For Immediate Release
Susan Gluss, media relations director, 510.642.6936, sgluss@law.berkeley.edu
Lauri Gavel, director of communications, 310.206.2611, gavel@law.ucla.edu
Berkeley—March 11, 2009… The University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (Berkeley Law) and UCLA School of Law today announced the launch of a new blog, Legal Planet, which provides insight and analysis on climate change, energy, and environmental law and policy. This collaborative blog draws upon the individual research strengths and vast expertise of the law schools’ think tanks and legal scholars.
“Legal Planet focuses on significant developments in law and policy for a general audience,” said Dan Farber, director of Berkeley Law’s environmental law program and faculty co-director of the school’s Center on Law, Energy, and the Environment. “We highlight the latest legal and policy initiatives, and examine the impact they might have on our planet. Do they protect our natural resources, or impair our legacy for future generations? Do they reduce our carbon footprint, or worsen climate change? Are they real steps forward, or merely political posturing?”
“The rich academic environment of both law schools makes this cross-campus collaboration a natural fit,” said Ann Carlson, faculty director of the Emmett Center on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA School of Law. “Each law school’s environmental law program is steeped in public policy and analysis and reflects the broad interdisciplinary nature of this field.”
Legal Planet co-creators Farber and Carlson said the site fills a unique space on the blogosphere not only by bridging the worlds of law and policy, but also by translating the latest developments in a way that’s understandable to a mass audience. The “global challenge of climate change” is the driving force behind the blog, said Carlson.
Contributors write about Supreme Court decisions, new policy developments, major regulatory actions, and state and national legislation that affect water resource management, toxic waste disposal, renewable energy, air quality, land use and more.
The blog also links to new policy ideas generated by the law schools’ environmental, energy and climate change think tanks.
To read Legal Planet, go to: http://legalplanet.wordpress.com/
In addition to Farber and Carlson, contributors to Legal Planet include Eric Biber, acting professor at Berkeley Law; Holly Doremus, professor at Berkeley Law; Ethan Elkind, joint fellow at the law schools at UC Berkeley and UCLA; Richard Frank, executive director of Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy & the Environment (CLEE); Sean Hecht, executive director of the UCLA Environmental Law Center; Cara Horowitz, Andrew Sabin Family Foundation executive director of the UCLA Emmett Center on Climate Change and the Environment; Timothy Malloy, law professor at UCLA; Cymie Payne, director of Berkeley Law’s Global Commons Project; Steven Weissman, associate director of CLEE; and Jonathan M. Zasloff, law professor at UCLA.
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NOTE: Bios of each contributor are available at http://legalplanet.wordpress.com/contributors/. Photos are available upon request.
About University of California, Berkeley, School of Law
For over a century, Berkeley Law has prepared lawyers to be skilled and ethical problem-solvers. The law school’s curriculum – one of the most comprehensive and innovative in the nation – offers its J.D. and advanced degree candidates a broad array of nearly 200 courses. Students collaborate with leading scholars and practitioners working on complex issues at more than a dozen interdisciplinary centers, institutes, and clinical programs within its Boalt Hall complex. For more information, visit https://www.law.berkeley.edu/.
About UCLA School of Law
Founded in 1949, UCLA School of Law is the youngest major law school in the nation and has established a tradition of innovation in its approach to teaching, research and scholarship. With approximately 100 faculty and 970 students, the school pioneered clinical teaching, is a leader in interdisciplinary research and training and is at the forefront of efforts to link research to its effects on society and the legal profession. For more information, visit http://www.law.ucla.edu.