Environmental Law and Policy

Anchored by path-breaking programs—the Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy Program (ENRLP), the Environmental Law Clinic, and the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance—and complimented by a wide array of cutting-edge research and scholarship, timely policy work, and experiential learning for students, Stanford Law School’s work in the environmental arena dates back to the 60s when the environmental movement was born and continues to this day. Through the clinic and numerous Policy Lab practicums and courses, nationally-renowned faculty, and student organizations, our students are able to actively engage in the issues and advance law and policy. Stanford’s award-winning Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy Program (ENRLP) has earned its reputation as a leading program for education and research in this dynamic field. The Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance explores and develops economically sensible policy and finance solutions that advance cleaner, more secure energy.

Programs, Centers, and Clinics

In the News

Podcast: Celebrating democracy’s small victories

Fulcrum, Democracy Works podcast

This episode’s guest is Michelle Wilde Anderson, a professor of property, local government, and environmental justice at Stanford Law School and the author of The Fight to Save the Town: Reimagining Discarded America. The book tells the stories of revitalization efforts in Stockton, California, Josephine, Oregon, Lawrence, Massachusetts, and Detroit,…

Events

Master of Laws (LLM) in Environmental Law and Policy

Rigorous interdisciplinary training in environmental, energy and resource law and policy. This specialized program seeks to provide foreign lawyers with the legal and policy analysis expertise needed to address issues of pollution, toxic substances, climate change, energy, freshwater, protection of living species on both land and in the oceans, land use management, and environmental assessment.

Policy Lab Practicums

Student Organizations and Journals

2017 Bright Award Given to Green Energy Innovators

The Bright Award

The Bright Award is given annually to an “individual who has made significant contributions in the environmental preservation and sustainability area” and is awarded to an individual from one of ten rotating regions.

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The Bright Idea Podcast

The Bright Idea is a Stanford Law School podcast that highlights some of the most promising and inspirational work around the world in sustainability and conservation. Professor Buzz Thompson begins this series by talking to some of the past winners of Stanford Law School’s Bright Award. The Bright Award is an annual environmental award given to individuals who have dedicated their careers to improving sustainability and conservation. It is the only award like it in the world, and it is the highest environmental prize given by Stanford University. Stanford Law School Alumnus, Ray Bright, established the Bright Award with the goal of recognizing the winners’ prior sustainability work and supporting and extending that work into the future.

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Bright Idea Podcast - Stanford Law School

Publications

Private Energy

Lawyers for a Sustainable Economy

This initiative was incubated to help entrepreneurs and environmental non-profits working on sustainability projects to find firms that are offering pro bono help on these types of important matters

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People

Barton H. Thompson, Jr.

Barton Thompson

  • Robert E. Paradise Professor of Natural Resources Law
  • Senior Fellow, Woods Institute for the Environment
  • Professor, Doerr School of Sustainability
Deborah A. Sivas 1

Deborah A. Sivas

  • Luke W. Cole Professor of Environmental Law
  • Director, Environmental and Natural Resources Law and Policy Program
  • Director, Environmental Law Clinic
  • Senior Fellow, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment
  • Affiliated Researcher, Center for Ocean Solutions
  • Faculty Advisor, Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources
  • Professor, Doerr School of Sustainability
Alicia Seiger 1

Alicia Seiger

  • Managing Director, Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance
  • Managing Director, Precourt Sustainable Finance Initiative
  • Lecturer in Law
Stefan Reichelstein

Stefan Reichelstein

  • The William R. Timken Professor of Accounting, Emeritus
  • Faculty Research Director, Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance

ENRLP Newsletter

For Californians, the climate crisis has already arrived. In our Fall 2020 Newsletter, Professors Deborah Sivas and Buzz Thompson analyze how climate change has exacerbated wildfires, what we can learn from Native fire and forest management practices, and what legal and policy changes might lessen the impacts of wildfires on residents. Read the newsletter to learn more about wildfire policy, Stanford’s new sustainability school, and our new Bright Idea podcast highlighting environmentalists around the globe.

read the newsletter