Berkeley Law’s Environmental Law Clinic complements the law school’s classroom teaching in environmental law by providing students with hands-on experience in administrative agency practice, litigation, legislation, and policymaking on behalf of real-world clients. The Clinic aims to:
- Make students creative and effective environmental lawyers;
- Address environmental legal needs of underserved communities; and
- Make an environmental difference.
The Clinic undertakes projects local to global in scale, with a focus on five strategic issue areas (depicted below) that represent critical environmental needs, windows of political opportunity for progress, or both. The Clinic collaborates with other units of the law school and UC Berkeley campus, including the Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment; the Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry; and the School of Public Health.
Students in the Environmental Law Clinic enroll concurrently for four units of clinical fieldwork and a two-unit seminar. The classroom component combines substantive law relevant to clinic projects with skills training (e.g., oral advocacy, legislative strategy), discussion of legal ethics, and exploration of the many roles and practice contexts for environmental lawyers. Project work is typically done in teams. Students meet regularly with clients and Clinic staff to discuss progress and next steps, and wherever possible, take field trips to project sites.
You can read about our recent activities here;
See our students in action here; and
Support our work here.