This issue describes the GW Environmental and Energy Law Program’s busy and productive fall semester. It reviews our recent program events, including the 2023 Earth Law Symposium and the Second Annual J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Distinguished Lecture on Global Climate Change and Energy Law; summarizes our faculty’s impressive array of scholarly engagement; and spotlights some GW Law students who have excelled in the environmental and energy law fields. We are also excited to explore GW's new focus on sustainability and the changes it brings to GW Law's Environmental and Energy Law Program.

President Granberg’s inaugural address on November 4 foretold “a revolutionary next step in how our students and faculty conduct and develop innovative research, advocacy, and coursework in sustainability.” That step, the founding of The GW Alliance for a Sustainable Future, was officially announced in GW Today on November 15.

Donna Attanasio has been named the Managing Director of the newly formed GW Alliance for a Sustainable Future. She stepped down as Assistant Dean for Energy Law on November 1. The law school has initiated a search for her successor as Assistant Dean for Energy Law. 

The GW Law Environmental and Energy Law Program hosted the 2023 Earth Law Symposium and the Second Annual J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Distinguished Lecture on Global Climate Change and Energy Law. These events brought together renowned experts, stakeholders, and students and explored emerging environmental and energy law issues and solutions for the future.

The 2023 Earth Law Symposium discussed and analyzed how Earth Law mechanisms could be implemented into statutes, regulations, legal systems, and governance strategies to protect our fragile planet and its vulnerable communities. Earth Law encompasses rights to a healthy environment, rights of nature, Indigenous rights, and rights of future generations. It is foundational in its emphasis on interdependency among Earth’s systems and its recognition that humans also flourish when the Earth can flourish. To read more on the 2023 Earth Law Symposium, visit the GW Point Source: The 2023 Earth Law Symposium and the Road Ahead.

The Shapiro Distinguished Lecture brings globally recognized environmental experts to Washington D.C. to address cutting-edge issues on climate change and energy law. This year, GW Law had the privilege of hosting Dr. Patrícia Galvão Ferreira as the 2023 distinguished lecturer. Dr. Galvão Ferreira is an Associate Professor with the Marine & Environmental Law Institute at Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her presentation, “Unlocking CBDR: How National Courts Are Domesticating an Equity Principle of International Environmental Law and Why That Matters for Climate Justice,” addressed how the international equity principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities” translates into domestic legal protections in climate litigation. Her lecture was followed by commentary from Dr. Rachael Jonassen, Director of Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Management programs at the Environmental and Energy Management Institute, and Judge Gabriel Wedy, federal judge and law professor at the University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS) and the Superior School of the Federal Magistrature (ESMAFE). For more information on the 2023 Shapiro Lecture, please see the GW Point Source’s recent blog post.

The Energy Law Program and the Energy Connectors Alumni Affinity Group welcomed students and faculty to its alumni social hour on October 9 in Washington, DC. New and returning faces were welcomed by Assistant Dean for Energy Law Donna Attanasio and had a cozy evening of networking accompanied by food and drinks. Students, both JDs and LLMs, were introduced to the multi-faceted area of energy law at GW Law while networking with alumni in the field. Thank you to all who joined us and we look forward to welcoming members of the GW Law community at future Energy Connector events!

Juliette Jackson, LLM '24, has received a Climate & Health Institute Research Fellow award, which was open to applicants from across GW. Juliette’s research explores the intersection of environmental law, Indigenous rights, and animal law. Specifically, her research addresses the current risks and harms impacting the Klamath tribes, what existing mechanisms, if any, are currently employed to remedy the contamination, and innovative legal methods or policy actions the tribes could take to address the contamination. Congratulations, Juliette!

GW Environmental and Energy Law faculty and staff have been working hard publishing articles and textbooks, participating in panels, and delivering presentations on various topics. A summary of select faculty publications and presentations appears below. The full list of scholarship can be found on our Faculty Publications Page.

Diversity in Environmental Law Careers

January 18, 2024 | 4:30 - 6 pm ET

Tasher Great Room, GW Law

This panel of diverse lawyers from private practice, government, public interest, and in-house contexts will discuss with students their journeys and observations as diverse lawyers in environmental law. A reception will follow, sponsored by Beveridge & Diamond PC.

The J.B and Maurice C. Shapiro Environmental Law Symposium

March 27, 2024 | 3:30 - 5:30 pm and March 28, 2024 | 8 am - 5 pm 

GW Law

Theme: Environmental Justice Solutions Summit: Strategic Litigation, Resilience, and Hope

Panels:

Climate Change Fiction and Nonfiction Reading Recommendations - by Assistant Dean for Environmental Law Studies Randall Abate

Fiction

The Ministry for the Future, by Kim Stanley Robinson

Parable of the Sower, by Octavia Butler

A Children's Bible, by Lydia Millet

Nonfiction

The Great Displacement, by Jake Bittle

Rising, by Elizabeth Rush

The Water Will Come, by Jeff Goodell

Stay connected with us on social media. Check our event page for more news and updates.