Faculty
The environmental faculty at the University of Richmond School of Law are accomplished lawyers and scholars with backgrounds on Capitol Hill, leading law firms, administrative agencies, and environmental groups. They are committed to teaching, passing along their passion for environmental law and bringing into the classroom their rich experience in the field. The faculty includes two professors focusing primarily on environmental law, other full-time professors focusing on closely-related fields such as administrative law, constitutional law, and federal courts, adjunct faculty with a wide range of expertise and an externship placement supervisor.
Joel B. Eisen, Professor of Law
"Modern environmental law is one of the great success stories of the American legal system. Our air and water are cleaner, but many areas remain in which we must seek significant improvements in environmental quality. Today's environmental lawyers must develop innovative 'third generation' approaches. The changing nature of the American and global economies, the advent of sustainability as a framework for organizing efforts toward progress, and the pressing need to deal with the threat posed by global warming, all point toward training environmental lawyers to go beyond the tried and true and find a new path to protecting the planet."
Noah M. Sachs, Assistant Professor of Law, Director, Robert R. Merhige, Jr. Center for Environmental Studies
"Environmental problems have gone global, and we need global solutions grounded in both technological and legal cooperation. The role of environmental law is to ensure that economic growth does not undercut the very foundations of our survival, like clean water, breathable air, and a protective atmosphere. As Thoreau once said, 'What good is a house if you haven't got a decent planet to put it on.'"
Professor Eisen's Recent Accomplishments
- Co-authored the leading energy law textbook for law and business schools, "Energy, Law, and the Environment."
- Moderated a discussion at the National Regulatory Conference in Williamsburg, VA in May 2007, on Virginia's new electricity "re-regulation" statute.
- Authored an article on "Brownfields and BRAC: A Surprising 'Compatibility'" for a symposium issue of the William and Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review; spoke at the "Mission Impossible?: The Compatibility of Military and Environmental Goals" symposium.
- Authored a study of brownfields law and policy, "Brownfields at 20: A Critical Reevaluation," for a symposium issue of the Fordham Urban Law Journal.
Professor Sachs's Recent Accomplishments
- Authored a major study of international treaties governing liability for transboundary pollution (forthcoming in UCLA Law Review).
- Presented a paper at the Yale/Stanford Junior Faculty Forum in May 2007.
- Awarded a fellowship from the European Union Visitors Programme to study EU environmental policy in Brussels.