ELULS.orgThe Environmental and Land Use Law Section of The Florida Bar
Section Reporter

July 2007

COLUMNS  
     

ELULS.org  FSU’s Environmental Law Program: Reflecting on the ‘06-‘07 Academic Year and Looking Ahead to ’07-‘08
  David Markell, Donna Christie, Robin Craig, and J.B. Ruhl

      

The FSU College of Law Environmental and Land Use Program enjoyed a very productive 2006-07 academic year. Once again we moved up in the national U.S. News & World Report rankings. We are now ranked 12th in the U.S., up from 14th last year, and currently we are among the top five public law schools in the country.

This past academic year featured a terrific array of programs that enriched the educational environment at the law school. We organized two Environmental Forum programs of significant interest in Florida and beyond – the fall Forum focused on protection of marine preserves, while the spring program addressed the timely and difficult issue of affordable housing. Our two Distinguished Lecturers for this past year came to us from the west coast – Associate Dean and Professor Jan Neuman of Lewis & Clark Law School, who presented our fall ’06 Distinguished Lecture on water concerns, and Daniel Farber, Sho Sato Professor of Law and Director of the Environmental Law Program at the University of California, Berkeley, who presented “Adapting to Climate Change: Who Should Pay?" in the spring. Environmental and Land Use professors from the University of California at Davis, Utah, and Columbus visited the law school during the year to present papers to our Environmental Certificate Students and the faculty. In addition, this Spring, the College of Law hosted programs on Oceans Day and the importance of landscapes in Florida. As Section members can tell, we’re providing a rich intellectual environment at the law school. We very much welcome and encourage participation by our alumni and other ELULS members in all of our events.

It also has been a terrific year for faculty scholarship. Several members of our environmental faculty published at least one book this year, including new editions of some of the major environmental casebooks in the field.

Books include COASTAL AND OCEAN MANAGEMENT LAW IN A NUTSHELL, 3rd ed. (Prof. Donna Christie); ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION: LAW AND POLICY, 5th ed. (Prof. David Markell); ENERGY, ECONOMICS AND THE ENVIRONMENT, 2nd ed. (Prof. Jim Rossi); and THE LAW OF BIODIVERSITY AND ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT, 2nd ed., and THE LAW & POLICY OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES (J.B. Ruhl). Professor Robin Craig, in her capacity as a member of a prestigious National Academy of Sciences Committee, helped prepare the Committee’s report entitled THE CLEAN WATER ACT AND THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER (forthcoming September 2007) in addition to publishing numerous articles and book chapters.

Complimenting the substantial intellectual enrichment, the College of Law also continued to expand opportunities for our students to gain practical experience outside the classroom. In recent years the College of Law has expanded its externship offerings in environmental and land use placements substantially, from 5 in 2002 to 13 this year. As a result, our students have the opportunity to get practical experience by working with the State DEP and DCA, and a wide range of other government agencies and public interest groups. The College of Law has also more than doubled the number of organizations that provide pro bono opportunities for our students, from 7 in 2002 to 15 this year. Twenty three students performed more than 700 hours of pro bono work with an environmental or land use focus during the 2006-2007 year. We also worked with the Section to host an environmental and land use law career panel and reception that featured several leading members of The Florida Bar.

We continue to attract outstanding students, thanks in part to the Goldstein Scholarship Program, named in honor of former, beloved FSU College of Law Professor Steven M. Goldstein, and those students continue to do a terrific job representing and serving the College of Law. For example, our student-run Environmental Law Society (ELS) sponsored a Commuter Choices week during the fall and also worked with FSU officials on actions to make FSU a more sustainable campus. The school’s Environmental Moot Court team reached the quarterfinals of the National Environmental Moot Court Competition at Pace Law School; one team member, Erika Siu, was named best oral advocate for one of the rounds in the competition.

We’re looking forward to another busy and successful year next year. Our Distinguished Environmental Law Lecturers will be Julian Juergensmeyer of Georgia State and Jutta Brunnee of the University of Toronto. Our fall Forum will focus on Florida’s TMDL program. We will hold a spring Forum as well, in addition to a number of other events. We welcome Section participation in all of our events. Please check our website periodically for details on upcoming programs.

For our alumni, in particular, we’re interested in learning about recent developments and achievements. Please send those to us, c/o David Markell, Steven M. Goldstein Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, at dmarkell@law.fsu.edu. We launched a new Environmental and Land Use Program Newsletter last year and we would love to feature you in it. If you’re not receiving the Newsletter electronically, please let us know so we can add you to our e-mail list serve.


 

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