BU Law Launches Environmental Law Practicum
With the support of a course innovation grant, the practicum helps students prepare for real-world environmental advocacy.
Boston University School of Law launched an Environmental Law Practicum this spring. The collaborative course, led by Lecturer in Law Pam Hill (’77), was created with support from a course innovation grant from Boston University.
The practicum was developed in response to interest among students and faculty to create more opportunities for law students to gain experience working on important environmental issues with practitioners in the field.
This spring, the projects focused on environmental justice issues, which concerns the intersection of civil rights, fundamental fairness, and environmental policy. Next year, students will also work on projects related to clean energy and water regulation.
To establish the framework of the practicum, Boston University, through the Provost’s Office and the Center for Teaching and Learning, awarded a course innovation grant to Professor Hill to fund expenses and the contributions of a law student research assistant. The grants are aimed at promoting active and sustainable engaged classroom learning and collaborations across departments, schools, and colleges within the Boston-area community. They encourage scholarship, research, and creative activities, as well as extracurricular learning opportunities at Boston University.
“Launching this new program at the law school has been an exciting, eye-opening opportunity,” says Chloe Noonan (’16), Hill’s research assistant who worked on planning and logistics for the practicum and coordinated with student groups.“The practicum is a great addition to BU’s clinical offerings. I’m optimistic that BU Law students will be able to contribute to urgent environmental justice initiatives in the future, and make strides in environmental law in general.”
Unique features
“The Practicum is a one-of-a-kind program, quite different from the other clinics and externships offered by BU Law at present,” says Hill. “For one, it allows interested students to explore emerging areas such as environmental justice law, which is offered by very few universities within the US.”
Hill and her students have been working directly with two top environmental law organizations, Alternatives for Communities and Environment (ACE) and the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), as part of the practicum. Responding to the needs of the partnership attorneys, the students worked on four discrete projects to support efforts to draft an environmental justice proposal for the Massachusetts’ Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
“This is the first year we’ve had an Environmental Law Practicum where students have worked on real-time projects for two of the leading environmental organizations in the state of Massachusetts,” says Peggy Maisel, associate dean for experiential education and clinical professor of law at BU Law. “Students asked for an experiential clinic that would offer them a wider learning curve in environmental law. Under the expert guidance of Pam Hill, the course will help them make significant strides in this field.”
Expanding Opportunity
While Aleksandra George (’16) was president of the Energy and Environmental Law Society (EELS), her team surveyed the BU Law community with the help of the Student Government Association (SGA). Armed with information from the survey, EELS met with Professor of Law David Walker, former associate dean for academic affairs, and Dean Maureen A. O’Rourke to discuss the expansion of the environmental and energy law curriculum at BU Law by establishing a program that could prepare students for real-world issues.
“Within environmental law and policies, we got to explore areas of civil rights, science, and public health that normally have very little law to look to,” says Chelsie Vokes (’16), another student in the practicum. “Instead of making policy arguments based on law, we were able to get creative and craft arguments for how the environmental justice policy should be structured by looking to different disciplines and coming up with our own novel arguments.”
BU Law’s experiential programs such as the Environment Law Practicum provide organizations with an excellent group of law students ready to work for communities with environmental justice concerns. The experience of working alongside attorneys from ACE and CLF has helped students develop the skills necessary to take on real-world challenges. “I had the opportunity to interact with policy makers in the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and scientific researchers in the Office of Research Development (ORD),” Vokes says. “We are providing them with reports of real-world significance, and we are working to help craft a policy in a realm that is largely undeveloped.”
Giving students an edge
“Having first-hand exposure to real legal work while still in school will also help students to get their foot in the door during job interviews and have an edge over their counterparts,” says Hill.
“Every single interview I’ve had for an environmental law job has focused on my environmental law experience,” says George, who also completed a semester-in-practice in the Environment and Natural Resources Division at the Department of Justice. “While grades and theoretical concepts are crucial, practical experience both within and outside of law school can be the differentiating factor in securing a coveted job. The practicum offers exactly that kind of practical experience.”
BU Law students and staff are now working to sustain the momentum of the practicum. “We put in a brief plug for the practicum at the Environmental and Energy Law Society’s (EELS) Climate Change Conference, which is a step toward sustaining the program,” says Vokes. The event took place on March 30, and featured Secretary Matthew Beaton from Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs speaking about renewable energy policy in Massachusetts and Governor Charlie Baker’s recent initiative to dedicate $15M to bring sustainable energy to low- and middle-income communities.
Next year, the practicum’s scope will expand to broader environmental law topics. The partnership with CLF and ACE will continue, and students will be able to choose project topics that include environmental justice, clean energy, and water regulation.
Reported by Indira Priyadarshini (COM’16).