California Center for Environmental Law and Policy

California Center for Environmental Law & Policy (CCELP) is a research center at the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. CCELP’s mission is to foster interdisciplinary environmental law and policy research and to translate that research into pragmatic solutions. Berkeley has a unique history of involvement by students and faculty in environmental issues, including publication of the nation’s leading environmental law journal, the Ecology Law Quarterly.

Today, the program is rapidly expanding, with increased staff, additional courses, and a series of conferences on environmental, natural resource and energy issues. CCELP brings together the resources of Boalt Hall School of Law with the rich array of environmental talent on the Berkeley campus and throughout the Bay Area.

History

Boalt was one of the first major law schools to enter the field of environmental law, and its program remains as strong as ever today. Boalt offers students the opportunities to take a broad range of courses in the field; to engage in cutting-edge research and writing; to explore interdisciplinary perspectives on the environment; to obtain vital practical experience; and to connect with the Bay Area's environmental law community, one of the most dynamic in the country.

Boalt Hall offers students an unparalleled program in environmental law, one that reflects the broad interdisciplinary nature of this field. Students may choose from numerous environmental law courses and seminars. In addition regular course offerings are augmented by international and comparative environmental law courses. A certificate indicating successful completion of the program is awarded to those who fulfill the specialization requirements.

CCELP also provides the opportunity to perform research with its topnotch faculty or participate in the Ecology Law Quarterly, the nation’s leading environmental law journal. Students may become members, and eventually editors, of this pre-eminent student-run journal, writing articles and editing works submitted by other students, faculty members and outside authors.California has long been a center of environmental innovations, and it remains in the forefront today on issues ranging from global warming and disaster law to coastal zone management. Students have the opportunity to participate in this ferment in several ways. The field placement program gives students the chance to work with leading national environmental groups, government agencies, and other public interest organizations. Each year, the Workshop in Development and Environment and the Environmental Law Practicum subject major public projects in California to searching environmental scrutiny, giving students the opportunity to meet with leading experts and members of the policy community. Teams of students work under the supervision of leading environmental practitioners on research projects for government agencies and public interest groups.

Students also may enroll in concurrent degree programs and take related courses in other departments and schools at Berkeley. In addition students may enroll in combined degree programs with the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University or the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Curriculum

For environmental lawyers, it is not sufficient to master substantive environmental law and administrative procedure. They must also understand public policy analysis; the interaction of law, economics and science; the normative bases for environmental protection; and the political and bureaucratic dimensions of environmental law and policy. Environmental lawyers must be sensitive to the broad social, economic and political realities that underlie this area of the law.

Boalt Hall's California Center for Environmental Law & Policy (CCELP) provides students with the analytical skills, substantive knowledge and practical judgment needed to be effective lawyers in this evolving area. The curriculum is concerned not only with the basic legal elements—statutes, regulations and cases—but also with the broader structure of environmental law and policy. The program prepares students to navigate the existing regulatory system as well as to contribute to the ongoing process of reform.

Faculty

Environmental Faculty
[http://www.law.berkeley.edu/faculty/profiles/facultyProfile.php?facID=1141 Daniel A. Farber] (Sho Sato Professor of Law; Director, Environmental Law Program)
[http://www.law.berkeley.edu/faculty/profiles/facultyProfile.php?facID=6482 Eric Biber] (Acting Professor of Law)
Holly Doremus (Professor of Law)
Michelle Anderson (Acting Professor of Law)

Lecturers in Residence
[http://www.law.berkeley.edu/faculty/profiles/facultyProfile.php?facID=6489 Richard Frank] (Executive Director - CCELP & Lecturer in Residence at Boalt)
[http://www.law.berkeley.edu/faculty/profiles/facultyProfile.php?facID=6308 Cymie Payne] (Lecturer in Residence; Director, Global Commons Project; Associate Director, California Center for Environmental Law & Policy)
[http://www.law.berkeley.edu/faculty/profiles/facultyProfile.php?facID=6247 Steven Weissman] (Lecturer in Residence, Associate Director for Energy Law and Policy of the California Center for Environmental Law and Policy)
Emeritus Faculty
[http://www.law.berkeley.edu/faculty/profiles/facultyProfile.php?facID=141 Joseph Sax] (James H. House and Hiram H. Hurd Professor of Environmental Regulation, Emeritus)
Michael Hanemann (Chancellor's Professor, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics)

Adjunct Faculty
E. Clement Shute (Adjunct Professor of Environmental Law)