Environmental law center

On April 14, the Coleman P. Burke Center for Environmental Law hosted Abre’ L. Conner, Director of the Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at the NAACP for a public lecture on “Building Authentic Pathways for Environmental Justice Advocacy.” A native of Lakeland, FL, Conner served as the d...

On April 10, the Coleman P. Burke Center for Environmental Law hosted former Representative Bob Inglis (R-SC), executive director of republicEn.org, for the talk “Can Free Enterprise Solve Climate Change?” Former Rep. Inglis represented Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina, in the U.S. Congress...

In September 2023, the Coleman P. Burke Center for Environmental Law hosted an interdisciplinary workshop on “Permitting the Future,” examining the legal and economic aspects of permitting and review requirements for new technologies and environmentally desirable infrastructure and development. This...

The Case Western Reserve University School of Law again has the highest rated environmental law program in the state of Ohio, according to the just-released 2025 US News & World Report law school rankings. In the latest rankings, the environmental law program’s ranking moved up six spots, from 36 to...

This May, the Coleman P. Burke Center for Environmental Law will be hosting its second annual Junior Environmental Law Scholar Workshop for law school pre-tenured faculty and fellows who are currently pursuing teaching careers in environmental law, energy law, climate law or natural resources law. T...

On Oct. 30, the Coleman P. Burke Center for Environmental Law hosted David Spence from the University of Texas School of Law for a talk on his new book, Climate of Contempt: How to Rescue the U.S. Energy Transition from Voter Partisanship. David Spence is Rex G. Baker Centennial Chair in Natural R...

In October, professor Victor Flatt’s Environmental Law class was joined by Jay Pendergrass, the former Vice President and Current Senior Advisor to the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) in Washington, D.C. During his over 3 decades at the ELI, Pendergrass has helped tackle numerous environmental iss...

On Oct. 16, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in City and County of San Francisco v. Environmental Protection Agency, a challenge to the EPA’s use of “generic” prohibitions in Clean Water Act permits. On Sept. 24, professor Jonathan Adler moderated a webinar previewing the arguments and iss...

On Sept. 19, the Coleman P. Burke Center for Environmental Law hosted Deputy Assistant Secretary Kati Kovacs from the U.S. Department of the Interior to discuss how federal agencies navigate the rulemaking process. Kovacs is currently serving as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals ...

Recently published law review notes and comments articles by CWRU law students have examined a range of important environmental law issues, including several with particular importance to northeast Ohio and the Great Lakes. These articles include: The Cost of Clarity: Closing the Floodgates on WOTU...