Standing Committee on
Environmental Law
Welcome!
Message from the Chair
The Standing Committee on Environmental Law welcomes you to its web site. The Standing Committee's work is devoted to examination and analysis of emerging environmental law and policy issues; development of ABA policies in the field; and communication about the myriad environmental law activities taking place throughout the Association.
We invite you to browse our web pages. Here, you can learn about upcoming ABA environmental law activities; review the texts of recent ABA environmental law policies; learn about an ABA award in the field; connect to leading ABA contacts; sign up for two different list servs; and link to an ABA web site sponsored by the Committee and dedicated to helping the legal community run an efficient, resource-conscious law practice, among other benefits of this site.
We look forward to being of service to you. Visit often for updates on policies, programs, award announcements, and other news.
Sincerely,
Howard Kenison, Chair
Leadership
About the Committee
The Standing Committee was established in 1975 as the field of environmental law began to develop. Its mandate is to foster communication and coordination among over 100 ABA environmental law groups; to design and carry out projects in environmental law and policy; and to develop and stimulate ABA policy making in environmental law. To carry out this mission, the Standing Committee collaborates with other American Bar Association groups and with federal, state and local public and private organizations including law schools, U.S. and foreign government agencies, public interest organizations, and bar associations. The Standing Committee organizes professional conferences annually in the United States and every few years abroad; produces resources to support professional networking; and examines emerging environmental law and policy issues in order to develop policy positions that enable the ABA to make its voice heard in Congress.
For further information on the Standing Committee and its activities, call: 202/662-1694 or send an e-mail to scel@staff.abanet.org.
ABA Policy Positions
Policy Positions adopted by the ABA House of Delegates.
- Brownfields
- Climate Change
- Comprehensive Environment Response Compensation and Liability Act
- Environmental Justice
- Environmental Management Systems
- Oceans - Federal Regulatory Structure
- Oceans - International
- Oceans - Marine Resources
- Public Participation in Environmental Decision Making
- Scientific Knowledge When Regulatory Environmental Matters
- Sustainable Development
- Ecosystems Services
Related Resources
What's NEW!!
- SAVE THE DATE! "Renewable Energy: Legal Challenges and Solutions for the Green Economy," CLE law and policy conference, June 19, 2009, Denver, CO. Details to be posted shortly.
- American Bar Association Award for Distinguished Achievement in Environmental Law and Policy, Call for Nominations - 2009
- Photo Gallery of Recipients of the 2008 ABA Award for Distinguished Achievement in Environmental Law and Policy
- Daniel Barstow Magraw, Jr. Speech
Environmental Law Awards
Committee Programming
Find out about committee programming in the U.S. or International Conferences held by the committee.
U.S.
- 36th National Spring Conference on the Environment: "Global Warming II: How the Law Can Best Address Climate Change"
- 35th National Spring Conference on the Environment: "Global Warming: How the Law Can Best Address Climate Change"
- 34th National Spring Conference on the Environment - Ecosystems, Infrastructure and the Environment: Reconciling Law, Policy and Nature. Selected conference materials are here.
- Financial Institutions, Corporate Stewardship, and Sustainable Development: Drivers for the Evolution of U.S. Environmental Laws and Practice, 2005. Follow-up White Papers are here.
- Protecting Our Oceans: Legal and Policy Responses To Declining Marine Ecosystems, 2004
- Water Wars in the East: The Newest Legal Battlefield, 2003
- Combating Terrorism in the Environmental Trenches, 2002
Division for Public Services 2008 - 2009 Clerkship
The Clerkship is a unique program designed for law students to engage in an individualized public interest legal research and writing project in Washington, DC. In concert with Division attorneys and a law school faculty reviewer, a student will develop and complete a substantive legal monograph that may be published, if of a quality acceptable by the ABA. The Clerkship is unpaid. We encourage law students to incorporate the Clerkship into an externship/internship program at their law school and/or to seek supportive law school funding where needed.
For information about the Clerkship, please call 202/662-1691or email cccoleman@staff.abanet.org.
Also, see our ad in the September issue of the Student Lawyer magazine.
