The Practice of Environmental Law is ever changing in breadth and in scope based upon the maturing of the science, acceptance of environmental protection, and adoption of sustainability concepts. The American Bar Association's Section of Environment, Energy & Resources ("SEER") in conjunction with Vanderbilt School of Law will discuss the "State of the Practice" at the 42nd National Spring Policy Conference on Environmental Law on May 2, 2014 in Nashville, Tennessee.
According to Professor Richard Lazarus, in his book, "The Making of Environmental Law," the term "Environmental Law" was believed to have been first used at a meeting in "Arlie House" in Warrenton, Virginia in September 1969. Since that time, we experienced the birth of EPA, NEPA, Earth Day in the 1970′s and many of the environmental protection statutes we know today. I would imagine that not many practitioners in those early days envisioned that the Clean Air Act would one day be used to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, that contaminated property would become urban blights and then be restored through brownfield initiatives or maybe even that sustainability would become a core value of many large corporations. How has the practice changed and how do practitioners position themselves to take advantage of trends or changes in the practice?
I am looking forward to hearing from speakers who have witnessed first hand the changes and are also able to see the cutting edge of the practice, whether private practice, government, NGO or academia. The program will also be live-streamed simultaneously.
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