Environmental law is a complex field that takes as its subject the natural world and the ways in which human behavior in various forms impacts life and resources on our planet. Lawyers who practice environmental law represent a wide range of clients including local, state, and federal governments, public interest groups, and industry.
Many of the major federal environmental law statutes in the United States were created during the 1960s and 1970s following several dramatic and highly publicized disasters, including chemical fires on Lake Erie and the discovery of toxic wastes at Love Canal. These incidents, combined with a growing understanding of human impacts on the natural world, led the U.S. Congress to enact a comprehensive set of powerful and sophisticated laws aimed at improving or restoring varied aspects of the environment.
Federal environmental law administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is supplemented by state and local frameworks. State legislatures and administrative agencies regulate air, water, land, and other resources; they also play a large role in energy development in the United States. Local governments have considerable control over land use planning and development in the United States, and in that way also have an enormous impact on the natural world.
The law school’s courses introduce the primary environmental law frameworks, offer an understanding of the agencies responsible for environmental programs, and provide for in-depth exploration of laws surrounding resources like water and land. Beyond that, courses at the law school allow students to delve into complex environmental problems such as climate change. The need to tackle global greenhouse gas emissions, and the difficulty of doing so at the international, national, state and local scale, is today’s most challenging environmental problem. Situated on the shores of Lake Michigan, students at Marquette have the opportunity to consider how human actions shape the natural world in intended and unintended ways, and how changing environments might require changes in law, infrastructure, and other human activities.
Marquette is committed to preparing the coming generations of environmental lawyers not only through a comprehensive curriculum in environmental laws now on the books, but also by providing opportunities to imagine better and more effective policies, to understand the cultural, economic and political forces that shape public attitudes toward environmental law, and to work with community leaders and environmental organizations through internships and pro bono opportunities.
Faculty
Full-Time Faculty
Professor Christine Chabot
Professor Sarah Fox
Professor David Strifling
Professor Alex Lemann
CURRICULUM AND COURSES
Foundational Courses
- Administrative Law
- Environmental Law
- Land Use Planning
- Water Law
Other General Enrollment Courses
- Federal Courts
- Insurance
- Legislation
- Local Government Law
- Real Estate Development and Finance
Seminars
- Law and Climate Change in the Great Lakes Region
Workshops
- Civil Pretrial Practice
- Renewable Energy Law
- Natural Resources Law
Supervised Field Placements and Clinics: Midwest Environmental Advocates, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, Wisconsin Department of Justice - Legal Services Division (Environmental Enforcement Unit), Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Related Experiences: Environmental Law Society
Course descriptions can be found in the online Law School Bulletin.
Please note that not every course is taught each year.
Student Organizations & Activities
Environmental Law Society -The Environmental Law Society seeks to promote environmental activism in the Marquette Law School community by providing information on current environmental issues and cultivating relationships with environmental professionals in the greater Milwaukee area.
Registered Student Organizations contribute to the vibrant student community at Marquette University Law School. Scroll through our list of organizations to find the one that suits you best and if you are a current student, you can click on the links to get contact information.