Keith Hirokawa from the Albany Law School.
The three finalist teams will present their innovative proposals to a panel of esteemed judges, with support for travel costs provided by the University of Miami School of Law and Haub Law. The winning team will receive seed funding of $2,000 to help deploy their solution, enabling them to make a tangible impact on environmental law and policy.
Since its inception in 2020, the Environmental Law and Policy Hack has brought together interdisciplinary teams of students to develop creative solutions to real-world challenges. Teams from various disciplines will be tasked with reimagining how capital can flow to resilient urban infrastructure. By exploring policy interventions, regulatory changes, and new institutional frameworks, participants will submit their solutions to the proposed climate problem. Following the review process, three finalist teams will be selected to present their proposals in the final competition.
Miami Law's teams have previously been successful participants in the Hack, where they competed three times and twice won first place and once second place. By co-sponsoring the event, the School of Law is taking its involvement to the next level.
Read more about Miami Law's environmental law area of study.
