Environmental and Energy Law Programs

OUR ENVIRONMENTAL
LAW PROGRAM

Berkeley Law was one of the first major law schools to enter
the field of environmental law, and our program remains as strong as ever
today.  Our Environmental Law Program
offers students opportunities to take a broad range of courses in the
environmental and energy field and to engage in cutting-edge research and
writing.  It also offers the chance to
explore interdisciplinary perspectives on the environment, to obtain vital
practical experience, and to connect with the dynamic and cutting edge Bay Area
environmental law community.


In addition to its curricular offerings, the Environmental
Law Program offers students opportunities to engage in interdisciplinary
research with faculty and staff through the Center for Law, Energy, and the
Environment (CLEE).  CLEE works to
develop smart, practical solutions to critical environmental and energy
challenges including climate change, renewable energy, sustainable water, and
healthy oceans.  As of Fall 2015,
students will also have the opportunity to engage in hands-on legal experience
through the new Environmental Law Clinic.

Students can also 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 leaders in
the field.

OUR
ENERGY AND CLEAN TECHNOLOGY LAW PROGRAM

Transitioning to a sustainable energy and environmental path
represents one of the greatest challenges in human history, and also creates
myriad opportunities for professionals who are trained to take advantage of
them.  Berkeley Law’s Energy and Clean
Technology Law Program prepares the next generation of leaders to face this
monumental task by providing interdisciplinary perspectives and an
ever-evolving set of tools.

The Energy and CleanTech Program is uniquely situated to
leverage excellence across many disciplines and combines the efforts of the
school’s leading programs in the fields of Energy and the Environment, Law and
Technology, and Business and the Economy.
In addition to CLEE, the Program collaborative efforts with the Berkeley
Center for Law, Business and the Economy (BCLB) and the Berkeley Center for
Law and Technology (BCLT).  UC Berkeley
was ranked by Cleantech.com as the #2 university in the country (second only to
MIT) for clean technology, earning the highest ranking of any university with a
law school.

The curriculum offerings include courses in areas such as
energy regulation, renewable energy and alternative fuels, and energy project
finance, and incorporates curriculum spanning multiple disciplines.  Students may also engage in
faculty-supervised research, either with individual faculty or through CLEE,
BCLB, or BCLT, or apply to extern in nearby governmental or nongovernmental
organizations.

POLICY
WORK AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

Berkeley Law has long been a center of environmental and
energy innovations, and it remains in the forefront today on issues ranging
from climate change to coastal zone management to renewable energy. Students
have the opportunity to participate in this work in several ways:

  • CLEE and the other research centers provide
    in-house opportunities for law students to work on environmental and energy policy
    projects on an ongoing basis, addressing issues such as climate change,
    renewable energy, water quality, and environmental justice.
  • The new Environmental Law Clinic will provide
    hands-on legal experience opportunities beginning Fall 2015.
  • Student-Initiated Legal Service Projects (SLIPs)
    give students the opportunity to work on environmental justice projects in
    their own community through partnership with Bay Area non-profit
    organizations.
  • The field placement (externship) program
    provides students with the valuable opportunity to work with dozens of leading
    national environmental groups, government agencies, and other public interest
    organizations such as Earthjustice, NRDC, Sierra Club, Federal Energy
    Regulatory Commission, and the California Attorney General’s Office.
  • The Career Development Office and CLEE collect
    internship opportunities throughout the year and distribute them to all
    environmental and energy students.

If you have questions regarding the Environmental Law Program or the Energy and Clean Technology Law Program, please contact clee@law.berkeley.edu.