Greening the Environmental Law Program at your School

In the coming year, this site will be filled out with more support materials to help students:

Tip:

It can often be very slow and difficult going for an environmental student group trying to effect change at their law school. Changes in law school's administrations often work from the top down and students are at the bottom of a long pecking order. Law school administrators are dealing with requests from donors who fund the school's programs, alumni who are often donors themselves, and professors who assert a great deal of influence and will often be running programs or other projects. Some law schools are very supportive of student demand to expand their environmental programs, but these schools are the exception not the rule.

Recognizing this fact, environmental students groups should generally look to build coalitions with more influential players in the law school hierarchy or be resigned to finding creative low-cost solutions. To build coalitions, law students should try to rally the support of environmental law professors, past environmental group members, and other alumni who have become environmental professionals. If this is not possible, students should look to create opportunities for themselves by working with NAELS and other local environmental law organizations to set up environmental law events or develop projects.