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Week of July 19

Vermont Law School — 26 Jul 2010 04:00:00 EST

The ABA Journal included Professor Philip Meyer as one of the law in popular culture experts who selected "The 25 Greatest Fictional Lawyers" for the magazine's Aug. 1 edition.
Professor Gus Speth's views on a sustainable economy were cited in a July 25 op-ed article in The Rutland Herald, Times Argus and Vermont Today.
Professor Michael McCann spoke to The Topeka Capital-Journal (Kan.) on July 24 about a legal dispute over the Kansas State football program.
Alumnus Charles Merriman '95, who is running for Vermont secretary of state, was profiled in The Rutland Herald, Times Argus and Vermont Today on July 24.
BlueRidgeNow.com (N.C.) profiled alumnus Anthony Turoto '09 on July 23.
The Randolph Herald reported July 22 on Associate Professor David Mears departing for China on a Fulbright Scholarship.
Professor Michael McCann talked to The Orange County Register (Calif.) for a July 21 story on a legal dispute between USC and one of its former football players.
ESPN linked to a blog post July 20 by Professor Michael McCann on whether pro sports teams can request that players with normal vision wear contact lenses to obtain abnormally good vision.
Associate Professor Sean Nolon spoke with VPR on July 19 about development and local opposition.
The Hudson Valley Sports Report (N.Y.) talked to Professor Michael McCann on July 19 about a college football contractual dispute.

VLS Professor Advocates Radical Steps in Response to Gulf Oil Spill

Vermont Law School — 23 Jul 2010 04:00:00 EST

Professor Pat Parenteau discussed the Gulf oil spill during a Hot Topics lecture on July 22, 2010.

Pat Parenteau is fed up.

One of the leading environmental scholars in the United States, Parenteau said America's environmental laws have proven miserably ineffective at preventing catastrophes such as the Gulf oil spill.

At a Hot Topics panel discussion July 22 on the Gulf spill, the Vermont Law School professor called for radical steps to end America's dependence on oil, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lessen the risk of future fossil fuel-related disasters. He demanded passage of a federal tax that would raise gas prices to $5 a gallon to encourage Americans to forego their cars for walking, bicycling and public transportation.

"We don't need to close loopholes in federal laws," Parenteau said. "I'm not for small tweaks anymore. That's rearranging the deck chairs" on the Titanic. "We need to stop using oil. I've been doing this for 38 years. I've seen it. I'm tired of it."

Parenteau was joined on the panel by Professor Lee Breckenridge of Northeastern University School of Law and Boston Globe environmental reporter Beth Daley.

The Deepwater Horizon, a drilling rig working on a well for the oil company BP a mile below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, exploded April 20, leading to the largest oil spill in U.S. history. BP capped the leaking well, at least temporarily, on July 15, but it is expected to take years for the gulf's environment and economy to recover.

Daley said BP and federal government officials hindered media coverage of the spill by ignoring requests for information or providing incomplete information.

Breckenridge asked why the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act, Oil Pollution Act and other federal laws designed to prevent such disasters had failed. "Why wasn't the basic analysis done before the project was approved," she said. "Why weren't these laws enough to cause the necessary scrutiny?"

She also discussed inappropriate ties between government regulators and the oil industry. But she also questioned why environmental groups hadn't pressured government regulators to do their jobs.

Parenteau, an expert in climate change and ocean resources, said the Gulf's fragile ecology may never recover from the estimated 40 millions gallons of oil that have leaked so far. "And this is the deepest spill by far, so we literally have no idea what we've done to the Gulf ecosystem," he said. "The damage is just incalculable."

More than 40 years after America's major environmental laws were adopted, Parenteau said it's time to accept that those laws have failed. "I don't care what law we pass, we're way outside the bounds of what laws can do to manage this issue," he said. "It's time, once and for all, to stop this - to get off this oil addiction."

Breckenridge disagreed, saying she still believes legislators, regulators and the public can push through laws that reduce the risk of catastrophes such as the Gulf oil spill.

Week of July 12

Vermont Law School — 20 Jul 2010 04:00:00 EST

ESPN.com has featured Ben Leoni '11 in two ski videos posted in July - episode 2 and episode 4. More videos are to come as part of a webisode partnership between ESPN and Meathead Films.
The Addison County Independent talked to Assistant Professor Art Edersheim on July 18 about the South Royalton Legal Clinic's work with Mexican immigrant workers.
Professor Jackie Gardina talked to The Huffington Post on July 16 about the possibility of BP going bankrupt.
Professor Michael McCann talked to New England Sports Network on July 16 about the NCAA's sanctions against the USC football team.
Peter Van Oot, who serves on the advisory committees of the Environmental Law Center and the Land Use Clinic, was profiled July 16 in vermontbiz.com.
In an op-ed article July 15 in vtdigger.org, Assistant Professor Don Kreis criticized the AP for reporting an allegation of plagiarism against the Vermont Public Service Department's top attorney.
Associate Professor Brian Porto discussed the wit and wisdom of a winning high school football coach in his VPR commentary on July 15.
The Los Angeles Times interviewed Professor Michael McCann on July 14 about the NCAA's sanctions against the USC football team. The story also ran in The Chicago Tribune, The Hartford Courant and other news outlets nationwide.
Associate Professsor Brian Porto talked to the AP on July 14 about an allegation of plagiarism against the Vermont Public Service Department's top attorney. The story ran in Forbes.com, Bloomberg Business Week, ABA Journal, Yahoo! Finance.com, The Boston Globe, The Washington Examiner, CanadianBusiness.com, The Burlington Free Press, WCAX News, FOX44 News, the Valley News and other media nationwide.
Red 94, an ESPN website, discussed Professor Michael McCann's criticism of Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert on July 14 for his letter objecting to LeBron James signing with the Miami Heat.
Professor Michael McCann talked to WDEV Radio on July 13 about steroid use in baseball, Michael Vick and who decides when an athlete gets surgery.
Several newspapers in Wisconsin, Alabama, New Mexico and Georgia, including the CoastalCourier.com (Ga.), ran an op-ed article July 12 by Adjunct Professor Peter Bradford about federal loan guarantees for new nuclear power plants.
Professor Oliver Goodenough wrote about virtual companies in a blog post on The Huffington Post on July 12.
EMagazine.com talked to Professor Pat Parenteau about the Cape Wind project on July 12.

Land Use Institute Hosts APA Webinar

Vermont Law School — 12 Jul 2010 04:00:00 EST

The Land Use Institute recently was host coordinator to a national American Planning Association (APA) webinar -- the 2010 Planning Law Review. Dwight Merriam, summer adjunct faculty, was one of the panelists. He referenced a paper by VLS student Dana Christiansen during the webinar and included it in the web resources provided by APA to all participants. Christiansen completed the paper in his summer class this past June on urban agriculture in Detroit.

Fulbright Scholar David Mears to Use Classroom, Litigation to Tackle Pollution in China

Vermont Law School — 12 Jul 2010 04:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- David Mears is an accidental Sinophile.

Never one to wander the globe, he's focused his career on teaching and litigation close to home, mostly recently as an associate professor at Vermont Law School and director of VLS's Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic (ENRLC). Nonetheless, Mears finds himself about to embark on a year-long journey to China, where he will spend the 2010-2011 academic year as a Fulbright Scholar looking to beef up enforcement of China's anti-pollution laws and to expand university-based environmental law clinics.

"I never expected something like this, but if you're motivated by finding solutions to greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental problems, then China is a critical place to work," he said.

Mears' duties will be to teach and to assist the environmental law clinics at Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) and the Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims (CLAPV) at the China University of Political Science and Law. He also intends to reach out to other universities across China that are interested in establishing environmental law clinics.

Mears had never been to Asia until 2006 when he visited China with VLS's U.S.-China Partnership for Environmental Law, which is at the forefront of American law schools working in China on environment and energy issues. He applied for the Fulbright scholarship because of his growing role with the partnership - this trip will be his fourth to China -- and because of the positive experience that Professor Jason Czarnezki, another VLS faculty member, has had as a Fulbright scholar in China for the past academic year.

Mears recently finished his Fulbright orientation program in Washington, D.C., and departs for China in early August with his wife, Nancy, and their children, Laura, 15, Isaac, 12, and Liam, 10. "Nancy and I had been thinking about taking the kids abroad, but not for a whole year," he said. "When this opportunity came along, we decided this would be a terrific chance to learn about another culture and to understand" the severe environmental impacts from China's economic boom. "I have no preconceptions that I'm going to change the course of history, but I hope to help give Chinese students and faculty some tools that may help them to solve these environmental problems."

Mears said it's unfair for the United States and European nations to point a finger at China because those countries have caused massive pollution during their own industrial revolutions. "That's not an excuse for China to pollute, but it's in the world's interests to help the Chinese develop and enforce a new generation of laws and regulations that could be even better than those in the United States," he said. "Why not?"

As director of the ENRLC, Mears helps Vermont Law School students hone their lawyering skills, while assisting nonprofit organizations, community groups and individuals with environmental problems and conservation projects. That's what he hopes to bring to China, where his Fulbright project will complement and enrich the U.S.-China Partnership's ongoing collaboration with SYSU and CLAPV. In June, the partnership received a $1.5 million federal grant to establish China's first public interest environmental law firm and to expand university-based legal clinics. The goal of the "green litigation" is to help ordinary citizens force polluting factories, mines and local officials to follow the law.

"The environmental regulatory system in China hasn't evolved quickly enough to keep pace with the pollution from rapid economic growth," Mears said.

Mears is one of about 1,100 U.S. faculty and professionals who will travel abroad through the J. William Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program in 2010-2011. The program is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries. For more on the Fulbright program, visit http://fulbright.state.gov. For more on Mears, visit: http://www.vermontlaw.edu/Our_Faculty/Faculty_Directory/David_Mears.htm.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106 , jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Prof. Duane's Article Makes SSRN Top Ten List

Vermont Law School — 12 Jul 2010 04:00:00 EST

Professor Tim Duane's paper, "Greening the Grid: Implementing Climate Change Policy Through Energy Efficiency, Renewable Portfolio Standards, and Strategic Transmission System Investments," recently was listed on the SSRN's Top Ten download list for the eJournal of Sustainability Law and Policy. Read the abstract.

Prof. Baker's Paper Makes SSRN Top Ten List

Vermont Law School — 12 Jul 2010 04:00:00 EST

Professor Betsy Baker's paper, "Law, Science, and the Continental Shelf: The Russian Federation and the Promise of Arctic Cooperation", was recently listed on SSRN's Top Ten download list for Sustainability Law & Policy eJournal. Read the abstract.

Prof. Farrior's Article Makes SSRN Top Ten Lists

Vermont Law School — 12 Jul 2010 04:00:00 EST

Professor Stephanie Farrior's article, "Human Trafficking Violates Anti-Slavery Provision: Introductory Note to Rantsev v. Cyprus and Russia - European Court of Human Rights," recently made the following SSRN Top Ten download lists:

Economic Inequality & the Law
Human Rights & the Global Economy
Immigration, Refugee & Citizenship Law
Treaties & Other Sources of International Law
International, Transnational & Comparative Criminal Law

Weeks of June 28, July 5

Vermont Law School — 12 Jul 2010 04:00:00 EST

Professor Michael McCann talked to the Carrboro (N.C.) Citizen on July 9 about age limits in the NBA.
The Burlington Free Press talked to Jeanne Eicks, director of technology, on July 3 about Vermont receiving federal stimulus funds to build fiber-optic networks and improve broadband access.
VLS was included Vermontbiz.com's story July 2 on the federal money awarded to Vermont to boost broadband infrastructure.
Green Energy Times reported July 2 on VLS's support for the White River Partnership's upcoming landscape auction. The story also was reported July 8 by the Randolph Herald.
Professor Cheryl Hanna discussed a significant recent day at the U.S. Supreme Court in her June 28 commentary on VPR. She also was interviewed on WCAX-TV and WDEV Radio.
vtdigger.org reported June 28 on VLS's plan to use a $250,000 energy efficiency grant to help convert the 190 Chelsea building into the new SRLC and ENRLC clinics building. The Randoph Herald also reported the story on July 1.
William Eubanks '08, an attorney for wildlife groups that filed a lawsuit to protect endangered sea turtles during the Gulf oil spill cleanup, was quoted June 30 to July 7 by msnbc.com, NPR, AP, CNN, CBS, Reuters, the Los Angeles Times, Business Week, Bloomberg News, FOX News, Forbes and other media nationwide.

Prof. Yang's Paper in SSRN Top Ten All Time Hits

Vermont Law School — 09 Jul 2010 04:00:00 EST

Prof. Tseming Yang's paper, "The Emergence of Global Environmental Law," is listed on SSRN's Top Ten All Time Hits download list for the Journal of CGN: The Environment (Topic). Read the abstract on SSRN.

Prof. Judy's Paper Makes SSRN Top Ten

Vermont Law School — 09 Jul 2010 04:00:00 EST

Martha Judy's paper, "Coming Full CERCLA: Why Burlington Northern is Not the Sword of Damocles for Joint and Several Liability," was recently listed on SSRN's Top Ten download list for CGN: The Environment (Topic). Read the abstract on SSRN.

EPA Minority Fellows Kick Off Environmental Law Outreach Program at VLS

Vermont Law School — 07 Jul 2010 04:00:00 EST

Five North Carolina Central University Law School students attended VLS's 2010 Summer Session to kick off the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to increase outreach to minority and underserved communities.

When they enrolled at North Carolina Central University Law School, Ilesanmi Adaramola, Chimezie Okobi, Jennifer Perez, Justin Anderson and Wendell Fortson didn't have a particular interest in the environment.

They do now.

In June, the five 3L students from historically black NCCU arrived at Vermont Law School to attend VLS's 2010 Summer Session, which formally kicked off the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to increase outreach to minority and underserved communities.

VLS and the EPA signed a memorandum of understanding last year to improve the flow of information between the EPA and minority communities and further the teaching of environmental issues at VLS. The MOU is part of the EPA's first organized effort to train more lawyers to handle environmental justice issues in minority and low-income communities, which bear a disproportionate amount of health and environmental impacts from pollution.

In addition to the EPA summer fellowships at VLS, Vermont Law School will employ distance learning technology to give a wider range of students from minority academic institutions access to its environmental law program. The NCCU students also are looking to VLS for advice in starting an environmental law society and adopting green practices on their campus, such as recycling.

The NCCU students said their summer experience at VLS, the top-ranked environmental law school in the nation, made them realize how much environmental issues affect a community's quality of life.
And being able to handle environmental cases as a lawyer will further NCCU's mission of public service, they said.

"Coming to Vermont Law School has been a great experience and a whirlwind of good opportunities to meet people and learn about critical issues," Perez said.

VLS Dean Jeff Shields said Vermont Law School and the EPA are devoted to developing environmental leaders within the country's minority communities. He said the program would help to end the disproportionate environmental, health and economic burdens on underserved communities.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said new leaders must be invited into the environmental movement.

"The actions behind this MOU will allow EPA to give a voice to communities that haven't had a voice in the past and empower them to act on our nation's most pressing environmental issues," she said. "Fostering more diversity and inclusion throughout EPA will allow us to better serve the broad environmental and health needs of all Americans."

The EPA program is being coordinated by VLS alumnus Helena Wooden-Aguilar ‘02, senior case manager for the EPA's civil rights office in North Carolina. She works with historically black colleges, universities and law schools to enhance or develop their environmental law curricula. Shirley Jefferson, VLS associate dean for Student Affairs and Diversity, welcomed Wooden-Aguilar's efforts. Jefferson said environmental injustice is a major problem in many minority and low-income communities, where black lawyers typically focus on discrimination, civil rights, crime and other issues.

"Addressing environmental injustices should have started a long time ago, but more and more African-Americans are learning about the environment and how pollution directly affects their lives," she said. "We have to make more black law students interested in environmental law."

Several VLS faculty and administrators, including Jefferson, Professor Mark Latham, Professor Marc Mihaly and Anne Mansfield, associate director of the Environmental Law Center, visited NCCU to talk to students about what VLS has to offer.

Perez, who is a hospital social worker, said she's gaining a greater understanding of how public health issues can be addressed through the rule of law.

Adaramola, a paralegal, said she's become fascinated by the interconnectivity between environmental law and ordinary people's lives, including ways to improve drinking water, land use and other issues.

Okobi said he was drawn to the EPA-VLS program because environmental laws and policies are intertwined with his interest in international business.

"And the students here are very welcoming and passionate about learning," he said.

Anderson, who has a background in sociology, said environmental law is broadening his concept of public service.

"I've talked to so many students here about pollution, invasive species, water quality, agricultural practices and land development," he said. "Everyone's very passionate."

NCCU Professor Kevin Foy, who teaches his school's lone environmental law class, accompanied his students to VLS for the summer session.

Foy, a veteran of the environmental movement and a former mayor of Chapel Hill, N.C., said the depth and breadth of environmental courses at VLS give the NCCU students a unique opportunity, especially when it comes to sustainable land use issues. He said few black lawyers have specialized in the environmental because protecting wildlife and trees is associated with "white privilege," while low-income families typically focus on jobs, education, crime and medical care.

"I think it's also been a sense that you can't do anything about pollution and other forms of environmental injustice, and there's a general lack of awareness of the health problems caused by pollution," he said.

Latham said he got involved in the EPA program because minority communities haven't been fully represented in the environmental arena.

"It's an important voice that hasn't been heard," he said. "I think VLS connecting with this historically black law school is an exciting opportunity to address that problem."

VLS Supports First Landscape Auction in the United States

Vermont Law School — 02 Jul 2010 04:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Vermont Law School is supporting the White River Partnership's landscape auction on Aug. 14, the first such conservation effort in the United States designed to revitalize watersheds, wildlife and people's connection to nature.

Landscape auctions originated in The Netherlands in 2007 as a financing tool to attract private capital for nature conservation and landscape protection. The money helps private landowners to protect landscape elements that have scenic, cultural or natural resource values, such as songbird habitat, walking trails and covered bridges. The funds go for management costs of protecting a landscape element, such as fencing cattle out of streams. Winning bidders "adopt" the landscape element but do not become the legal owner.

Vermont Law School has several connections to the project:

VLS plans to raise funds from faculty, staff and alumni to submit a bid at the auction.
Abby Armstrong, WRP's board president, is VLS's director of Career Services.
Mary Russ, WRP's executive director; Susan Shea, a WRP board member; and Annette Lorraine, a Montpelier attorney who is finalizing the auction's contracts, are VLS alumni.
The VLS Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic hosted public meetings on the auction and monitors water quality for the WRP.
The WRP's summer interns include Falko Schilling, a current VLS student, and Lindsey Cole, who will be a VLS student in the fall.
Polly Davis, a VLS Land Use Institute student, prepared the auction's preliminary contracts.
Peg Elmer, assistant director of the VLS Land Use Institute, is putting her riverside property up for bid at the auction.

"We hope this event will trigger greater public awareness about the White River watershed and create special bonds between those who take care of it and those who enjoy it," Armstrong said.

More information is available at www.whiteriverpartnership.org and http://landscape-auction.com/.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106 , jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Weeks of June 14, June 21

Vermont Law School — 30 Jun 2010 04:00:00 EST

Professor Pat Parenteau talked to Living on Earth on June 25 about a federal judge's ruling to block the Obama administration's six-month moratorium on new deep-water oil drilling.
Greenwire talked to Professor John Echeverria on June 25 about the bipartisan commission charged with investigating the causes and effects of the Gulf oil spill.
Sarah Buxton's '10 first bid for political office - a Democratic primary contest for the seat in the state legislature representing Royalton and Tunbridge - was reported June 24 by the Randolph Herald.
The Valley News reported June 24 on Sarah Buxton's '10 candidacy for a Vermont House district seat, and on Vice Dean Gil Kujovich's perspective on grade inflation by law schools.
The National Law Journal reported June 22 on the U.S.-China Partnership for Environmental Law receiving a $1.5 million federal grant to to establish China's first public interest environmental law firm and to expand a university-based legal clinic.
Shane Zisman3L, a legal aid intern for the Toxics Action Center, was included in an AP story that ran nationwide on June 22, including in The Washington Post and CBS News, about neighboring landowners' concerns over Cabot Creamery's pumping of groundwater.
The Miami Herald, Sacramento Bee and other news outlets natiowide carried a McClatchy Newspapers story on June 22 quoting Professor Pat Parenteau about the injunction against President Obama's six-month ban on new deep-water oil drilling.
Peter Bradford, summer faculty member, wrote an op-ed piece in the Atlanta Journal Constitution on June 22 about federal loan guarantees for new nuclear reactors.
Yahoo! Finance reported June 22 on Jack Thomas Tomarchio '80 being appointed to the board of PureSafe Water Systems, Inc. He is the former deputy under secretary of U.S. Homeland Security for intelligence and analysis operations.
vermontbiz.com reported June 21 on why VLS is the top-ranked environmental law school in the nation.
U.S. News & World Report talked to VLS Admissions officials on June 21 about how student applicants can improve their chances of being accepted. The story also ran in USA Today.
Professor Michael McCann talked to the Tampa Tribune and msnbc.com on June 21 and June 22 about the Tampa Bay Rays' plans to seek to a new home. The article also ran in American Chronicle.
Professor John Echeverria talked to E&E News and the Tampa Tribune on June 17 about the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in a Florida beach case involving property rights.
An AP story on June 17 about VLS receiving a $250,000 energy efficiency grant to help renovate the 190 Chelsea building ran in The Boston Globe, VPR, FOX44 News, Burlington Free Press and other news outlets.
Assistant Professor Pamela Vesilind talked to Seven Days on June 16 about efforts to save "Pete the Moose."
The Rutland Herald and Vermont Today reported June 16 on the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic's appeal of a waste dispoal permit for Omya's calcium carbonate plant.
vermontbiz.com reported June 15 on the U.S.-China Partnership helping to establish China's first public interest environmental law firm and to expand a university-based legal clinic.
Lawson Revan 2L was included in a Spartanburg (S.C.) Herald-Journal article on June 15 about Upstate Forever, a nonprofit group that promotes sensible growth and environmental protection in South Carolina.

What’s Next for Public Lands in a Climate-Changed World?

Vermont Law School — 25 Jun 2010 04:00:00 EST

With nearly one-third of U.S. soil under federal ownership, it's critical that Americans reconfigure their public and private lands to adapt to rising temperatures, altered habitat and other effects of climate change, a visiting scholar told a Vermont Law School audience on July 24.

"It's going to take adaptive management on steroids to deal with what's ahead," said John Leshy, a professor at University of California's Hastings College of the Law.

Leshy, one of America's leading experts in public lands, held key posts in the U.S. Department of the Interior in the Carter and Clinton administrations and co-chaired the Obama administration transition team for the Interior Department.

He painted a gloomy picture of America's ability to adapt to the changes wrought by global warming, but he's cautiously optimistic it can be done.

Leshy was the latest speaker in the Environmental Law Center's Hot Topics lecture series. Titled "Public Lands in a Climate-Changed World: Some Speculations," his talk centered on one question: What might a destabilized climate mean for policies governing the one-third of the real estate in the country that is owned by the public?

Leshy started with an overview of the conservation movement in the United States, including the seminal role of George Perkins Marsh of Woodstock, Vt. Considered America's first environmentalist, Marsh wrote the 1864 book Man and Nature, which decried the effects of deforestation and other human impacts on the land and water.

Leshy looked back at the Progressive era from 1890 to 1920, lauding the conservation efforts of Marsh, Theodore Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot and John Muir to set aside public lands, and the efforts of Franklin Roosevelt to expand protection of public lands in the 1930s and 1940s.

Leshy said the United States must reconfigure its public lands to adapt to climate change, including using adaptive management on private lands and accelerating the pace of public land sales, purchases and trades.

He said public lands must be continually reconfigured to preserve waterways, headwaters, watersheds, migratory bird corridors and other key habitats.

"Federal lands have to migrate to some extent to adapt," he said, including national parks, which were established for scenic rather than restoration purposes.

Such reconfiguration of public lands will take unprecedented cooperation between federal and state agencies and private owners, he said.

Federal agencies also must adjust their traditional management missions - scenery for the National Park Service, timber for the Forest Service and grazing and mining for the Bureau of Land Management - to reflect the new top priority of climate change, Leshy said.

"Where are these lands located, how are they managed, how are they defined?" he said. "Everything needs to be redefined to adapt to climate change. It's a daunting task."

Federal lands have helped to shape America's identity, and past crises - environmental and economic - have prompted great leaps in conservation around 1900 and the 1930s, he said.

"I'm still optimistic, but the scale of climate change is bigger than anything we've faced," he said. "We have no time to waste."

Sara Phillips to Start LLM Program at McGill

Vermont Law School — 24 Jun 2010 04:00:00 EST

Sara Phillips '10, who spent the spring 2009 semester at McGill University and then a semester in practice in Cordoba, Argentina, working with Canadian MP John McKay, will start the LLM program at McGill in fall 2010. She plans to research the overlap of corporate social responsibility, environmental law and women's rights.

VLS to Use $250,000 Grant for Green Renovations in Clinics Building

Vermont Law School — 23 Jun 2010 04:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Vermont Law School will use a $250,000 energy efficiency grant to help convert a historic building into a vibrant new center for legal advocacy. The grant was the largest of 14 grants totaling $1.7 million that the Vermont Clean Energy Development Fund gave out to colleges, hospitals and other non-profits on June 16.

VLS will use the grant to completely renovate 190 Chelsea Street, a two-story building overlooking the South Royalton town green. The building will be historically preserved and upgraded to high standards of energy efficiency using best green building practices.

The retrofitted structure will be the home of the South Royalton Legal Clinic (SRLC), which has outgrown its cramped quarters elsewhere on campus, and the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic (ENRLC), which operates as a law firm within a law school. The renovated building will give the SRLC 60 percent and the ENRLC 110 percent more space, respectively, than their current locations. Both clinics train law students and provide free legal services to the community.

Since 1979, the SRLC has served thousands of Vermont residents who are unable to afford counsel on issues such as children's rights, immigration, family law, domestic violence, housing, health care and consumer protection. Last year, the SRLC provided approximately $1.5 million in free services. The ENRLC offers pro bono legal representation on environmental matters to organizations and individuals who would not otherwise have access to legal services.

"With this support from the Clean Energy Development Fund, the 190 Chelsea project can realize a synergy of environmental, economic and societal impacts that transcend the bricks and mortar required to breathe new life into an old building," Dean Jeff Shields said. "Through this project, VLS has the distinctive opportunity to restore an historic downtown structure, reduce energy costs and consumption and expand our community and environmentally focused legal aid work."

VLS has raised more than $1.4 million of the $3 million to $3.5 million needed to purchase, renovate and equip the clinics building. A formal fund-raising campaign kicks off in September. Tentative plans call for renovation to start in 2011 and be completed in 2012.

The site's 11,000 square feet will give both clinics increased and improved space for the faculty, staff and student clinicians who often work late at night to meet case deadlines. The building also will become the new home of the VLS Barrister's Book Shop, which will have an increased product line as well as outdoor and indoor seating that will serve students, faculty, staff and the community.

VLS, which has a history of award-winning historic preservation and energy efficiency projects, is working on the 190 Chelsea project with Efficiency Vermont and the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation. Efficiency Vermont provides technical assistance and financial incentives to households, businesses and schools to help reduce their energy costs with energy efficient equipment, lighting and approaches to construction and renovation. The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation is the public agency designated to be the advocate for historic properties in the state.

Many of the 190 Chelsea building's exterior historic features will be maintained, but the interior was long ago altered, so it will be designed to fit the modern needs of the two legal clinics. The building's insulation, heating, cooling, electrical, plumbing and other systems will be brought up to code. The result will be a rejuvenated structure that adheres to U.S. Interior Department standards for rehabilitation and is consistent with the law school's commitment to environmental stewardship and public service.

More information on the SRLC and ENRLC is available on their VLS websites.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Effort to Remake Property Rights Law

Vermont Law School — 18 Jun 2010 04:00:00 EST

BY JOHN ECHEVERRIA, PROFESSOR OF LAW, VERMONT LAW SCHOOL

If further proof were needed that appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court matter, it was provided today by the Court's decision in Stop the Beach Renourishment, Inc. v. Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The so-called conservative wing of the Court came one vote short of issuing a decision that would have revolutionized the law of property rights in the United States.

The case involved the facially implausible claim by several coastal property owners along Florida's panhandle that they suffered a "taking" under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution because the state and local governments acted to protect them and their neighbors from erosion (my amicus brief in the case is here). The alleged taking resulted from an extensive effort to build up the eroded shoreline with sand pumped from the ocean bottom offshore. Because the new beach was constructed atop publicly owned submerged lands, and paid for with public dollars, the public naturally enough claimed ownership of this new land.

Despite the fact that they were at serious risk of losing their homes to the ocean, plaintiffs claimed that the project impaired their property rights because it denied them direct contact with the ocean and deprived them of their common law right to expand their landownership through future accretions to their coastal property deposited by wind and waves. Most of the affected property owners thought they were getting more than a fair deal from the project, but a half dozen owners sued seeking financial compensation on top of the erosion protection they were receiving at public expense.

The case began as a claim that the government's implementation of the renourishment program pursuant to Florida Beach and Shorefront Preservation Act resulted in a taking. But when the Florida Supreme Court rejected the taking claim on the ground that the public has the right to build on submerged lands and therefore a coastal owner's interests do not include the right to continuous contact with the shore or to accretion, the case morphed into a claim that the Florida Supreme Court itself had effected a "judicial taking" as a result of its interpretation of the Florida common law of coastal property ownership.

The Court today unanimously rejected (with Stevens not voting) the taking claim because no justice believed that, whatever legal test might apply, the plaintiffs had suffered an impairment of their property rights. In short, the Supreme Court said that the Florida Supreme Court got Florida law right and so there was no possible basis for the argument that the state had adopted a novel reading of state law that would support a taking claim.

But where the Court sharply divided was on the question of whether there was any substance to the theory that a judicial ruling can ever amount to a "taking" under the Fifth Amendment. Despite the fact that Supreme Court had never recognized such a claim, Justice Scalia, joined by three other members of the Court (Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Alito and Thomas) had no difficulty concluding that a judicial taking could occur. Indeed, the four said that a taking should be found whenever a court issues a decision that alters an established property interest.

Justice Kennedy (joined by Justice Sotomayor) filed a concurring opinion essentially rejecting the judicial takings theory. He reasoned that there was no historical basis for the theory, that the theory would improperly place the courts in the position of making the political choice whether to exercise eminent domain power, and the Due Process Clause provided the needed protection against arbitrary and irrational rulings on property law questions.

Justice Breyer (joined by Justice Ginsburg) also declined to join Justice Scalia, arguing that the claim so obviously failed on the merits under any test that there was no need to addresses the merits of the judicial takings theory. While Justice Stevens recused himself (presumably because of his ownership of Florida coastal property) it seems likely that he would have joined the concurring justices in declining to embrace the judicial takings theory.

If Justice Scalia's viewpoint had prevailed, the Court's takings doctrine would have expanded to encompass a whole new universe of government actions, the many thousands of property rulings state courts issue each year. Federal court review under the Takings Clause of state court rulings would also have undermined the value of state autonomy in our federal systems that judicial conservatives ostensibly support in other contexts as well as the tradition of comity that has governed federal-state court relations in this country.

More importantly, Justice Scalia's "established right" theory would have basically elevated the Takings Clause into an absolute constitutional barrier to traditional common law-making. The state courts have long recognized that scope and nature of property rights must change in accord with changed circumstances and new values. Indeed, Justice Scalia, writing for the majority in Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council, acknowledged "changed circumstances or new knowledge may" alter the content of background principles of state law, rules which are generally rooted in common law. Now, speaking for a quixotic plurality, Justice Scalia has adopted a major narrower view of state authority to redefine property interests, essentially saying that the state courts may make such a change in their common law with federal court approval.

The closely fought and bitterly contested battle in this case has, happily, resulted in a victory for the state of Florida and its local communities and a rejection, for the foreseeable future, of the judicial takings theory. But it is remarkable how close the Court came to embarking on a new activist tear in behalf of private property holders.

VLS Helps Start China's First Public Interest Environmental Law Firm

Vermont Law School — 15 Jun 2010 04:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Aiming to use lawsuits more effectively to fight pollution and protect workers, Vermont Law School's U.S.-China Partnership for Environmental Law has received a $1.5 million federal grant to establish China's first public interest environmental law firm and expand a university-based legal clinic. The goal of the "green litigation" is to help ordinary citizens force polluting factories and mines and unresponsive local officials to follow the law.

China's rapid industrialization and urbanization have caused severe environmental degradation, including greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming worldwide and hundreds of thousands of deaths a year in China due to exposure to pollution. The crisis has prompted China's leaders to seek new ways to allow steady growth, while protecting the air, land, water and public health. That's where VLS's U.S.-China Partnership comes in, providing training in environmental governance to lawyers, judges and others to help China enforce environmental laws and regulations that have been widely ignored.

The $1.5 million grant from the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) will expand the use of civil lawsuits as an enforcement method. Chinese prosecutors currently focus on criminal prosecutions in environmental cases, in part, because they lack a formal civil judicial enforcement role. The DRL grant is the latest in a series of federal grants that have made Vermont Law School the leading U.S. law school working on environmental law, policy and energy issues in China. The new grant includes $500,000 annually over three years.

"This is a groundbreaking environmental advocacy initiative in China," said Assistant Professor Siu Tip Lam, director of the U.S.-China Partnership.

"Our work over the past four years has put us in a unique position to further advance environmental governance in China," Dean Jeff Shields said. "This DRL support will enable us to build on those successes."

The number of green litigation cases is rising in China. From 1980 to 1998, an average of 100,000 public interest cases were filed annually, but the number of cases has increased significantly during the past decade, including a growing number of cases dealing with environmental issues.

The new public interest law firm, which will be the first in China devoted solely to combating pollution, will handle citizen-action lawsuits intended to enforce environmental laws and regulations. The grassroots litigation is designed give citizens more power to protect themselves, their families and their communities from the worst polluters. The firm is tentatively slated to open in December with about six attorneys in Beijing. It also will provide training for government officials, lawyers and citizens on pollution issues and legal means to address them.

Additionally, the grant will fund expansion of an environmental legal clinic at Sun Yat-sen University Law School (SYSU). The clinic thus far has focused on research and policy and regulation development, but starting this fall the clinic will collaborate with a current labor law clinic at SYSU to promote workplace safety and teach students how to practice law and bring workplace injury lawsuits involving environmental health and safety issues.

Since 2006, the U.S.-China Partnership has trained more than 1,000 Chinese lawyers, judges, government officials, faculty, students, business owners and others, conducted numerous workshops and undertaken other initiatives. Much of the work has been done through grants from the U.S. Agency for International Development. VLS's partners include SYSU, the Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims at the China University of Political Science and Law, the Vermont-based Regulatory Assistance Project, the China Environment Forum at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and China's National Development and Reform Commission Training Center.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Codi Raymond Motivated by Community Service

Vermont Law School — 14 Jun 2010 04:00:00 EST

In a June article in the Denver Bar Association's monthly publication, The Docket, Codi Raymond '10 wrote that her years working for the DBA's Metro Volunteer Lawyers inspired her to attend VLS and join the Mascoma Legal Resource Center. Raymond's classmate, Lise Daniels '10, started the legal services clinic for low-income residents in the Mascoma Valley in New Hampshire. Read the article.

Week of June 7

Vermont Law School — 14 Jun 2010 04:00:00 EST

Professor Michael McCann talked to an NPR affiliate in Houston and the Omaha World-Herald on June 11 about the realignment of NCAA football conferences.
The Burlington Free Press talked to Professor Cheryl Hanna on June 11 about a man's guilty plea in a manslaughter case.
Reuters interviewed Professor Pat Parenteau on June 10 about possible penalties against BP for its role in the Gulf oil spill. The story was distributed worldwide, including in the United States, Africa, India and United Kingdom.
Dean Jeff Shields discussed the cost of health care and education in a VPR commentary June 9.
Alumnus Todd Collins '98 was interviewed by the Bangor Daily News after he won a primary election for a county district attorney's seat in Maine.
NPR talked to Professor Pat Parenteau on June 9 about the extent of BP's liability in the Gulf oil spill.
The National Law Journal included the Institute for Energy and the Environment in a June 8 article about West Virginia University College of Law's new energy program.
Nature, the Mantle and LiveScience wrote about Professor Oliver Goodenough in articles about the World Science Festival's panel on "Brutality and the Brain."
Professor Cheryl Hanna was part of the VPR commentary series "If Only I Had Known" on June 7.
Wealth magazine talked to Visiting Professor Betsy Schmidt about the benefits and risks of serving on non-profit boards. She owns Southpoint Social Strategies in Williamsburg, Va., a non-profit management consulting firm.

Week of May 31

Vermont Law School — 07 Jun 2010 04:00:00 EST

Alumnus Jonathan Zisser '00 was profiled June 7 in the Financial News & Daily Record in Jacksonville, Fla.
Business People-Vermont profiled alumnus Fred Peet '93 on June 6 about his real estate law practice.
The Wall Street Journal included Professor Michael McCann's comments in a Law Blog post on June 3 about an umpire's mistaken call that cost a Detroit Tigers pitcher a perfect game.
Professor Cheryl Hanna talked to the AP on June 3 about a new law that unifies Vermont's court system.
Law.com profiled alumnus Robert Kaler '90 on June 3 for his work as general counsel and chief operating officer of the U.S. Soccer Foundation, the charitable arm of soccer's governing body, the U.S. Soccer Federation.
Professor Cheryl Hanna talked to the Mark Johnson Show on WDEV Radio on June 3 about a recent U.S. Supreme Court case on Miranda warnings.
Professor Michael McCann talked to the Hartford Courant on June 2 about an NCAA inquiry into the University of Connecticut athletic department.
AmericanCity.org talked to Professor Pat Parenteau on June 1 about a New Mexico chemical company's defamation lawsuit against a community organizer.
Professor Pat Parenteau talked to TheHill.com on June 1 about the criminal investigation into BP for its role in the Gulf oil spill.

California Expands Ocean Protections

Vermont Law School — 03 Jun 2010 04:00:00 EST

California is taking unprecedented action to prevent pollution, overfishing and development from further impacting its coastal waters, a Golden State official said at the June 3 kick off of Vermont Law School's 2010 "Hot Topics in Environmental Law" summer lecture series.

Michael Sutton, vice president of the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Center for the Future of the Oceans and a member of the California Fish and Game Commission, said the state's Marine Life Protection Act is preserving one of the most spectacular coastlines and ocean environments in the world.

The 1999 act, which mandates a network of marine reserves in state waters, is a model for other coastal states to follow, Sutton said.

The act is succeeding because it's based on a tough law, sound science, effective politics, ample funding and public participation, he said.

"But I won't lie to you. It's not easy," he said, citing opposition from fishing groups, the state's budget crisis and other challenges.

Oceans cover more than 70 percent of the Earth's surface and are a major source of food, jobs and other economic benefits as well as biological diversity, he said.

"But we're not very kind to our oceans - what we put in them, what we take out of them and what we do around their edges," he said.

Sutton said the Gulf of Mexico oil spill highlights the risks of failing to protect marine areas, but like other environmental disasters it likely will prompt tighter regulations on pollution and other threats to oceans.

Creating marine reserves is a lasting way to protecting ocean environments, making them more resilient to climate change and increasing the numbers and diversity of marine life, he said.

The law also is boosting California's ocean economy, whose fishing, tourism, research and other sectors are worth an estimated $46 billion a year, far more than the state's vaunted agriculture industry, he said.

While many land areas are protected in the United States, less than 1 percent of the nation's oceans have been protected, in part, because most Americans rank ocean protection low on their priority list.

But Californians have embraced marine reserves as a way to maintain a healthy environment, jobs, seafood, recreation and other environmental and economic benefits, Sutton said.

In 2006, California voters passed Proposition 84, the largest conservation bond measure in U.S. history, and another major conservation bond initiative is pending.

The Marine Life Protection Act "is a call to action," he said. "People realize that what we've been doing to manage our oceans hasn't succeeded."

The law is intended to protect the state's marine life and habitats and to improve recreational, educational and study opportunities provided by marine ecosystems.

California is taking a regional approach to designing marine protected areas within state waters, which extend three miles out along its 1,100 mile coastline. The first reserve was created in 2007. More reserves are planned to cover the entire coastline.

To learn more, go to: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/

Week of May 24

Vermont Law School — 01 Jun 2010 04:00:00 EST

Professor Michael McCann talked to the Hartford Courant on May 29 about an NCAA inquiry into the University of Connecticut athletic department.
Dean Jeff Shields spoke about springtime at his family's pond in his VPR commentary May 28.
Peter Vetere '11 helped a Hanover man win legal access to his parents' gravesites on private property, an effort cited by the Valley News on May 28.
In his SI.com column May 27, Professor Michael McCann wrote about the NFL Network's battle with cable companies.
The Manchester Journal reported May 27 on an upcoming lecture by Robert Rachlin, a distinguished lecturer, about the U.S. Supreme Court in times of national peril.
Professor Pat Parenteau talked to SolveClimate.com May 27 about legislation to raise the oil spill liability cap, a move prompted by the Gulf oil spill.
Professor Jackie Gardina spoke to the Valley News on May 26 about efforts to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" law.
VermontBiz.com reported May 26 on Trustee Michele Gatto hosting the Association of Life Insurance Counsel's annual meeting.
BusinessWeek talked to Professor Michael McCann on May 25 about the proposed sale of the bankrupt Texas Rangers.
Professor Brian Porto spoke about coaches, cultural change and the murder of a women's lacrosse player at the University of Virginia in his VPR commentary May 25.
In his SI.com column May 25, Professor Michael McCann wrote about doping accusations against Lance Armstrong.
The Times Argus and Rutland Herald quoted Professor Cheryl Hanna in a May 25 story on the trial of a Vermont man accused of kidnapping, raping and murdering his 12-year-old niece.
In a story that ran in The New York Times, ABC News, the Business Spectator in Australia, Yahoo! News in India, Canada and Malaysia, and other media worldwide, Reuters talked to Professor Pat Parenteau on May 24 about the proposed oil spill liability cap.
NPR, LegalTalkNetwork, the Financial Times, FAN590, LegalBroadcastNetwork and the ACS blog talked to Professor Michael McCann on May 24 about the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling against the NFL in a major anti-trust case. McCann also wrote about the case in his SI.com column.
The Bangor Daily News reported May 24 on Maine native Erin Woolley '10 receiving a JD degree posthumously at commencement.

Merrill Bent a Finalist in Ms. JD Fellowship Program

Vermont Law School — 25 May 2010 04:00:00 EST

Merrill Bent '11 was a finalist for the first Ms.JD Fellowship program, which selected 20 of the most promising second-year women law students in the country and will provide them with one-on-one career mentorship from the nation's most accomplished female attorneys.

Week of May 17

Vermont Law School — 25 May 2010 04:00:00 EST

The Valley News, Times Argus, Rutland Herald and Vermont Today reported May 23 on former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's speech at the VLS commencement.
Jeff Guevin '12 is included in a PR-inside.com story May 23 about LawSchoolReference.com, where he is the lead blogger. The story also ran in EarthTimes.org.
The Denver Post ran a May 21 story that quoted Professor Pat Parenteau discussing the Gulf oil spill.
The New York Times talked to Professor Pat Parenteau on May 20 about conflict of interest concerns regarding lab testing in the Gulf oil spill. The story also ran on MSNBC, the Today show, Kansas City Star, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and other news outlets nationwide.
MensNewsDaily.com quoted Professor Cheryl Hanna in a May 20 column about constitutional rights.
The Valley News talked to John Cramer, associate director of media relations, for a May 20 column about VLS's policy on the "don't ask, don't tell" law.
Associate Professor Martha Judy discussed Vermont's Superfund sites on VPR on May 19.
Professor Cheryl Hanna gave advice to aspiring judges in her May 19 commentary on VPR.
VPR talked to Professor Tseming Yang on May 19 about the U.S.-China Partnership for Environmental Law's litigation workshops with Chinese prosecutors and Yang's recent appointment as deputy general counsel for international affairs of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Alumnus the Rev. Kenneth Clarke '81 was profiled May 19 in the Bennington Banner.
Professor Cheryl Hanna talked to the Burlington Free Press and WCAX-TV on May 18 about the trial of one of two suspects charged with manslaughter in the shooting of a retired professor.
Professor Pat Parenteau talked to Your Public Media (Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network) on May 18 about the EPA's Superfund fight with General Electric over the clean up of toxic wastes.
Leslie Staudinger, special projects coordinator, spoke with the Brattleboro Reformer on May 17 about her election as a trustee of the New England Coalition, a non-profit group concerned about nuclear power.
Associate Professor Martha Judy talked to Law360 on May 17 about Superfund liability in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's Burlington Northern decision.

Dean Urges VLS Graduates to be Active Citizens

Vermont Law School — 24 May 2010 04:00:00 EST

In his commencement address to Vermont Law School's Class of 2010, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, M.D., urged the new graduates to seek common ground rather than confrontation as they begin their legal careers.

"Your profession isn't what makes it possible for you to change the country," he said. "It's who you are and what you're willing to do."

Dean spoke to more than 1,000 students, faculty, staff, trustees, family members and others who attended VLS' 35th commencement ceremonies on the South Royalton town green and the VLS campus on May 22.

His speech centered on the differences between the young graduates' generation and his own, which came of age during the Vietnam War and civil rights and women's rights movements.

Saying his generation relied on confrontation and rebellion, Dean, 61, told the graduates that their generation was more tolerant, inclusive and cooperative in pursing their goals.

"You're the first multicultural generation," he said, citing the election of President Obama. "The central question from your generation to mine is: 'When are you going to stop fighting about the things you've been fighting about for years and start focusing on the things we can agree on?'"

Dean encouraged the graduates to be active citizens of their communities, the nation and the world by seeking elected office, serving on library boards, planning commissions, school boards, church boards and other public service boards.

Class Speaker
Abel Russ

"I feel very good about leaving the country in your hands," he said. "Democracy is a human creation. It needs tending or it dies. You can't ever take time off from politics."

Citing the nation's troubled economy, Dean urged the graduates to work toward creating a sustainable economy based on fiscal discipline and a society based on equality and social justice.

"My generation focused on differences," he said. "Yours focuses on similarities. When you focus on similarities, you leave the politics of hate and anger behind."

Dean told the graduates to continue to be impatient because impatience often prompts change.

"There's no reason you can't have ideals and make them happen over time," he said. "Be cooperative citizens not just of your nation but of the world."

Read the coverage from The Times Argus

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Paul Ferber Retires, Lauded as Innovative Scholar

Vermont Law School — 24 May 2010 04:00:00 EST

For more than two decades at Vermont Law School, Professor Paul Ferber earned the respect of faculty members and students, who admired not only his scholarship and legal skills but his kindness.

Ferber, who retired in May, was widely praised at a Passages spring barbeque on the VLS campus, where Dean Jeff Shields presented him with a cherry rocking chair engraved with the VLS seal.

The event also marked the move to part-time status for Professor Linda Smiddy and Assistant Professor Giuliana Robertson, who was director of the Academic Success Program.

Two other milestones were marked at the Passages event: Associate Professor John Greabe's resignation to join Franklin Pierce Law Center's faculty, and Professor Tseming Yang's leave of absence as director of the U.S.-China Partnership for Environmental Law to become deputy general counsel for international affairs of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Ferber, who specializes in commercial law, professional responsibility and professional skills, received his JD degree, cum laude, from New York University in 1966. After more than two decades in private practice and teaching in Los Angeles, he joined VLS in 1987 and served as director of the General Practice Program from 1988 through 2001. Among the courses he taught were Contracts, Introduction to Lawyering, Legal Profession, Remedies, Sales, and Secured Transactions.

At the Passages barbeque, Professor Kinvin Wroth described Ferber as "rigorous, passionate, direct and unhesitating in expressing his views." He said Ferber brought a strong record of legal practice and pedagogy to VLS and that his retirement will leave a "huge" gap to fill.

Professor Susan Apel, who succeeded Ferber as director of the GPP, said he was the reason she came to and has stayed at VLS. "My life and career are due largely to Paul's influence," she said.
Apel said the current GPP is built on a foundation created by Ferber, whom she called "one of the kindest people I know. He leaves a great legacy and big shoes to fill."

Professor Oliver Goodenough said Ferber was ahead of his time in terms of integrating skills and doctrine, cognitive psychology and learning theory and entrepreneurial scholarship.

Assistant Professor Cathryn "Cappy" Nunlist, assistant director of the GPP, recalled her first few weeks as a student under Ferber, and how he displayed infinite patience with her and other first-year students.

"What I really appreciate about Paul was that he didn't kill us when we acted like blooming idiots," she said, chuckling.

Associate Professor Betsy Baker, whose office was close to Ferber's, said students often visited him and exclaimed that his classes were "the best I ever had." She cited Ferber's passion and his collegiality, adding: "He's been the heart beat of this faculty."

McCann Discusses NCAA Lawsuit with The New York Times

Vermont Law School — 21 May 2010 04:00:00 EST

Professor Michael McCann talked to The New York Times for a Feb. 8 story on a class-action anti-trust lawsuit against the NCAA. To read the story, click here.

Echeverria Speaks to AP about Northwest Water Dispute

Vermont Law School — 21 May 2010 04:00:00 EST

In an Associated Press story on March 11 that ran in The Oregonian and other news outlets across the West, Professor John Echeverria commented on an Oregon Supreme Court ruling on the Klamath Basin water dispute. To read the story, click here.

Dennis Heads Pro Bono Project for Katrina Victims

Vermont Law School — 21 May 2010 04:00:00 EST

Associate Professor Johanna Dennis organized a a group of 20 VLS students who spent two weeks in New Orleans in May on a pro bono legal assistance and research project to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina. The students helped needy residents with a range of legal issues, including real estate, health care, estate, education and gentrification. Read the full release.

U.S.-China Partnership Chief Joins EPA

Vermont Law School — 21 May 2010 04:00:00 EST

President Obama has appointed Professor Tseming Yang, director of Vermont Law School's U.S.-China Partnership for Environmental Law, to serve as deputy general counsel for international affairs of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He will be on a leave of absence from VLS during his time at the EPA. His successor as director of the U.S.-China Partnership is Assistant Professor Siu Tip Lam, who was promoted from deputy director. Read the full press release.

Marc Mihaly Receives Tenure at Vermont Law School

Vermont Law School — 21 May 2010 04:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- The Vermont Law School Board of Trustees today granted tenure to Professor Marc Mihaly.

Mihaly is one of the nation's leading environmental law attorneys and an expert in the areas of land use, urban planning, and energy law and policy. He was a visiting distinguished professor of environmental law from public interest practice at VLS in 2004 before joining the faculty full time in 2005. Today, he is associate dean of the environmental law program and director of the Environmental Law Center.

After receiving his JD degree from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley, Mihaly served with the environmental unit of the California Attorney General's Office and with the San Mateo County Legal Aid Society. He co-founded Shute, Mihaly and Weinberger in San Francisco and served as its managing partner for 17 years. His practice included three decades of trial and appellate litigation on behalf of governments and community-based organizations on environmental issues. His work has included the design of sophisticated regulatory regimes to regulate development and to secure public benefits through private development. He advises environmental regulators on government law issues relating to the form and structure of their regulatory programs.

During the past year, Mihaly's teaching included courses in Land Transactions, Finance and Development, and Contracts. He also mentored a number of students and advised others on writing projects and internships.

Mihaly's scholarship over the past year included an article titled, "Citizen Participation in the Making of Environmental Decisions: Evolving Obstacles and Potential Solutions through Partnership with Experts and Agents," which was published in the Pace Environmental Law Journal. Another article, titled "Recovery of a Lost Decade (or Is It Three?): Developing the Capacity in Government Necessary to Reduce Carbon Emissions and Administer Energy Markets," is to be published by the Oregon Law Review.

Mihaly's service to VLS during the past year included directing the ELC, which continues to be the top-ranked environmental law school in the nation, according U.S.News and World Report. He continues to work with the environmental faculty to revise the summer curriculum. He led the hiring of a faculty director of distance learning and plans to launch a distance learning MELP degree program. He plans to create a new capstone advanced course in the energy curriculum and has begun a review of how VLS can integrate specialization into the environmental curriculum. He completed arrangements for a dual MELP degree program with Northeastern Law School and is looking into a possible joint LLM in Real Estate and Environmental Law with New York Law School. He also supported the expansion of the Institute for Energy and the Environment and the U.S.-China Partnership for Environmental Law. He worked with the Land Use Institute to create a Land Use Law and Policy Clinic. He also continued plans to launch a curriculum focused on the law of sustainable food systems, which would the first such program in the nation.

Mihaly recruited Mary Nichols, chair of the California Air Resources Board, to give the annual Norman Williams Lecture and helped VJEL to develop its annual symposium. He moderated or appeared on several other conference panels. He is helping to plan VLS's first annual fall environmental scholarship conference and is working with the International Law Society and the newly organized agriculture student group to develop the topics, keynote and panels for a conference on food and agriculture issues.

John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Michael McCann Receives Tenure at Vermont Law School

Vermont Law School — 21 May 2010 04:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- The Vermont Law School Board of Trustees today granted tenure to Professor Michael McCann.

McCann, a native of Andover, Mass., who joined the VLS faculty in 2009, is a nationally recognized expert in the fields of sports law, antitrust and behavioral law and economics. He received his LLM from Harvard Law School and his JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. He is a legal analyst for Sports Illustrated, the Sports and the Law columnist on SI.com and co-founder of The Project on Law and Mind Sciences at Harvard Law School. He also is the Distinguished Visiting Hall of Fame Professor at Mississippi College School of Law, where he was an assistant professor of law between 2005 and 2008 and where he twice received the school's Professor of the Year Award.

During the past year, McCann's scholarship included three law review articles and a book chapter that prompted speaking invitations from Congress, law schools, business schools and law firms. His article titled "American Needle v. NFL: An Opportunity to Reshape Sports Law" was published in the Yale Law Journal. Another article, titled "The NBA and the Single Entity Defense: A Better Case," was published in the Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law. The Connecticut Law Review published his article titled "Justice Sonia Sotomayor and the Relationship between Leagues and Players: Insights and Implications." His chapter titled "Using Social Psychology to Evaluate Race and Law in Sports" is to be published in the book Reversing Field: Examining Commercialization, Labor, Gender, and Race in the 21st Century. He also wrote 22 legal columns for Sports Illustrated and contributed to the blogs Sports Law Blog, The Situationist and Torts Prof Blog.

Over the past year, McCann's teaching included courses in Torts and Sales and a sports law seminar. He also taught a sports law and analytics reading group at Yale Law School and supervised a number of student writing projects related to sports and the law.

His service to VLS over the past year included serving on various committees, advising student groups, judging moot court competitions, aiding the admissions and alumni affairs offices, mentoring students interested in sports and entertainment law and reaching out to potential employers. He also made a number of presentations, participated in several panels and was a guest lecturer, keynote speaker, featured speaker or moderator at numerous events. He also represented VLS through his affiliations with Harvard Law School and Yale Law School.

During the past year, McCann's service to the larger community included serving on the executive board of the Association of American Law Schools' Section on Sports and the Law and working with several charities, including Catholic Charities USA, which fights poverty, and Habitat for Humanity, which builds homes for the needy.

McCann also completed a number of media interviews with CNN, NPR, ESPN Radio, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal and other news outlets.

John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Mark Latham Receives Tenure at Vermont Law School

Vermont Law School — 21 May 2010 04:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- The Vermont Law School Board of Trustees today granted tenure to Professor Mark Latham.

Latham, who joined the VLS faculty in 2005, specializes in a wide range of environmental issues that arise in corporate and commercial real estate transactions and brownfields redevelopment. His research focus includes the intersection of business and environmental law as well as issues under the federal Clean Water Act. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law.

Prior to joining the VLS faculty, Latham was a partner and chair of the environmental practice group Gardner, Carton, and Douglas (now Drinker, Biddle and Reath) in Chicago and Washington, D.C. In his 15 years of private practice, he served as defense counsel for businesses, municipalities and individuals in state, federal, civil and administrative enforcement actions under the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, CERCLA, RCRA (hazardous waste handling) and EPCRA (protection of public health, safety and the environment from chemical hazards). He counseled clients regarding regulatory compliance under all major environmental statutes, particularly in the water, solid and hazardous waste, and spill/release reporting areas. He also assisted clients with environmental due diligence in a variety of transactions.

Over the past year, Latham's teaching included courses in Torts, Environmental Issues in Business Transactions, Corporations and Other Business Organizations, and Environmental Law. He also was the faculty sponsor for LLM and MELP student internships and several students who are completing their advanced writing requirements or independent research projects.

His scholarship over the past year includes an article titled "(Un)restoring the Chemical, Physical, and Biological Integrity of Our Nation's Waters: The Emerging Clean Water Act Jurisprudence of the Roberts Court," which is to be published in the Virginia Environmental Law Journal. Another forthcoming article, titled "Bush v. Obama: The Fight for the Soul of Science in Environmental Policymaking," is to be published in the Seattle University Environmental Law Journal's symposium book covering environmental law and the first year of the Obama administration. Also, an article titled "The 2008-2009 Term and the Clean Water Act: Justice Kennedy Where Art Thou?", is to be published in the New England Law Review's symposium book on the Supreme Court's 2008 term environmental cases. His article titled "Environmental Liabilities and the Federal Securities Laws: A Proposal for Improved Disclosure of Climate Change-Related Risks," was published in Lewis & Clark Law School's Environmental Law. He also made a number of presentations and participated in several panels.
His service to VLS over the past year included serving on various committees, participating in the institution's hiring decisions, serving on the U.S.-China Partnership for Environmental Law's faculty advisory board, helping VLS to increase the diversity of its student body, serving as faculty advisor to the Business Law Society and mentoring a number of students.

Over the past year, Latham's service to the larger community included serving as board chairman of the Good Neighbor Health Clinic in White River Junction, which provides free medical and dental care to the needy. He also is a board member of the Vermont Institute of Natural Sciences, which is dedicated to environmental education and avian wildlife rehabilitation; the Hubbard Brook Research Foundation, which helps to fund environmental research for scientists at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire; and Green Mountain College. He also volunteers at the Windsor County Juvenile Court Diversion Program, which gives non-violent juvenile offenders the opportunity to expunge their convictions through restitution, counseling, drug testing and community service instead of being sentenced to a juvenile correction facility.

John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Jackie Gardina Receives Tenure at Vermont Law School

Vermont Law School — 21 May 2010 04:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- The Vermont Law School Board of Trustees today granted tenure to Professor Jackie Gardina.

Gardina, who joined the VLS faculty in 2003, specializes in four main areas: civil procedure; administrative law; bankruptcy, with an emphasis on environmental obligations in bankruptcy; and sexual orientation and gender identity issues. She received a master's degree in social work from Boston University and worked as an outpatient clinical social worker before graduating from Boston College Law School. After that, she clerked for Chief Judge William Young of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts and then for the Honorable Levin Campbell of the First Circuit Court of Appeals. She also was an associate at the Boston firm of Choate, Hall, and Stewart, where she practiced commercial litigation.

Over the past year, Gardina's teaching included a summer course in Environmental Obligations in Bankruptcy at the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii. At VLS, she taught Civil Procedure I & II and Administrative Law. She incorporated current events and human rights issues throughout her classes, adding cases and problem sets that addressed race, gender, sexual orientation and other marginalized groups. Among the issues she had students discuss was the "don't ask, don't tell" law, which prohibits openly gay men and women from serving in the U.S. armed forces. VLS is one of only two law schools in the nation that bar military recruiters from campus because of "don't ask, don't tell." She also served as a mentor to several young faculty members and, along with another professor, proposed to overhaul how the Civil Procedures course is taught, so that students are exposed to negotiation, arbitration and other dispute-resolution processes and not just the litigation model that is currently used.

Gardina's service to VLS over the past year included counseling students, serving on various committees, advising the Alliance student group and coordinating with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to hold a trial at VLS. She was a faculty co-recipient of the Phenomenal Woman Award given by the Women's Law Group. Also, the family of the late Kollette "Cookie" Meyer, who established the Cookie Scholarship after she died in a propane plant explosion, credited Gardina for helping to organize VLS students to research multiple causes of action that could be brought against Meyer's former employer.
In terms of service to the larger community, Gardina served on the American Association of Law Schools' government relations committee, specifically to engage the AALS in efforts to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" law, and on the AALS Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Issues Section Executive Committee. She also was a board member of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network Board and the Society of American Law Teachers.

Gardina's scholarship over the past year included a Vermont Law Review article titled "The Tipping Point: Legal Epidemics, Constitutional Doctrine, and the Defense of Marriage Act." Among her works in progress is an article titled "Federal Preemption: A Roadmap for the Application of Tribal Law in State Courts," which contends state courts are not necessarily free to apply state law when the state court is exercising concurrent adjudicative jurisdiction with tribal courts. She continues to research the treatment of environmental obligations in the Chrysler and General Motors bankruptcies. She spoke on a number of panels, made several presentations and helped to coordinate a conference with the University of Vermont titled "The Law and Politics of Marriage Equality: Vermont, the Nation, and the World."

Gardina also completed a number of media interviews on the "don't ask, don't tell" law and other issues with The Chronicle of Higher Education, the National Law Journal and other news outlets.

John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

John Echeverria Receives Tenure at Vermont Law School

Vermont Law School — 21 May 2010 04:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- The Vermont Law School Board of Trustees today granted tenure to Professor John Echeverria.

Echeverria joined the VLS faculty in 2009 after serving 12 years as executive director of the Georgetown Environmental Law & Policy Institute at Georgetown University Law Center. Before that, he was general counsel of the National Audubon Society and general counsel and conservation director of American Rivers, Inc. He also was an associate in the Washington, D.C., office of Hughes, Hubbard & Reed. After graduating with joint degrees from Yale Law School and the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Echeverria served as law clerk to the Honorable Gerhard Gesell of the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia.

Echeverria has written extensively on the takings issue and other aspects of environmental and natural resource law. He has frequently represented state and local governments, environmental organizations, planning groups and others in regulatory takings cases and other environmental litigation at all levels of the federal and state court systems. In 2007, he received the Jefferson Fordham Advocacy Award from the American Bar Association to recognize his lifetime achievements within the area of state and local government law.

During his first year at VLS, Echeverria taught three courses -- Water Resources, Property, and Climate Adaptation - and supervised a number of student writing projects. The climate adaptation seminar included issues ranging from coastal development and climate refugees to national security and insurance.

His scholarship over the past year included co-authoring a Stanford Environmental Law Journal article that summarized the experiences of the several states that have adopted takings legislation in the last few decades. He co-authored a chapter in the American Bar Association book Endangered Species Act: Law, Policy, and Perspectives on takings claims involving ESA regulations. He is completing an article on the recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for Federal Circuit in Casitas Municipal Water District v. United States, which will be published in the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law. He also organized the 11th annual regulatory takings conference at VLS and co-sponsored by the National Association of State Attorneys General at Columbia Law School and the Georgetown Environmental Law and Policy Program at Georgetown University Law Center. The conference is generating a number of articles that will fill all or most of a special volume of the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law. He continues to publish, now under a VLS imprint, his "takings net" publication, which compiles recent and noteworthy regulatory takings decisions from around the country.

Echeverria's service to VLS over the past year included serving on various committees, serving as a practice judge for students participating in moot court competitions, counseling students about employment opportunities, reaching out to potential employers in Washington, D.C., and advising leaders of the Vermont Law Review and VJEL on topics, authors and speakers they might pursue.

He also received a Certificate of Commendation for his assistance to the U.S. Department of Justice in regulatory takings cases over the years. He served as pro bono legal counsel and author of an amicus curiae brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court in Stop the Beach Renourishment on behalf of the American Planning Association and the Florida Chapter of the American Planning Association. He served as pro bono legal counsel for the Natural Resources Defense Council in two takings cases pending in federal court arising from regulation of water interests for environmental purposes.

Echeverria also completed a number of media interviews on takings and other issues with The New York Times, the National Law Journal, The Oregonian, the Associated Press and other news outlets.

John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106 , jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Howard Dean to Discuss a “New American Generation” at VLS Commencement

Vermont Law School — 20 May 2010 04:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, M.D., will speak at Vermont Law School's 35th commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 22. The public is invited to attend the event, which will begin at 10 a.m. on the South Royalton town green.

In his commencement address, Dean plans to encourage VLS graduates to immerse themselves in American politics and in their own communities.

"Yours is an extraordinary generation," Dean said in an excerpt from his commencement address titled The Emergence of a New American Generation. "At your age, you have ready elected your first president. With this power that you have now earned, you have a responsibility. We need you to stay involved - in politics and in your community, always."

Dean, a national leader on environmental and health care issues, served as Vermont's governor from 1991 to 2003, making him the second longest-serving governor in Vermont's history. He became a leading 2004 presidential contender when he delivered a speech criticizing Democrats for supporting the Iraq War. He served as chairman of the Democratic Party from 2005 to 2009. He was lead strategist, spokesman and fundraiser for the DNC and is credited with pioneering an energetic 50-state strategy that lifted Democrats to Congressional control in 2006 and 2008. He also helped propel support for the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries. He continues to be an influential leader in the movement to implement universal healthcare and in the environmental movement.

VLS commencement week events include a guest lecture by Blair Hamilton, policy director of the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation, at 4 p.m., Friday, in Oakes Hall, room 007. His speech is titled "The Role of Energy Efficiency in Our Carbon Future." Hamilton has more than 30 years of experience in energy efficiency and renewable energy. His work ranges from basic energy materials research to energy policy analysis.

Dean, Hamilton and Thomas Powers, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author, will receive honorary degrees. The student speaker for graduation will be Abel Russ of Portland, Maine, who will receive a Juris Doctor degree.

The VLS Class of 2010 set a record for VLS class gift funds when it raised $78,602 and had 75 percent class participation for the Erin Woolley Scholarship Award. The endowed award is in honor of Erin Woolley, a 2010 classmate who will receive a posthumous Juris Doctor degree.

For more details on the week's activities at VLS, please visit our Commencement pages.

John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106 , jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Erin Woolley Scholarship Fund Sets Record for VLS Class Gifts

Vermont Law School — 18 May 2010 04:00:00 EST

Class fund-raising co-chairs Sarah Buxton, Laurie Wheelock and Anna Ellis presented Dean Jeff Shields and Associate Dean Shirley Jefferson with the 2010 class gift.

The Vermont Law School Class of 2010 smashed the record for class gift funds by raising $83,757 for the Erin Woolley Memorial Scholarship, VLS officials announced at commencement on May 22.

The endowed annual award honors 2010 class member Erin Woolley, who received a Juris Doctor degree posthumously at commencement, which included a moment of silence in Woolley's memory.

The 2010 gift fund more than doubled the VLS record for class gifts and had a 75 percent class participation rate, another record for class gifts.

"This is the most successful gift drive in VLS history," said Susan Davidson, director of Alumni Programming and Annual Giving. "It's remarkable."

The endowment will allow a scholarship to be given annually starting this fall to a second- or third-year student who has overcome personal adversity, is not receiving merit scholarship and has demonstrated commitment to women's or children's issues or economic justice. Award recipients will be selected by the dean of students, the director of financial aid, the dean and a representative of the Class of 2010 or the Student Bar Association.

Professor Cheryl Hanna said Woolley personified the Class of 2010's collegiality, sense of community and its commitment to "speaking love and truth to power."

In February, the Class of 2010 announced its intent to create and fund a scholarship in the name of Woolley, 26, of Bangor, Maine, who died in March after a year-long battle with Hodgkin's lymphoma. Woolley told her classmates she was touched by their decision.

The Class of 2010's fund-raising co-chairs, Sarah Buxton, Anna Ellis and Laurie Wheelock, presented the class gift to Dean Jeff Shields and Associate Dean Shirley Jefferson at the class Awards Ceremony.

At the class Awards Ceremony on May 21 at the Chase Center and at commencement the next day on the South Royalton town green, students and faculty described Woolley as having a zest for life, a contagious enthusiasm and a positive outlook that she maintained throughout her struggle with cancer.

Professor Cheryl Hanna said Woolley personified the Class of 2010's collegiality, sense of community and its commitment to "speaking love and truth to power."

"We chose this scholarship as our class gift to support future VLS students who are facing significant life challenges, so they can realize their goal of finishing law school," said Wheelock. "Erin's fortitude, determination and grace inspired us all."

Woolley graduated summa cum laude in 2006 from the University of Maine, Orono, where she majored in English and women's studies. After college, she worked in the Maine courts as a legal advocate for women and children seeking refuge from domestic violence

In 2007, she enrolled at VLS, where she continued to advocate for women and children. In her first year at VLS, she joined the Women's Law Group and Law Students for Reproductive Justice. The summer after her first year, she became the first legal intern for Safeline, the domestic violence action network in Orange County.

Class fund-raising co-chairs Laurie Wheelock, Anna Ellis and Sarah Buxton.

By her second year at VLS, Woolley stood out as a leader in her class. She co-chaired the Women's Law Group, held the secretary position in LSRJ and co-directed the VLS production of the Vagina Monologues, which benefits women's anti-violence groups.

After she was diagnosed with cancer, she continued in her course work, volunteer work and leadership roles while undergoing treatments. During the summer of 2009, she worked for the U.S. District Attorney's Office in Bangor. She planned to practice family law after graduating from VLS.

The Class of 2010 gift campaign's original goal was $50,000, which was the amount needed to create the endowment, but the goal was later raised to $75,000 in gifts and pledges.

"What a beautiful demonstration of solidarity," said Buxton. "From the bottom of my heart, and on behalf of our class, thank you to the whole VLS community for your generosity."

U.S.-China Partnership Chief Joins EPA, Partnership Expands Under New Leadership

Vermont Law School — 18 May 2010 04:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- President Obama has appointed Professor Tseming Yang, director of Vermont Law School's U.S.-China Partnership for Environmental Law, to serve as deputy general counsel for international affairs of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Yang, whose research and teaching have focused on U.S. and international environmental law, will assume his new duties as of June 1. He will support the EPA's efforts on international and tribal affairs through his expertise in international law, knowledge of foreign environmental governance systems, and past work on federal Indian law. Yang will work most directly with the EPA's Office of International and Tribal Affairs but also expects to work on bilateral and multilateral efforts across the agency.

Yang, who will join two other deputy general counsels at EPA, will report directly to EPA General Counsel Scott Fulton, who was nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the Senate in 2009.

"I am excited about the opportunity to serve President Obama's EPA under the leadership of Administrator Lisa Jackson and General Counsel Scott Fulton" said Yang, who will be on a leave of absence from VLS, where he joined the faculty in 1998 and became director of the U.S.-China Partnership in 2007.

He also was a member of the EPA's National Environmental Justice Advisory Council from 1998 to 2003 and chaired the International Subcommittee in 2002-03. He was a J. William Fulbright Scholar at Tsinghua University Law School in Beijing during the 2005 fall semester.

VLS Dean Jeff Shields said President Obama's selection of Yang for one of the EPA's top posts underscores the innovative work being done by the school's U.S.-China Partnership. "This is an extraordinary honor for Professor Yang and certainly reflects well on the faculty and staff of Vermont Law School," Shields said.

Taking on the leadership of the U.S.-China Partnership is Siu Tip Lam, who was promoted from her position as deputy director. The partnership also is adding two new assistant directors and moving to larger quarters on campus to strengthen VLS's position as the premier American law school working on environmental and energy governance issues in China.

"I am honored to have been chosen as the new director of the U.S.-China Partnership," Lam said. "Vermont Law School and its partners will continue to expand our efforts to assist Chinese citizens and grassroots organizations to strengthen policies and laws that affect environmental justice."

Lam joined VLS in 2009 as an assistant professor of law and the deputy director of the U.S.-China Partnership. She came to VLS from the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office, where she was an assistant attorney general in the Environmental Protection Division for 11 years. During her tenure there, she enforced state environmental laws and litigated throughout the Massachusetts court system, including the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Before that, she practiced law with the Boston firm of Brown, Rudnick, Freed & Gesmer as a litigation associate. She graduated from Harvard-Radcliffe Colleges with a bachelor's degree in East Asian Studies and received her law degree from Northeastern University Law School. A native of Hong Kong, she speaks Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese.

"Professor Yang leaves the China program in very good shape and we are confident that Director Lam will continue to build on the wonderful platform established for this young program over the last four years," Shields said.

China's rapid economic growth has resulted in severe environmental problems, including greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming worldwide. Every year, an estimated 460,000 people die prematurely in China due to exposure to air and water pollution, according to a World Bank study.

In 2006, VLS in collaboration with Sun Yat-sen University launched the U.S.-China Partnership to provide greater knowledge, skills and academic infrastructure to solve environmental and energy problems in China through the rule of law. Since then, the partnership has received more than $5 million in grants from the U.S. Agency for International Development, trained more than 1,000 individuals in environmental and energy law, helped to expand Sun Yat-sen University's environmental law program, fostered a variety of research and policy development projects, started an exchange program for young environmental professionals and conducted numerous workshops.

The partnership's most recent initiative was a series of workshops in China earlier this month with China's Supreme Peoples Procuratorate (SPP), the U.S. Department of Justice and the EPA to discuss using public interest litigation to protect Chinese citizens from pollution and other environmental violations. VLS, Justice Department and EPA officials advised Chinese prosecutors on how civil lawsuits and criminal prosecutions are used for environmental issues in the United States. Lam, Yang and David Mears, director of the VLS Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic, represented VLS at the workshops.

"These developments are real opportunities for the partnership to continue expanding our efforts to build China's capacity to solve its environmental and energy problems," Lam said. "We're working to establish a strong network of environmental law professionals in Guangdong Province and Beijing and are expanding the collaborative effort to other educational institutions on the national level as well as key government agencies. Through these efforts, the program is giving Chinese legal professionals, government officials and others the tools to become better environmental problem-solvers."

VLS's partners include Sun Yat-sen University, the Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims at the China University of Political Science and Law, the Regulatory Assistance Project, the China Environment Forum at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and China's National Development and Reform Commission.

John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

ENRLC Files Brief in Wetlands Case

Vermont Law School — 18 May 2010 04:00:00 EST

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued a ruling May 12 in Columbia Venture v. Dewberry & Davis affirming the decision of the district court and agreeing with the arguments made by the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic in an amicus brief submitted on behalf of the Association of State Wetland Managers. A consulting firm had recommended that the Federal Emergency Management Agency designate a certain area of South Carolina as floodplains. FEMA's actions based on this recommendation disrupted a local developer's plans for turning the area into a housing development. The developer sued the consulting firm under state law for professional malpractice, civil conspiracy, injurious falsehood and violation of the South Carolina's Unfair Trade Practices Act. The main issue on appeal was whether the state law claims were preempted by the federal floodplains protection law. An ENRLC student, Lydia Fiedler '09, wrote the amicus brief, which explained that this was not a close case but one that easily fit within the scope of well established jurisprudence on conflict preemption. The goal of the ENRLC and ASWM was to protect consultants from this kind of litigation, so that they can make sound technical and scientific recommendations to FEMA without fear of being sued. This, in turn, will help promote better oversight and management of development activities in floodplains and wetland areas.

Dowload a PDF of the brief.

Week of May 10

Vermont Law School — 17 May 2010 04:00:00 EST

The Boston Globe talked to Professor Cheryl Hanna on May 16 about U.S. Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's personal ties with President Obama.
Assistant Professor Don Kreis wrote an op-ed piece May 15 in vtdigger.org about Vermont Yankee, a follow up to his May 5 column on the nuclear power plant.
The New York Times ran a Greenwire story May 13 that included Associate Professor Martha Judy discussing the constitutionality of a legal weapon used by the EPA to force the cleanup of the nation's most contaminated sites.
Professor Pat Parenteau talked to The American Reporter on May 13 about the Cape Wind project.
The AM Law Daily quoted Associate Professor Michael McCann in a May 12 story about legal issues involved in the proposed sale of the Texas Rangers.
The Missourian talked to Adjunct Professor Phil Harter on May 12 about his plans to teach more often at VLS.
Indian Country Today talked to Assistant Professor Teresa Clemmer for a May 11 article on the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic's victory in a case involving a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal on Passamaquoddy Tribe land in Maine. The story also appeared in DownStreamToday, iStockAnalyst.com and other outlets.
Professor Cheryl Hanna's comments on U.S. Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan appeared May 11 in the Burlington Free Press, the Times Argus, Rutland Herald and Vermont Today.
The Boston Globe talked to Professor Kinvin Wroth for a May 11 story about U.S. Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan.
Vermont Law School was part of a lively online discussion May 11 on Above The Law about U.S.News and World Report's annual rankings of law schools that once again had VLS as the top environmental law program in the nation.
Professor Jim May talked to the Valley Business Journal for a May 11 story on the South Royalton Legal Clinic's planned expansion in the 190 Chelsea project.
Associate Professor Michael McCann talked to Inside Higher Ed for a May 10 article on the U.S. Department of Justice‘s inquiry into the National Collegiate Athletic Association's scholarship rules.

Week of May 3

Vermont Law School — 11 May 2010 04:00:00 EST

The Institute for Energy and the Environment was included in a May 9 op-ed column on the smart grid in the Times Argus, Rutland Herald and Vermont Today.
The Rutland Herald reported May 8 on the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic's efforts to help a citizens group concerned about groundwater contamination from chemically tainted marble tailings.
In his Sports Illustrated column on May 7, Associate Professor Michael McCann wrote about legal issues arising from objectionable questions asked by NFL teams during pre-draft interviews with prospective draft picks. The column also ran in the Miami Dolphins Football Update.
Professor Pat Parenteau was included in a Bloomberg News story in Business Week on May 7 about the Cape Wind project.
The Saint John (Canada) Telegraph-Journal included the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic in a May 7 story about a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal on Passamaquoddy Tribe land in Maine.
Associate Professor Michael McCann talked to The Chronicle of Higher Education on May 6 about the U.S. Department of Justice‘s inquiry into the NCAA's scholarship rules.
Senior Fellow Mark Cooper at the Institute for Energy and the Environment talked to the Los Angeles Times for a May 6 story on economic damage from the Gulf Coast oil spill. The story also ran in The Chicago Tribune, Sacramento Bee, Hartford Courant, Cleveland Plain Dealer, St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other news outlets nationwide.
Assistant Professor Don Kreis wrote an op-ed column in vtdigger.org on May 5 about a misleading PowerPoint presentation on the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.
Adjunct Professor Peter Bradford talked to the Brattleboro Reformer on May 5 about federal loan guarantees for new nuclear power plants. The story also ran in EnergyCentral.com, the Farmington (New Mexico) Daily Times and other news outlets.
Assistant Professor Art Edersheim talked to the United Kingdom's Meat Trade Daily News for a May 4 story about legal hurdles faced by undocumented migrant workers.
VLS alumnus Johanna Sorrell was included in a May 4 story in SeaCoastonline about a math and science conference for girls.
Forbes.com was among more than 60 news outlets nationwide that quoted Professor Cheryl Hanna in a May 3 story on partner abuse laws.
Associate Director of Admissions John Miller was quoted in the Stagecoach Transportation Services' spring newsletter in a story about the shuttle bus between Montpelier and South Royalton.

Weeks of April 19, April 26

Vermont Law School — 10 May 2010 15:40:30 EST

Professor Pat Parenteau was included in a Brattleboro Reformer editorial on wind energy that the AP distributed nationwide May 2, including to the Newark Star-Ledger, the Syracuse Post-Standard, the Birmingham News and the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Adjunct Professor Peter Bradford was quoted in the Burlington Free Press in a May 2 story on nuclear energy.
The Times Argus reported April 29 on the VLS Institute for Energy and the Environment receiving a $450,000 federal grant for smart-grid research and analysis.
Professor Pat Parenteau's comments on the approval of the nation's first offshore wind farm were carried by the media nationwide April 28 and 29, including the Boston Globe, another Boston Globe story, Business Week, Bloomberg News, Greenwire, the BBC News and the Daily Tech.
The Bangor Daily News, Portland Press Herald and AP reported April 28 on a victory that the VLS Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic helped to secure for a group of Passamaquoddy Tribe members in Maine who oppose construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal on tribal land.
Elements, the environmental and public health blog, picked up Professor Stephanie Farrior's blog post on IntLawGrrls about the first environmental human rights case against the United States to be heard by the Organization of American States.
Professor John Echeverria talked to the National Law Journal on April 26 about a genetically engineered alfalfa case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Assistant Professor Art Edersheim talked to vtdigger.org on April 26 about how federal immigration policy affects migrant workers and Vermont's dairy farms.
Professor Peter Teachout talked to Burlington Free Press for an April 25 story on the future of Vermont's side judges.
Assistant Professor Don Kreis wrote an op-ed piece April 24 in vtdigger.org on Vermont Yankee.
Professor Stephanie Farrior talked to PRI's Living on Earth on April 23 about the first environmental human rights complaint from U.S. citizens to be heard by the OAS.
Professor Jason Czarnezki was included in an April 22 story posted on Zikkir on the U.S. Consulate Guangzhou's efforts to promote Earth Day volunteerism.
Associate Professor Martha Judy talked to Law360 on April 22 about states hiring private contractors to handle industrial waste site cleanups.
Associate Professor Michael McCann was included in April 21 stories in the Charlotte News and Observer and Durham Herald-Sun about age limits in the NBA.
Professor Cheryl Hanna talked to WPTZ-TV on April 21 about priest sex abuse cases in Vermont and to WCAX-TV on April 20 about children testifying in court.
Professor Stephanie Farrior talked to the National Law Journal about Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow for an April 19 story about possible replacements for U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.

Kagan a "High-Risk, High-Return" Choice for Justice, Hanna Says

Vermont Law School — 10 May 2010 04:00:00 EST

By Cheryl Hanna
Professor of Law, Vermont Law School

President Barack Obama has nominated Solicitor General Elena Kagan to replace Justice Stevens on the U.S. Supreme Court. Photo courtesy of Doc Searls/CC BY-SA 2.0.

Today, President Barack Obama nominated Solicitor General Elena Kagan to replace Associate Justice John Paul Stevens on the U.S. Supreme Court. Kagan is a high-risk, high-return nominee for President Obama. If she can survive the nomination, the president is likely to get exactly the kind of judge that the court needs. By all accounts, Kagan is brilliant in the way that non-ideological thinkers are brilliant. She sees all sides. She listens to arguments. She has no apparent personal or political agenda.

Second, she is politically savvy: as the dean of Harvard Law School, she got the conservative and liberal faculty members to kiss and make up after a 20-year battle that nearly destroyed the law school. She even got the faculty to modernize the curriculum, which is much harder than getting a unanimous opinion. If she can bring those same skills to the court, she may be likely to win over some of her contemporaries, such as Chief Justice John Roberts.

Kagan won't trend left but will trend center, and that is a far better strategy than always writing in dissent. She could help moderate the court, which is what Obama understands has to happen in order to reverse the court's swing to the right. And on issues like national security and presidential power, she may be a conservative's dream. There is probably no nominee who, in private at least, doesn't delight the conservatives more than Kagan because she is about as moderate a pick as they are going to get.

But her nomination is not without its risks to the president. While her personal story is impressive, it hardly tugs at the heart strings in the way that Justice Sotomayor's story does. Kagan isn't a "Supreme Court first." She is the daughter of a New York lawyer, and while she most certainly had to overcome some gender bias on her way to court, her personal narrative is largely one of privilege. Kagan is a lawyer's lawyer—popular among the legal elite but not among baseball fans or immigrant families. Thus, by nominating Kagan, the president risks reinforcing critics who consider him a liberal intellectual who is out of touch with mainstream American values.

Third, Kagan has no prior judicial experience. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. In fact, some of the most successful justices, including Earl Warren and Hugo Black, came to the court without ever having donned a black robe. But in a world of highly politicized nominations, Kagan's lack of experience is already a rallying cry for the opposition. The spin from the White House is that Kagan comes from "outside the judicial monastery"—a phrase that captures the president's insistence that the next justice must understand how the law affects real people. While an important historical shift, it is slightly disingenuous. Kagan may not have been a judge, but she also has never represented an indigent client.

Fourth, like Sotomayor, Kagan is not without her wedge-issue baggage. While Sotomayor's nomination fueled the debate over affirmative action and identity politics, Kagan is fueling debate over homosexuality and particularly the "don't ask/don't tell" law in the military. She was one of many law school deans, including Vermont Law School's, who forbade the military to recruit on campus because of its discriminatory policy. She eventually rescinded that stance when the Supreme Court, in F.A.I.R. v Rumsfeld, by 8 – 0, ruled the policy constitutional. But her decision as dean makes her appear sympathetic to, if not an advocate of, the rights of gays and lesbians. With a country deeply divided over issues like same-sex marriage, her stance on "don't ask/don't tell" gives conservative senators an easy way to not only oppose her but to accuse the president of wanting to pack the court with activist judges who would carry out his social agenda.

This dynamic is further complicated by Kagan's personal history. She is a single woman with no children, but, unlike Sotomayor, has never been married. This fact has fueled speculation on blogs that she may be a lesbian. A single, unmarried person is always at risk of this kind of modern-day witch hunt. (Remember Harriet Miers? The White House went out of its way to get quotes about her character from former boyfriends to try to put a lid on speculation about her sexual preferences.) And so, for the first time in Supreme Court history, we are about to witness one of the most subtle, albeit most sexist, confirmation battles as the opposition tries to create innuendo about Kagan's sexuality and scare the public, further painting the president as a radical.

It is also notable that Kagan has forgone motherhood, either by default or design . There is already criticism of her for being ambitious and calculated about her career—a character "flaw" that is never attributed to men. It is not likely her nomination will spark dialogue about how women often forgo families, including children, to further their careers. It would be hard to serve as the dean of Harvard or as solicitor general with children because of the inevitable overwhelming demands and well-documented discrimination that working mothers face. Whether Kagan will be sympathetic to gender questions remains to be seen, but she will no doubt face her share of gender discrimination in its most invidious form over the next few months.

Thus, the president may not get much short-term political capital by nominating Kagan, but he'll get plenty of legacy out of it. No serious lawyer doubts that Kagan would serve the court with great distinction for many decades. In the next five to eight years, the court will likely be an extremely different one than it was just a few years ago. There is a new generation emerging and more appointments to come. Kagan is a proven leader and what this court needs more than anything else are Justices who can bring the rule of law into the 21st century. Kagan is an ideal choice to lead that transformation, which is why the president is willing to gamble on her.

VLS, Chinese Prosecutors to Discuss Pollution Lawsuits

Vermont Law School — 10 May 2010 04:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Vermont Law School will conduct a series of workshops in China this month with Chinese prosecutors, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to discuss using public interest litigation to protect Chinese citizens from pollution and other environmental violations.

VLS's U.S.-China Partnership for Environmental Law will lead the workshops, which will include China's Supreme Peoples Procuratorate (SPP), the National Prosecutors College and the Guangzhou Maritime Court. The workshops will be in Beijing and Guangzhou from May 11-14.

The workshops will be an important opportunity for sharing the American experience, specifically the Justice Department's role in civil and criminal enforcement efforts, and engaging Chinese government officials on environmental enforcement issues. VLS, Justice Department and EPA officials will advise Chinese prosecutors on how civil lawsuits and criminal prosecutions are used for environmental issues in the United States.

"Ensuring the implementation and enforcement of environmental laws is not only significant to pollution control generally but also to the implementation of any regulatory scheme to achieve greenhouse gas emission reductions," said Tseming Yang, director of VLS's U.S.-China Partnership.

The Beijing workshop will focus on the role of the procuratorate in prosecuting environmental crimes and pursuing non-criminal enforcement actions. The SPP, which oversees government prosecutors in China, currently focuses on criminal prosecutions in environmental cases, in part, because it lacks a formal civil judicial enforcement role.

The Guangzhou workshop, which is sponsored with the Guangzhou Maritime Court, will focus on the role of public interest litigation in water pollution cases. In addition to hearing traditional maritime matters, the court presides over an increasing number of water pollution cases within its jurisdiction. The Justice Department delegation will also hold an informal roundtable with the Guangzhou Municipal People's Procuratorate to share its experiences on civil and criminal enforcement efforts.

Every year, an estimated 460,000 people die prematurely in China due to exposure to air and water pollution, according to a World Bank study.

The U.S.-China Partnership provides training to Chinese legal, educational, governmental, non-profit, business and community leaders in an effort to strengthen China's enforcement of environmental laws.

John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106 , jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Association of Corporate Counsel Honors Diana Vogel

Vermont Law School — 04 May 2010 04:00:00 EST

Diana Vogel '10 was honored in April by the Northeast Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel for her "outstanding commitment to ethics through conduct." She was nominated by South Royalton Legal Clinic Attorney and Professor Arthur Edersheim, who recounted Vogel's devotion to her clients' legal interests in juvenile and immigration cases.

VLS Expert to Discuss Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Standards

Vermont Law School — 27 Apr 2010 04:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Mark Cooper, senior fellow for economic analysis at Vermont Law School's Institute for Energy and the Environment, on Wednesday will reject claims by some economists and environmentalists that raising the price of energy will solve climate change.

Cooper will deliver a talk, titled "The Low Carbon Economy and the Consumer: The Role of Efficiency Standards is Vital Because Price is an Ineffective Tool of Energy Policy," as part of a panel discussion at a Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue conference. The panel is slated for 1:15 p.m., Wednesday, at the Hotel Renaissance, 1143 New Hampshire Ave. NW in Washington, D.C.

"Ironically, the people who complain loudest about how much climate change policy will cost are pushing the most expensive solution to the problem," Cooper said. "We will be better off with the Environmental Protection Agency regulating carbon as a pollutant under the Clear Air Act, assuming the Obama administration really wants to lead on the issue and is not just playing politics."

John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

VLS Clinic Helps Tribal Group Win Victory in Natural Gas Dispute

Vermont Law School — 26 Apr 2010 04:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- With the aid of Vermont Law School's Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic (ENRLC), a group of Passamaquoddy Tribe members in Maine has won a major victory in its efforts to prevent construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal on its land.

The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) on Friday cancelled the tribe's land-lease contract with an Oklahoma-based company, Quoddy Bay LNG in the wake of the company's failure to comply with the 2005 lease and the tribe's decision in June 2009 to terminate the lease. The BIA notified the tribe and the ENRLC on Monday of its decision.

Nationwide, a growing number of Native American tribes are looking into oil, natural gas and coal production as way to boost tribal economies, but energy development can raise significant environmental concerns.

Quoddy Bay LNG has 30 days to vacate the premises or file an appeal with the BIA, which cited the company's failure to respond to an earlier notice of lease violation. The cost of building the facility was expected to be about $500 million.

"Today's victory is on behalf of our descendants because it is what our ancestors expect from us," said Vera Francis, an organizer with Nulankeyutmonen Nkitahkomikon (We Take Care of Our Land), a Passamaquoddy grassroots group that opposes the project. "To value and defend that which has sustained us—Passamaquoddy Bay—is what defines and shapes our future."

Associate Professor David Mears and Assistant Professor Teresa Clemmer, the ENRLC's director and assistant director, respectively, said the BIA's decision to cancel the lease was a testament to the perseverance of far-sighted tribal members and the clinic's faculty and student clinicians.

"It's a great result and a testament to their determination and willingness to hang in there for the long haul," Clemmer said.

Some members of the Passamaquoddy Tribe living on the Pleasant Point Reservation in northeastern Maine have battled the proposed natural gas terminal on tribal land at Split Rock from the project's onset in 2004. They said the project threatens the ecological health of Passamaquoddy Bay and would destroy an area important to the tribe's cultural, spiritual and economic lives.

Nulankeyutmonen Nkitahkomikon hired the ENRLC, which filed suit in 2005 in U.S. District Court in Bangor, Maine. The tribe's leaders at the time signed a 50-year lease with the Oklahoma company over the opposition of some tribal members.

The suit contended that the BIA approved a lease authorizing the construction of the terminal without complying with the National Environmental Policy Act and other federal environmental and historic protection laws. Since then, the ENRLC has been attempting to overcome a series of procedural arguments raised by the U.S. Department of Justice in order to reach the merits of the case.

The ENRLC prevailed in a companion lawsuit involving its Freedom of Information Act requests for records from the BIA. A federal court judge in Maine ruled that the BIA violated FOIA by failing to promptly release the requested documents.

In 2008, Quoddy Bay LNG, citing the lack of final approval from the BIA, withdrew its applications for state and federal permits for the project and later suspended the quarterly payments it was required under the lease to make to the tribe.

"The health of the bay's unique ecosystems depends upon sound decision-making," Francis said. "Quite unlike many other cultures, ours is a history enlivened by a bay rich in marine life, tides and beauty. We are the original occupants of this land, and it is our responsibility to keep it that way. The defeat of Quoddy Bay LNG and the land lease cancellation are irrefutable examples that Passamaquoddy Bay is an inappropriate location for a liquefied natural gas terminal."

Mary Bassett, another member of Nulankeyutmonen Nkitahkomikon, said: "Split Rock rests easier today." She said the group and its supporters will continue to work to protect Passamaquoddy Bay and that "all land, all humans and animal life deserve a healthy environment."

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106 , jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

VLS Opens Campus Arboretum

Vermont Law School — 23 Apr 2010 04:00:00 EST

A White Ash behind Jacobs House is one of the trees recently tagged by VLS's Arborist Society.

Vermont Law School established an arboretum on campus Tuesday as part of the school's Earth Week festivities.

The arboretum includes small aluminum identification tags hung on a number of trees across campus, as well as a Web site with an interactive map that highlights some of the trees.

The project is part of the VLS native campus initiative, whose goal is to foster native plants and trees and prevent non-native and invasive species on campus.

The school's Arborist Society, a subgroup of the Environmental Law Society, spent the past three years raising funds to buy the tree tags.

The arboretum is modeled after arboretums on other college campuses that emphasize their natural beauty, in part, by labeling their trees, said Markell Ripps 3L, co-chair of the Aborist Society.

"As a natural resources major (at Cornell University), this is something that I really enjoyed using as a learning tool because the tags provided the common and scientific name of the tree," she said.

Society members opened the arboretum with a dedication ceremony and two nature walks during Earth Week.

"During our walks, we stopped by each tagged tree and talked about its importance and relation to the campus initiative," Ripps said. "The group will continue to raise money to buy more tree tags for the campus, as well as for several prominent trees along the Kent's Ledge trail."

Currently, the tagged trees include the maple and white pine in front of Cornell Library, the lilac near the bike shed and the box elder and birches behind Debevoise Hall. Some trees also have been tagged along the White River bordering campus to highlight the importance of a riparian buffer.

Learn more about green initiatives at VLS.

VLS Starts Composting on Campus

Vermont Law School — 23 Apr 2010 04:00:00 EST

Hurricane Flats, a local produce farm, will assist VLS with its new composting program.

As part of its activities marking the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, Vermont Law School on Monday started a composting program on campus.

The VLS Campus Greening Committee (CGC), which is behind the composting, expanded its collaboration with Hurricane Flats, a 37-acre certified organic local farm that already provides delicious food to SORO Café, the campus cafeteria,

VLS will compost the waste its faculty, students and staff generate on campus.
Acceptable compostable items include all food waste, biodegradable dishware from the cafeteria and soda cups. Unacceptable items include straws, food and gum wrappers and plastic cup lids.

"Please make sure that you are not contaminating the compost or the other recycling bins," said CGC member Allie Silverman 1L.

VLS also has started an "Eco-Rep" program, where CGC members stand by the recycling bins in the SORO Cafe and promote awareness about what can and can not be recycled and composted. The CGC plans to develop a better bin and signage system to encourage composting and improved recycling.

Learn more about green initiatives at VLS.

Speth Calls for a Radical Overhaul of Government, Economy, Environmentalism

Vermont Law School — 22 Apr 2010 04:00:00 EST

The United States must replace its destructive "growth fetish" with a new economy based on sustainable policies if the nation is to survive, Vermont Law School Professor Gus Speth said Thursday.

Marking the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, Speth told a Chase Center audience that a nationwide coalition should be formed to create a new economy based on social justice, ecological health and political inclusion.

Speth, an elder statesman of U.S. environmental policy, recently joined the VLS faculty after a decade as the dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

In his address, titled "A New American Environmentalism and the New Economy," Speth recalled being at the first Earth Day in 1970 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

"It was a joyous occasion and hopes were so high for what could be accomplished," he said. "I'm here today to discuss what happened to that enthusiasm."

Speth said major achievements have been made since 1970 in improving the environment, including passage of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and other laws.

But he said the nation's democratic system is failing, creating a political, economic, social and environmental crisis.

That failure stems from a national obsession with economic expansion, a profit-driven policy that has concentrated wealth in the hands of a few, damaged schools, the middle class and workers and endangered our environment, natural resources and public health, he said.

"Our democracy has become weak, shallow and corrupted," Speth said. Instead of profits, our society should focus on "fairness, solidarity and sustainability."

A new economy would involve a dramatic recreation of democratic life, he said.

"Our current capitalist economic system with its emphasis on continued expansion isn't sustainable in the face of environmental ruin," he said. "It seems to me one conclusion is inescapable. We need a new environmentalism in America. The world needs a new environmentalism in America. And here is the core of the new environmentalism: it seeks a new economy. And to deliver on the promise of the new economy, we must build a new politics."

Speth said a "sustaining economy" would give top priority to sustaining both human and natural communities. He said a "post-growth economy" doesn't mean no growth.

"It is abundantly clear that American society and many others do need growth along many dimensions that increase human welfare—growth in good jobs, affordable health care, education, research and training, investment in public infrastructure, green technologies, restoration of ecosystems and local communities, non-military government spending, international assistance for sustainable development," he said. "A post-growth economy would shift resources away from consumption and into investments in long-term social and environmental needs."

Speth said those working for America's betterment should unite in one movement.

"The best hope for real change is a fusion of those concerned about the environment, social justice and strong democracy into one powerful progressive force," he said. "Environmentalists should therefore support social progressives in addressing the crisis of inequality now unraveling America's social fabric and join with those seeking to reform politics and strengthen democracy."

Speth to Receive Yale Award of Merit

Vermont Law School — 21 Apr 2010 04:00:00 EST

Professor James Gustave "Gus" Speth will receive Yale Law School's highest honor, the Award of Merit, jointly with VLS Trustee Richard Ayres and two other Yale alumni for their contribution to public service and the legal profession, in particular their pioneering role in helping to establish the Natural Resources Defense Council in 1970. Read more about the award...

Week of April 12

Vermont Law School — 20 Apr 2010 04:00:00 EST

U.S.News & World Report again ranked VLS as the number-one environmental law school in the nation on April 15 in its 2011 edition of America's Best Graduate Schools. VLS' clinical training program also was again ranked among the nation's best.
Vermont Business magazine and vtdigger.org reported April 15 on VLS retaining its ranking as the nation's best environmental law school by U.S.News & World Report.
U.S.News & World Report included VLS in an April 15 story about the difficult economic times facing recent law school graduates.
Professor Cheryl Hanna talked to the Valley News on April 15 about corporate spending on political campaigns.
Vermont Today talked to Professor Greg Johnson on April 15 about the The Law and Politics of Marriage Equality conference that marked the anniversaries of civil unions and legal marriage for same-sex couples in Vermont.
Seven Days, VPR, the Burlington Free Press, Rutland Herald, the Times Argus, WCAX and other media reported April 14 and 15 on the Marriage Equality conference.
The Randolph Herald and Vermont Business magazine on April 15 reported the appointment of three new members to the VLS Board of Trustees.
Professor Cheryl Hanna talked to VPR on April 14 about Vermont Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Reiber's vocal role in the debate over legislation to cut the budget and restructure Vermont's court system.
VLS alumnus Thomas Rushford, the digital historian in the U.S. House of Representative's Office of the Historian, was profiled April 13 in TheHill.com.
Associate Professor Michael McCann was cited in an April 13 column in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat about a class-action lawsuit against the NCAA.
VLS Trustee Christopher Dutton's appointment as president and chief executive officer of Vermont Electric Power Co. was covered April 12 by Vermont Business magazine.
The Land Use Prof Blog on April 12 recommended Professor John Echeverria's work for those interested in understanding U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens' legacy for property rights and land use law.
Professor Cheryl Hanna was on the Mark Johnson show, WDEV Radio, on April 12 to discuss the retirement of U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.

Same-Sex Marriage No Threat to Traditional Marriage, Law Professor Says

Vermont Law School — 19 Apr 2010 04:00:00 EST

Same-sex marriage poses no threat to heterosexual marriage, birth rates, raising healthy children or any other traditional cultural values, a Northwestern University scholar said April 15 at Vermont Law School.

"There's no evidence to support the claim that same-sex marriage corrodes traditional marriage," said Andrew Koppelman, a professor of law and political science at Northwestern University.

Koppelman gave the keynote address at "The Law and Politics of Marriage Equality: Vermont, The Nation and the World" conference to mark the 10th anniversary of civil unions in Vermont and the first anniversary of legal marriage for same-sex couples in Vermont.

The conference continued April 16 at the University of Vermont with panel discussions on civil unions, legal marriage, parenting rights, religious politics and other issues and a look back at Baker v. State, the landmark litigation, legislative debate and law that resulted in civil unions in Vermont.

Koppelman's keynote address, titled "Careful with that Gun: The New (?) Arguments Against Marriage Equality," explored how religious conservatives have retooled their opposition to same-sex marriage.

He said Vermont's decision was "one of the most successful civil rights moments" in U.S. history, but also a "politically unstable solution."

Many Americans think homosexual sex is morally wrong and oppose same-sex marriage, Koppelman said, adding that those trying to defend these views have relied on two strategies.

One is to claim that such sex is wrong irrespective of consequences, that there is something intrinsic to sex that makes it right only when it takes place within heterosexual marriage where there is no contraception or possibility of divorce, he said.

The second strategy focuses on consequences, or the harmful effects on heterosexual families of societal tolerance for homosexuality, he said.

Koppelman said both strategies fail.

"The first cannot show that the intrinsic goodness of sex is at once derived from its reproductive character and present in the coitus of married couples who know themselves to be infertile, but not present in any sex act other than heterosexual marital coitus," he said. "As for evidence of bad consequences of tolerance of homosexuality, the evidence is all the other way."

Gay marriage opponents argue that children raised by homosexual couples are at higher risk for emotional problems as are children of divorce and single-parent households, he said. Koppelman said there is no evidence to support such claims.

He said the "red state model"- with an emphasis on marrying when couples are young, foregoing sex outside of marriage and "shotgun marriages" when a single woman becomes pregnant - has resulted in high divorce rate in areas where many conservative Christians live.

The "blue state model" in liberal states where marriage often is delayed until couples are more mature, have finished their educations and attained higher incomes has resulted in a lower divorce rate, better parenting and healthier children, he said.

Koppelman said there is no reason that marriage's original intention of uniting a man and woman for life can't also apply to gays and lesbians.

"Opposition to same-sex marriage isn't based on sound, reasonable arguments," he said.

Professor Gil Kujovich, vice dean for academic affairs, agreed with Koppelman that gay marriage isn't a threat to heterosexual marriage.

When Vermont passed its landmark civil unions laws a decade ago, "I didn't check in with my wife every two weeks to ask, ‘Are we still Ok?'" Kujovich said.

VLS National Security Expert to Discuss Military Detention of Civilians

Vermont Law School — 19 Apr 2010 04:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Vermont Law School Professor Stephen Dycus, an internationally recognized authority on national security and the law, will give a presentation on his work, "The Scholar's Role in a Dangerous World: A New Look at Military Detention of Civilians," at 5 p.m., Thursday, April 22 in the Yates Common Room.

Dycus' talk will mark the conclusion of his time as the 2009 Richard Brooks Faculty Scholar, an award given annually to a VLS faculty member who has consistently exhibited the highest standards of scholarship.

"Throughout this nation's history, in times of great crisis, the military has imprisoned civilians regarded as dangerous, often for extended periods and without any legal process," said Dycus, the lead author of National Security Law (the field's leading casebook). "Some of these measures were clearly necessary for the survival of the republic. Others were the product of groundless fear, racism, greed and/or political expediency. In a post-9/11 world, this talk will briefly review this history and ask whether we have learned anything from our experience."

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Vermont Law School Professor, Trustee To Receive Yale Merit Award

Vermont Law School — 16 Apr 2010 04:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Vermont Law School Professor James Gustave "Gus" Speth and VLS Trustee Richard Ayres, two of the nation's most respected environmental lawyers, will receive Yale Law School's highest honor.

The Yale Law School Association recently voted to present its Award of Merit jointly to Speth, Ayres, Edward Strohbehn, Jr., and John Bryson.

Yale's Award of Merit has been given annually since 1957 to esteemed Yale Law School graduates or faculty members who have made a substantial contribution to public service or to the legal profession. Previous recipients include former presidents Gerald Ford and Bill Clinton. The award will be presented at Yale Law School's Alumni Weekend in the fall.

This year's recipients were cited for their pioneering role in creating the Natural Resources Defense Council, which was founded in 1970 by a group of law students and attorneys at the forefront of the environmental movement and who helped write some of America's bedrock environmental laws. Today, the NRDC is one of the nation's most influential environmental organizations.

"Your achievement in creating the NRDC is overwhelming in its elegance, force and consequences," Yale Law School Dean Robert Post told the recipients. "In the course of its stellar history, NRDC has affected legislation and judicial decision-making in all areas of environmental law. It has influenced research, policy analysis, litigation, lobbying and education. Each of you has enjoyed an extraordinary career in environmental law."

Speth and Ayres said they were honored to receive the award.

"It is wonderful to have the NRDC recognized in this way," said Speth, the former dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies who will join the Vermont Law School faculty this summer. "As for the four of us, the truth is that there were others in our law class and those right behind us that also went into environmental groups and made huge contributions over the years. It was the environment's moment."

"While I appreciate receiving this award, I must accept it on behalf of the hundreds of people who in subsequent years worked to make NRDC the effective and powerful force for environmental protection that it has become," said Ayres, principal of the Ayres Law Group in Washington, D.C.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Gus Speth to Discuss a “New American Environmentalism” on Earth Day

Vermont Law School — 16 Apr 2010 04:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Renowned environmental scholar James Gustave "Gus" Speth will mark Earth Day's 40th anniversary by discussing "A New American Environmentalism and the New Economy" at 12:45 p.m., Thursday, April 22 in the Chase Center. The event is free and open to the public.

Speth, the former dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, will join the Vermont Law School faculty this summer.

In his Earth Day address, Speth will call for the creation of a bi-partisan national growth policy that works in concert with a new environmental movement to influence the course of growth, to positively affect the quality of American life and to restore our air, land and water.

"And so here we are, 40 years after the burst of energy and hope at the first Earth Day, on the brink of ruining the planet," Speth said. "We must build a new environmentalism in America. And here is the core of the new environmentalism: it seeks a new economy ... that protects and restores the environment, one that lives off nature's income, while preserving and enhancing natural capital. And to deliver on the promise of the new economy, we must build a new politics."

Prior to his time at Yale, Speth was administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and chair of the U.N. Development Group. He also was founder and president of the World Resources Institute, professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center, chairman of the U.S. Council on Environmental Quality and senior attorney and co-founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Vermont Law School Again Ranked First in Environmental Law

Vermont Law School — 15 Apr 2010 04:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- U.S.News & World Report again has ranked Vermont Law School's environmental law program as the best in the nation. The 2011 edition of America's Best Graduate Schools appears on USNews.com on Thursday, April 15, and on newsstands on Tuesday, April 27.

"I'm gratified at this recognition of the depth and breadth of our environmental curriculum, clinic and institutes," said Associate Professor Marc Mihaly, director of the school's Environmental Law Center (ELC). "Our success reflects the dedication of our environmental faculty and our wonderful community of students who over the years have populated key legal and policy positions in government, non-profits, law firms and corporations with a strong, positive environmental direction."

Vermont Law School has placed first 13 times since the U.S. News environmental specialty rankings began in 1991, including the past two years, and has never placed lower than second. Vermont Law School's clinical training program also was ranked among the nation's best for the second time since 2005. To develop its specialty rankings, U.S. News asked legal educators to identify the top programs.

The ELC offers the largest and deepest selection of environmental law courses in the nation. The multidisciplinary program in law, policy, science and ethics attracts law and graduate students, lawyers, government officials, teachers, scientists and citizen activists. Since its creation in 1978, the ELC has trained people to be environmental leaders in government, nonprofits, corporations and private practice -- locally, nationally, and internationally.

The ELC administers the Master of Environmental Law and Policy (MELP) degree program for lawyers and non-lawyers and the Master of Laws (LLM) in Environmental Law, a post-Juris Doctor degree for experienced attorneys who seek to specialize.

Vermont Law School offers clinical, research and experiential environmental programs through the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic, the Institute for Energy and the Environment, the Land Use Institute, the Environmental Tax Policy Institute, the U.S.-China Partnership for Environmental Law, and the Environmental Semester in Washington.

The ELC's Summer Session participants learn the legal and scientific underpinnings of environmental policy and explore major environmental issues with national experts in a collaborative setting. The Summer Session offers a broad curriculum, a Visiting Distinguished Environmental Scholars program and a lecture series that features summer faculty members, distinguished summer scholars and environmental summer media fellows speaking about current issues in their fields.

"We're very pleased that Vermont Law School has retained its number-one environmental ranking," said Dean Jeff Shields. "The rankings also show that we do very well in other important areas of comparison, including our 13.5 student/faculty ratio and our 95.2% employment rate at nine months after graduation."

John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106 , jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Week of April 5

Vermont Law School — 12 Apr 2010 04:00:00 EST

Gil Kujovich, vice dean for academic affairs, talked to the Valley News on April 10 about the retirement of U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.
In her April 9 commentary on VPR, Professor Cheryl Hanna discussed personal attacks on lawyers because of whom they represent.
Peg Elmer, associate director of the Land Use Institute, wrote an op-ed column April 7 on vtdigger.org about the Douglas administration's approach to land planning.
Forbes.com, Business Week, the Boston Globe, VPR, Washington Examiner, Burlington Free Press, WCAX, Smart Grid Today, Hartford Business Journal, World News, Valley News and other national, regional and local media reported April 5-6 on the Institute for Energy and the Environment receiving federal funds to conduct smart-grid research.
Associate Professor Johanna Dennis was profiled April 4 in the Valley News in its Sunday feature "The Changing Face of the Upper Valley."

VLS to Mark Sexual Assault Prevention Month

Vermont Law School — 08 Apr 2010 04:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- In conjunction with other events in April to mark Sexual Assault Prevention Month, Vermont Law School's Women's Law Group and the Law Students for Reproductive Justice will host "Take Back the Night" from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Wed., April 14.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will start in the Yates Common Room in Debevoise Hall with a presentation by Tracy Penfield of SafeArt in Chelsea, who will offer words of healing and advocacy. Participants will then make a candlelit march to the South Royalton village green for a healing fire ceremony. In many cultures, a fire ceremony purifies the body, mind and soul and provides a place for prayer and comforting warmth. Participants will be invited to write down their reflections on surviving and combating sexual violence and to toss the paper into the fire as part of the healing process.

"Our goals are to raise awareness, to empower survivors to share their stories and to bring the VLS and greater South Royalton communities together for a common cause," VLS student Jessica Wilkerson said.

The event is part of "Survivor Flag" week during which people will be encouraged to plant a flag to signify their experience as survivors of sexual violence or to recognize the experience of a friend or loved one. The flags are meant to demonstrate the prevalence and impact of sexual violence. An estimated 20 percent to 25 percent of college women in the United States are sexually assaulted during their college years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 90 percent of campus rapes are alcohol related, according to the National Commission on Substance Abuse at Colleges and Universities.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Baugh, Gatto, Connor Selected as New Trustees at VLS

Vermont Law School — 07 Apr 2010 04:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Vermont Law School has named Edna Baugh, Michele Gatto and Colleen Connor as the newest members of its Board of Trustees.

Baugh is assistant director for clinic administration at Rutgers School of Law in Newark, N.J., and managing member at Stephens & Baugh, LLC, in Maplewood, N.J., where her concentrations are real property tax appeals, transactional real estate and non-profit corporations. She received a B.A. degree from Hartwick College and a J.D. from Vermont Law School.

Gatto is executive vice president at National Life Group in Montpelier, where she serves as the chief administrative officer, chief legal officer and chief people officer. She received a bachelor's degree from Indiana University in Pennsylvania, a master's degree from Youngstown State University, an M.B.A. degree from Clark University and a J.D. degree from the Western New England College School of Law.

Connor was an alumni trustee to the VLS board but was recently selected to become a regular trustee. She is the environmental, health and safety attorney and manager for General Electric's Water and Process Technologies. Previously, she managed and provided counsel for GE's global environmental transactions. She received a J.D. degree from Vermont Law School.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802.831.1106, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Johnson Takes Lead Role in Marriage Equality Conference

Vermont Law School — 06 Apr 2010 04:00:00 EST

Professor Greg Johnson, an expert in sexual orientation and the law, will chair a panel discussion at "The Law and Politics of Marriage Equality: Vermont, The Nation and the World" conference on April 15 and 16 at VLS and the University of Vermont. The conference will mark the 10th and first anniversaries, respectively, of civil unions and legal marriage for same-sex couples in Vermont.

Willbanks Elected to American Law Institute

Vermont Law School — 05 Apr 2010 04:00:00 EST

Professor Stephanie Willbanks was recently elected to the American Law Institute. She was one of 54 newly elected members of ALI, raising its total membership to 4,274. ALI, which is made up of lawyers, judges and law professors, produces scholarly work to clarify and modernize the law.

Czarnezki Named Earthcast 2010 Keynote Speaker

Vermont Law School — 05 Apr 2010 04:00:00 EST

Professor Jason Czarnezki has been selected as the keynote speaker for Earthcast 2010, a live, 24-hour webcast starting at 8 p.m., EST, April 21 or 0:00 GMT on April 22 to celebrate Earth Day. The event is hosted by Earthbridges.net. For more information, go to: http://earthbridges.net/

Welch Announces $450,000 Grant for Smart-Grid Program at VLS

Vermont Law School — 05 Apr 2010 04:00:00 EST

U.S. Rep. Peter Welch announcing the $450,000 federal grant awareded to Vermont Law School's Institute for Energy and the Environment to conduct smart-grid research and analysis aimed at updating the U.S. power grid.

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- U.S. Rep. Peter Welch on Monday announced a $450,000 federal grant for Vermont Law School's Institute for Energy and the Environment to conduct smart-grid research and analysis aimed at updating the U.S. power grid.

The Department of Energy grant, which was secured by Welch, will strengthen the Institute's reputation as a national leader in smart-grid implementation standards and its efforts to address the reliability, cost and environmental impacts of the nation's energy policy.

The smart-grid project will have two goals:

To assess the U.S. power grid's legal and regulatory structures on the national, regional and state levels to improve load management and system-efficiency.
To create a model of predictable legal and regulatory standards that addresses the swiftly emerging legal issues of privacy, confidentiality and liability.

"Vermont Law School has long led the nation in addressing challenging questions related to energy and the environment," Welch said. "This grant will bolster VLS's leadership in the field and empower students to tackle the next generation of energy challenges. Most importantly, it will lay the regulatory and legal groundwork for Vermont's coming deployment of smart-grid technology."

Professor Michael Dworkin, director of the Institute for Energy and the Environment, said updating the U.S. power grid to address energy and economic inefficiencies is vital for the nation.

"This project will provide the much needed legal and policy foundation to protect customer information, while increasing the efficiency of managing the transmission system, which will greatly reduce financial costs, environmental emissions and reliability concerns," he said. "Improvements to load management and system-efficiency, including upgrades to the network cables, transformers and power stations, will require a detailed assessment of legal and regulatory structures on the national, regional and state levels."

The VLS grant follows Vermont's successful effort last fall to secure $69 million in federal stimulus funds for its "eEnergy Vermont" plan, which will help the state create jobs, reduce costs and cut fossil fuel emissions by deploying the first statewide Smart Grid system. Part of a $3.4 billion Smart Grid investment created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Vermont's funding was secured through collaboration between utility companies, state government and the congressional delegation.

Welch was joined at the announcement by VLS Dean Jeff Shields, Environmental Law Center Director Marc Mihaly and VELCO Vice President for External Affairs Kerrick Johnson.

CONTACT: John Cramer, VLS Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106 , jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Novick Receives Distinguished Alumni Award

Vermont Law School — 05 Apr 2010 04:00:00 EST

Adjunct Professor Sheldon Novick recently received a Distinguished Law Alumni Award from the Washington University School of Law. An accomplished educator, author and scholar, Novick received his JD degree in 1977.

Weeks of March 22, March 29

Vermont Law School — 05 Apr 2010 04:00:00 EST

The Randolph Herald on April 1 reported on the VLS women's rugby team holding two fundraisers to help local high school girls to attend summer sports camps.
Associate Professor Betsy Baker talked to The Canadian Press on March 31 about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's remarks on Arctic issues.
Erica Lewis 1L wrote an op-ed column March 27 in vtdigger.org on the "don't ask, don't tell" law.
The Tampa Tribune talked to Associate Professor Michael McCann on March 26 about the debate over a new stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported March 26 that adjunct Professor Sheldon Novick received a Distinguished Law Alumni Award from the Washington University School of Law.
Professor Cheryl Hanna discussed the University of Vermont women's basketball team in her March 25 commentary on VPR.
Dean Jeff Shields was included in a Chronicle of Higher Education story March 24 about college presidents who wear bow ties.
Associate Professor Michael McCann was cited in a Slate.com story March 24 about an NBA contractual issue.
Vermont Law School's policy of banning military recruiters on campus until the "don't ask, don't tell" law is repealed was reported by The Wall Street Journal, Business Inder and Yahoo! Finance on March 24 and the National Law Journal on March 23.
Associate Professor Marc Mihaly talked to the Project GreenBag blog on March 23 about proposed bans of plastic bags.
The Rutland Herald quoted Professor Cheryl Hanna in a March 23 story on the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to not hear an appeal from a man on death row for killing a North Clarendon woman in 2000.
The National Law Journal talked to Associate Professor Jackie Gardina on March 22 about the U.S. Supreme Court's upcoming hearing pitting the University of California Hastings College of the Law against the Christian Legal Society.

Frito-Lay Executive to Discuss Corporate Sustainability at VLS

Vermont Law School — 02 Apr 2010 04:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT — A Frito-Lay, Inc., executive will discuss his company's efforts to go "green" at a presentation hosted by Vermont Law School's Business Law Society on Wednesday, April 7.

Titled "Corporate Responsibility: Getting to Green," the presentation will be from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Chase Center. The event is free and open to the public.

"We think it's important for our first speaker to address the disconnect between society's environmental concerns and the goals of big business," said Michelle Bleeker, a member of the Business Law Society. "A great way to enforce environmental responsibility among big corporations is to influence change from within. Frito Lay is one of many companies that are including the ideals of sustainability as a primary goal."

David Haft, Frito-Lay's group vice president for sustainability and productivity, will discuss the PepsiCo division's sustainability initiatives. At Frito-Lay's plant in Modesto, Calif., solar energy is used to make some of the snacks. At the company's facility in Casa Grande, Ariz., water and electricity consumption have been reduced by 90 percent and natural gas use by 80 percent. The Casa Grande project is being used as a learning lab for Frito-Lay's more than 30 other facilities.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

VLS to Announce Smart Grid Research Funding on Monday

Vermont Law School — 02 Apr 2010 04:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT —Vermont Law School officials and U.S. Rep. Peter Welch on Monday, April 5, will announce new federal funding to help VLS expand its role as a national leader in smart-grid research, analysis and implementation standards.

During a 10 a.m. press conference in Hoff Lounge (Room 111) in Oakes Hall, Welch, Dean Jeff Shields, Environmental Law Center Director Marc Mihaly and VELCO Vice President Kerrick Johnson will discuss how the grant will help Vermont and other states deploy new energy-saving technology.

Vermont was awarded a separate $69 million grant in October to become the first state to implement a statewide smart-grid system.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Paul Heintz (Rep. Welch): 202-226-8346

Global Warming Requires Changes in Legal Framework, VJEL Speaker Says

Vermont Law School — 26 Mar 2010 04:00:00 EST

UNC School of Law Professor Victor Flatt delivered the 2010 VJEL Symposium keynote address to a full crowd in the Chase Community Center.

To thrive in a world changed by global warming, people must move beyond a defensive posture, the keynote speaker said Friday at the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law's annual symposium.

Victor Flatt, a professor of environmental law at the University of North Carolina School of Law, urged VLS students to devote themselves to finding ways to reduce climate change rather than trying merely to keep things from worsening.

Climate change could be "the lens through which we finally focus on other important environmental, human and social needs that have been long neglected," Flatt said.

Titled "Surviving and Thriving: Climate Change Adaption and Mitigation," the symposium featured panel discussions on climate change's impacts on agriculture, energy and water.

Flatt told the audience it will take three things for people to thrive, rather than merely survive, in a world changed by global warming.

First, people must "fully appreciate and understand what we are up against," he said, both in the physical world and in the current legal and policy framework.

Second, people must decide and articulate what they want for their future. And, third, they must have a plan for achieving those goals, he said.

Flatt said large pieces of the climate change puzzle are "dangerously under-examined," including legal frameworks in public health, insurance and natural resources.

At UNC's Center for Law, Environment, Adaptation, and Resources, the focus is on examining how legal frameworks must change along with the changing environment.

People's understanding of the science of climate change has grown tremendously in recent years, but there has been relatively little progress in understanding how science interacts with human nature and our political economy, Flatt said.

For instance, several recent studies have looked at why the danger of climate change fails to energize many people and concluded that humans have a difficult time doing anything about incremental harms, he said.

Flatt said environmental groups have long urged a reduction of fossil fuel use but failed to be open to alternative energy sources that don't fit their definition of being environmentally friendly.

"So, we in the environmental community need to be clearer both to ourselves and the general public about what the issues with respect to the climate are and to understand that there are a range of options to respond to this," he said. "We need to be specific about why such options are not preferable and what trade-offs must be made."

Tuholske Receives Rydberg Award

Vermont Law School — 24 Mar 2010 04:00:00 EST

Professor Jack Tuholske, a visiting faculty member, received the 2010 Kerry Rydberg Award for Environmental Activism at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference at the University of Oregon School of Law in February. The award is presented annually to a grassroots environmental lawyer in recognition of their achievements in public interest law. Tuholske, a private practitioner in Missoula, Mont., has litigated a wide range of natural resource issues throughout the West.

VLS to Offer Animal Cruelty Investigation Workshop

Vermont Law School — 23 Mar 2010 04:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Vermont Law School's Student Animal Legal Defense Fund (SALDF) will host a free public workshop on April 3 covering the skills needed to investigate and prosecute animal cruelty cases. The event, titled "Investigating Animal Cruelty in Vermont," will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Oakes Hall.

"Incidences of animal cruelty can be difficult to prove, and doing so requires that first responders be both meticulous and experienced," said Karen Reynolds, a SALDF member. "This requirement has led to the creation of a new role that draws on experiences of both law enforcement and humane agencies—the animal cruelty investigator."

The workshop will include an overview of local, state and federal laws and regulations that apply to animal cases. Participants will learn what is needed to make a winnable case and what resources are available in Vermont and beyond to assist with animal cruelty investigations. The event will include an update on Vermont's Cruelty Response System and an overview of the Humane Society of the United State's First Strike campaign, which focuses on the link between animal cruelty and human violence.

Presenters will include Deputy State Attorney Kathryn Smith; Janet Carini, D.V.M., owner of the Rutland Veterinary Clinic at Castleton; Joanne Bourbeau, senior state director of the Humane Society of the United States; and Jessica Danyow, director of operations at the Rutland County Humane Society.

More information is available from Karen Reynolds at kreynolds@vermontlaw.edu or from SALDF.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106 , jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

International Law Students Help Feed Hungry Families

Vermont Law School — 23 Mar 2010 04:00:00 EST

Vermont Law School's International Law Society raised nearly $1,000 on March 15 at its second annual Empty Bowl Benefit in the Chase Community Center. Schools and businesses across Vermont donated handmade bowls and ILS members prepared delicious homemade soups for the event. A donation of $5 for a small bowl or $10 for a large bowl included an all-you-can-eat soup meal. The money raised this year nearly matched the $1,000 that the ILS students raised in last year's inaugural Empty Bowl Benefit. All proceeds went to Heifer International, a nonprofit organization that works with small communities around the world to help stop hunger, and to the Vermont Foodbank, which secures large quantities of food and offers them to member agencies, including community food shelves.

Week of March 15

Vermont Law School — 23 Mar 2010 04:00:00 EST

The Times Argus talked to Associate Professor David Mears on March 21 about Vermont Yankee's state permit to discharge heated water into the Connecticut River. The story also appeared in the Rutland Herald and Vermont Today.
Professor Cheryl Hanna was included in a March 21 editorial in the Burlington Free Press about the Vermont Legislature's proposed ban on advertising and marking by Vermont hospitals.
The National Law Journal talked to Professor Jackie Gardina on March 18 about the U.S. Supreme Court's upcoming hearing pitting the University of California Hastings College of the Law against the Christian Legal Society.
The Vermont Supreme Court's annual session at VLS on March 17 prompted a Rutland Herald story on the battle over a permit for Montpelier's wastewater treatment plant, which contributes phosphorous pollution to Lake Champlain.
The Vermont Supeme Court's session at VLS also drew widespread coverage by the AP, Boston Globe, Burlington Free Press, ABC 22, WPTZ and other news outlets, which reported on the appeal of a man convicted of murdering a University of Vermont student in 2006.
Professor Pat Parenteau talked to New Hampshire Public Radio on March 17 about the EPA's efforts to clean up the Long Island Sound, in part, by reducing pollution from Vermont sewage treatment plants.
WCAX (CBS 3) covered the JAG/Solomon Amendment meeting on March 16 when a VLS panel discussed the school's ban of military recruiters on campus until the "don't ask, don't tell" law is repealed.
Mark Cooper's research on funding for nuclear power plants was cited March 14 and 15 by DemocraticUnderground.com. Cooper is a senior fellow for economic analysis at the VLS Institute for Energy and the Environment.
WCAX TV on March 15 covered the International Law Society's second annual Empty Bowl Benefit, which raised nearly $1,000 to combat hunger.

VLS Expert to Testify on Federal Loan Guarantees for Nuclear Plants

Vermont Law School — 22 Mar 2010 04:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- Mark Cooper, senior fellow for economic analysis at Vermont Law School's Institute for Energy and the Environment, will testify Tuesday, March 23, before a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on the economic advisability of increasing federal loan guarantees for the construction of nuclear power plants.

Cooper plans to tell the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform's Domestic Policy Subcommittee that current cost projections make power from nuclear reactors extremely expensive and that those costs are likely to escalate, not decline, if these reactors are ever built.

"As a lifelong consumer advocate, I believe that the fundamental economics of nuclear
power should determine whether a new generation of reactors is constructed in the United States," Cooper said. "Nuclear reactors are uneconomic and unneeded, which is why Wall Street considers them a ‘bet the farm' decision and will not put up the funds to finance them. It would be a mistake for policy makers in Washington, D.C., to force taxpayers to do what the capital markets will not, a mistake that could not only cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars, but could impose trillions in excessive costs for electricity on ratepayers."

Cooper can be reached directly at: 301-384-2204 .

Download Mark Cooper's Statement

Download Mark Cooper's Full Testimony

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106 , jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Vermont Supreme Court Hears Arguments in Lake Champlain Pollution Case

Vermont Law School — 19 Mar 2010 04:00:00 EST

CLF attorney Anthony Iarrapino '03 arguing before the Vermont Supreme Court.

At the Vermont Supreme Court's annual session at Vermont Law School, attorneys for the Conservation Law Foundation and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources argued March 17 over a permit for Montpelier's wastewater treatment plant.

The Oakes Hall classroom where the justices presided was filled to capacity with students, faculty and staff.

CLF attorney Anthony Iarrapino, a VLS 2003 alumnus, and Assistant Attorney General Michael Duane argued over whether a federal Clean Water Act permit violates the statutory five-year limitation on permits when it relies exclusively on data that is more than five years old.

Iarrapino said Montpelier's discharge permit would allow the plant to release too much polluting phosphorous into the Winooski River, which empties into Lake Champlain.

Dwayne said the permit was appropriately issued to Montpelier and that Vermont's towns and cities are reducing their polluting discharge and shouldn't be burdened with unpredictable permit requirements.

Both sides agreed that pollution from point-source pollution from wastewater treatment plants has been reduced over the years and that most of the lake's phosphorous pollution comes from farmland runoff and other non-point sources.

The ANR appealed an Environmental Court decision that vacated a discharge permit granted by the agency to the Montpelier Wastewater Treatment plant.

The Vermont Supreme Court held hearings at Vermont Law School on Wednesday, March 17, 2010.

The facility discharges phosphorous waste into the Winooski River, which empties into Lake Champlain. The lake, which is designated an impaired waterway, is polluted phosphorous, which causes toxic algal blooms and excessive aquatic plant growth. Because of the lake's poor water quality, the federal Clean Water Act requires Vermont to establish and monitor a total maximum daily load (TMDL) for pollutants, such as phosphorous, that go into the lake.

The TMDL was completed in 2002 and, after an analysis of the impact to the lake of all sources of phosphorous, allocated a maximum discharge for the Montpelier Wastewater Treatment plant of 7,253 pounds of phosphorous per year.

This limitation was placed in a 2002 permit granted to the facility. That permit expired in 2007. When the plant applied for a new permit, ANR adopted -- without further calculation or study -- the same 7,253 pound allowance it granted in 2002.

The CLF challenged this new permit, arguing that the Clean Water Act's five-year limitation on permits implicitly requires ANR to engage in further study of the facility's impact before issuing a new discharge permit for an impaired waterway.

The Environmental Court granted summary judgment to CLF and remanded the case to ANR to determine whether its mandate to meet the phosphorous target for Lake Champlain requires the ANR to set more stringent limits on the facility than the current TMDL set in 2002.

Amicus briefs were filed by the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, which supports reversing the Environmental Court, and by former Vermont environmental regulators, who support affirming the Environmental Court's decision and who are represented by the VLS Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic.

VLS Panelists Defend School’s Ban on Military Recruiting

Vermont Law School — 19 Mar 2010 04:00:00 EST

Vermont Law School's ban of military recruiting on campus upholds the school's anti-discrimination policy and should be retained until the "don't ask, don't tell" law is repealed.

That was the position of five of six panelists at the school's annual JAG/Solomon Amendment meeting on March 16 to discuss VLS's policy of prohibiting military recruiters on campus until openly gay men and women are allowed to serve in the U.S. armed forces.

Vice Dean Gil Kujovich said VLS's anti-discrimination policy applies to all employers, including the military. He said military recruiters would be welcome on campus when the "don't ask, don't tell" law is repealed.

Professor Greg Johnson and Associate Professor Jackie Gardina went over the history of the Solomon Amendment and VLS's response and urged VLS faculty, staff and students to actively work for the repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" law.

Dan Miller 2L and Kathy Stickel 3L, both Army veterans who served alongside gay and lesbian soldiers, said they oppose "don't ask, don't tell" and support VLS's policy of prohibiting military recruiting on campus.

"'Don't ask, don't tell' tells every kid in this country, nothing can outweigh how hideous we find the desires of your heart," Stickel said. "To me, it's treason - Americans who take other Americans off the fighting line" because of their sexual orientation even though they are exceptional soldiers.

The sixth panelist, Robert Rachlin, a VLS trustee and professor, agreed that the "don't ask, don't tell" law should be repealed, but he said the school's ban on military recruiting is "myopic and misdirected."

Rachlin said the "don't ask, don't tell" law is irrational discrimination because it isn't supported by evidence that the military would be damaged by allowing openly gay men and lesbians to serve.

He said he applauded the "fervor and nobility" of Vermont Law School's policy, but that the policy worsens the financial burden on VLS students, many of whom go on to work in the public sector rather than higher-paying private practice.

The Solomon Amendment is the federal law that withholds some federal research money from law schools and universities that do not give military recruiters the same access to campus as other employers.

VLS is one of two law schools in the nation that bar military recruiters because of the "don't ask, don't tell" law, which allows gay men and lesbians to serve as long as they keep their sexual orientation secret.

Rachlin said VLS is paying too high a price for banning military recruiters on campus and that the estimated $300,000 to $500,000 that the school foregoes annually in federal funds could go toward scholarships or other ways to reduce tuition.

"From a rational standpoint, the school's policy doesn't pass muster," he said. "It leaves us poorer, but with no benefit. The thing to do is to vigorously protest this wicked law, but not a beau geste which costs us dearly but has little provable effect."

VLS to Host Symposium on Adapting to Climate Change

Vermont Law School — 18 Mar 2010 04:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- The Vermont Journal of Environmental Law will host a symposium on Friday, March 26, to explore strategies for adapting to and lessening the impacts of climate change. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Chase Community Center.

The annual symposium, titled "Surviving and Thriving: Climate Change Adaption and Mitigation," will feature three panel discussions on climate change's impacts on agriculture, energy and water. There also will be a discussion of how Vermont is trying to adapt to a warming climate. The keynote address at 2 p.m. will be from Victor Flatt, director of the Center for Law, Environment, Adaptation, and Resources at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

The earth's climate has changed periodically throughout history as result of natural factors, but a build-up of greenhouse gas emissions from smokestacks, tailpipes and other human activities has caused the earth's average surface temperature to increase by about 1.2 to 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit in the last 100 years, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. If greenhouse gases continue to increase, the average temperature of the earth's surface could increase from 3.2 to 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit above 1990 levels by the end of this century.

Regional models indicate these possible impacts in Vermont, according to the Vermont Governor's Commission on Climate Change:

• Warmer temperatures could promote formation of smog.
• Climate change could bring warmer, wetter days that are ideal conditions for some insects and diseases, which could find it easier to migrate to and survive in Vermont.
• Vermont's forests could be significantly altered, with pine and oak replacing trees that bring vibrant colors in autumn.
• Warmer temperatures could reduce the sap-tapping season and the quality of maple syrup, with consequent damage to Vermont's economy.

More information is available at: http://www.vjel.org/events/EVT10017.html

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106 , jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

VLS to Host Discussion on Age Limits in Pro Sports

Vermont Law School — 18 Mar 2010 04:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- The Vermont Law School's Sports and Entertainment Law Society will host a panel discussion on Friday, April 2, on "Age Limits in Professional Sports."

The event, which is free and open to the public, will be from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. in the Chase Community Center.

Panelists will include Alan Milstein, a nationally acclaimed sports litigator who represents NBA players Allen Iverson, Eddy Curry and others and who served as lead counsel for Maurice Clarett in Clarett v. NFL; Mike Zarren, the Boston Celtics' assistant executive director of basketball operations and associate counsel; and Ryan Rodenberg, an assistant professor at Florida State University's Department of Sport Management and former counsel at the Octagon sports agency.

Moderating the panel will be VLS Associate Professor Michael McCann, who is Sports Illustrated's legal expert and who worked for Milstein in the Clarett case.

The debate over age limits in pro sports centers on lucrative contracts and marketing deals, anti-trust issues and labor laws, and whether young athletes have the physical and emotional maturity to compete with older players.

The NFL and NBA have age-based eligibility requirements, but professional baseball, golf, hockey, tennis and other sports leagues either have no minimum age requirement or allow players under age 18 under certain requirements. The NCAA declares players ineligible for collegiate sports once they declare themselves eligible for the pro draft.

The VLS Sports and Entertainment Law Society provides a forum for discussion, alumni interaction and academic learning about the sports and entertainment fields, two of the most popular industries in the nation. More information is available at: http://www.vermontlaw.edu/students/x8028.xml

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

VLS, UVM to Discuss Marriage Equality for Same-sex Couples

Vermont Law School — 16 Mar 2010 04:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- To mark the anniversaries of civil unions and legal marriage for same-sex couples in Vermont, Vermont Law School and the University of Vermont will co-host a conference April 15-16 that explores the legal, political, social and religious issues surrounding marriage equality.

Titled "The Law and Politics of Marriage Equality: Vermont, The Nation and the World," the conference will mark the 10th anniversary of civil unions in Vermont, which was the first state to allow civil unions in the United States. The conference also will mark the 2009 approval of the option of legal marriage for same-sex couples in Vermont, which was the first legislative creation of marriage equality in the nation.

The conference, which is free and open to the public, will start with a keynote address at 4 p.m., Thursday, April 15 at VLS by Andrew Koppelman, a professor of law and political science at Northwestern University. His address, titled "Careful with that Gun: The New (?) Arguments Against Marriage Equality," will explore how religious conservatives have retooled their opposition to same-sex marriage.

The conference will continue at 9 a.m., Friday, April 16 at UVM with a day-long series of panel discussions on civil unions, legal marriage, parenting rights, religious politics and other issues internationally, nationally and in New England and a look back at Baker v. State, the landmark litigation, legislative debate and law that resulted in civil unions in Vermont.

VLS Professor Greg Johnson, an expert in sexual orientation and the law, testified before the Vermont legislature when it considered the landmark civil unions bill. A decade later, he said grassroots advocates spent a lot of time educating lawmakers and the public about marriage equality before legal action and the legislative debate occurred. He also said more New Englanders are open to marriage equality, in part, because they are less evangelical in their religious beliefs.

"Vermont is a leader in the nation in lesbian and gay civil rights," Johnson said. "We're a strong anti-discrimination state and we should be proud of that."

Jackie Gardina, an associate professor at VLS and an expert in sexual orientation and the law, added: "There is an exciting and amazing group of speakers participating to discuss the latest developments in marriage equality on both the international and domestic fronts."

UVM Associate Professor Felicia Kornbluh, director of the Women's and Gender Studies Program at the school, said the conference will draw leading scholars and advocates who will use the Vermont anniversaries as launching points to consider how social and legal change have been made in the area of marriage equality.

"They are particularly interested in considering the role of judges and courts in creating change as compared to legislatures, non-governmental advocacy organizations and grassroots protests," Kornbluh said. "They will compare Vermont to other states, will consider the politics of marriage equality at the national level and will compare the U.S. to other countries."

The VLS and UVM scholars plan to use the conference to produce a book for a leading academic press.

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations, Vermont Law School
802-831-1106, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

Prof. Nolon's Paper Makes SSRN Top Ten Download List

Vermont Law School — 15 Mar 2010 15:54:48 EST

Sean Nolon's paper "The Lawyer as Process Advocate: Encouraging Collaborative Approaches to Controversial Development Decisions" was recently listed on SSRN's Top Ten download list for Conflict Resolution, Prevention & Management.

VLS in the News, Weeks of March 1, March 8

Vermont Law School — 15 Mar 2010 04:00:00 EST

Newsday, VPR, the Boston Globe and other media carried an AP advance on March 13, 14 and 15 about the seven cases to be heard by the Vermont Supreme Court during its annual session at VLS on March 17.
In its March 14 academic round-up, the U.S. Supreme Court's blog (SCOTUSBlog) includes a new article in the Yale Law Journal by Associate Professor Michael McCann, who writes about the American Needle v. NFL anti-trust case.
The Rutland Herald did a story March 14 on a dispute over phosphorous pollution in Lake Champlain, which is one of the cases to be heard by the Vermont Supreme Court at VLS.
Assistant Professor Michele Martinez Campbell talked to the Keene Sentinel on March 11 about a death penalty case involving a federal kidnapping statute.
In an AP story on March 11 in the Oregonian and more than dozen other news outlets, Professor John Echeverria commented on an Oregon Supreme Court ruling on a Klamath Basin water dispute.
Bloomberg News quoted Associate Professor Michael McCann in March 9 and March 10 stories about an NFL player's lawsuit over leaked drug-test results.
The Valley News talked to Assistant Professor Michele Martinez Campbell on March 9 about the Brooke Bennett kidnapping case and jurisdictional issues pertaining to the Adam Walsh Act.
VPR talked to Professor Pat Parenteau on March 8 about the EPA's efforts to clean up the Long Island Sound, including asking sewage treatment plants in Vermont to help reduce nitrogen pollutants.
Adjunct Professor Peter Bradford talked to Mother Jones on March 8 about President Obama's plan to finance construction of new nuclear power plants.
Professor Pat Parenteau talked to the Boston Globe on March 8 about highly publicized errors in a landmark report about human-caused global warming.
Associate Professor Michael McCann discussed the legal hazards of flying hotdogs in a post on the TortsProf Blog on March 8.
Professor Cheryl Hanna spoke to WPTZ-TV on March 8 about the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to hear a case involving an anti-gay church's protest at military funerals. Church members also have protested in Vermont.
The Burlington Free Press talked to Professor Cheryl Hanna on March 7 about proposed legislation that would prohibit Vermont hospitals from spending money on advertising and marketing.
The Valley News profiled Associate Professor Jackie Gardina in a March 7 story that focused on her commitment to repealing the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
Assistant Professor Don Kreis urged Vermont lawmakers to emphasize government openness in a March 6 op-ed piece in vtdigger.org.
An ESPN story March 6 included Associate Professor Michael McCann, who discussed performance-enhancing drugs as part of a panel discussion at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.
Assistant Professor Don Kreis discussed nuclear power development with the Voice of America on March 5.
The Burlington Free Press reported March 4 and the AP on March 5 that the Vermont Supreme Court, durng its session at VLS on March 17, will hear an appeal from a man serving life imprisonment for murdering a University of Vermont student in 2006.
In a March 3 op-ed column in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Adjunct Professor Peter Bradford wrote about the effort to repeal Minnesota's ban on new nuclear reactor construction.
Mark Cooper's research on funding for nuclear power was cited in a March 3 story in the Brattleboro Reformer. Cooper is a senior research fellow for economic analysis at the VLS Institute for Energy and the Environment.
Professor Cheryl Hanna wrote about women as judges in an op-ed piece March 3 in Seven Days. She also commented on the appointment of Christina Reiss as the first woman to serve on the federal bench in Vermont.
True/Slant talked to Associate Professor Michael McCann for a March 2 story on the legal woes of former baseball pitcher Roger Clemens.
Professor Michael Dworkin talked to WCAX-TV for a March 1 story on the possibility of Vermont Yankee going to federal court in an effort to be relicensed.

ABA Journal Cites Professor Czarnezki's Blog

Vermont Law School — 12 Mar 2010 05:00:00 EST

Empirical Legal Studies, a blog co-founded by Professor Jason Czarnezki, again made the annual ABA Journal Blawg 100 list, the best legal blogs as selected by the Journal's editors. The ELS blog is a collaborative project founded by Czarnezki, professors Michael Heise and Theodore Eisenberg of Cornell Law School, and William Ford of the John Marshall Law School.

Vermont Supreme Court to Hear Oral Arguments at VLS

Vermont Law School — 10 Mar 2010 05:00:00 EST

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT -- The Vermont Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in seven cases at Vermont Law School on March 17 in the high court's annual session at the state's only law school.

The court will consider the following cases:

• Crawford Gregory v. Poulin Auto Sales, 2009-147, 9:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.: Whether the Vermont Consumer Fraud Act is violated when a car dealer relies on a mistakenly issued clean car title and does not independently inspect the vehicle to determine whether it is salvaged or rebuilt.

• In re Montpelier WWTF Discharge Permit, 2009-286, 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.: Whether a Clean Water Act permit violates the statutory five-year limitation on permits when it relies exclusively on data that is more than five years old. The VLS Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic filed an amicus brief in this case on behalf of former Vermont state officials responsible for water pollution control.

• Rino Crisafulli v. Kathleen Conley, 2009-368, 11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.: What constitutes an intent to abandon residency in another state and establish residency in Vermont.

• State v. Thomas Pellerin, 2010-082, 1:10 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.: Whether the habitual offender statute can be used to hold someone without bail under a statute that applies to charges punishable by a life sentence.

• State v. Carl Devoid, Jr., 2009-208, 1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m.: What constitutes attempted voyeurism and when such a jury instruction can be given.

• State v. Brian Rooney, 2008-470, 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.: Whether the prosecution must turn over internal validation studies from DNA labs and whether it violates due process and equal protection to charge aggravated murder rather than felony murder in those instances where the elements of each crime are the same.

• State v. Randall Gokey, 2009-131, 2:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.: Whether a judge can contact a pharmacy and ask about the side effects of a drug that a defendant claims is preventing him from attending his trial.
The arguments will start at 9:30 a.m. and end at 3 p.m. in Oakes Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

Vermont Court Rules apply for media coverage: http://www.vermontjudiciary.org/MasterDocument/CourthouseEtiquette.pdf

CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations
802-831-1106 , jcramer@vermontlaw.edu

All News Feed

Week of July 19

VLS Professor Advocates Radical Steps in Response to Gulf Oil Spill

Week of July 12

Land Use Institute Hosts APA Webinar

Fulbright Scholar David Mears to Use Classroom, Litigation to Tackle Pollution in China

Prof. Duane's Article Makes SSRN Top Ten List

Prof. Baker's Paper Makes SSRN Top Ten List

Prof. Farrior's Article Makes SSRN Top Ten Lists

Weeks of June 28, July 5

Prof. Yang's Paper in SSRN Top Ten All Time Hits

Prof. Judy's Paper Makes SSRN Top Ten

EPA Minority Fellows Kick Off Environmental Law Outreach Program at VLS

VLS Supports First Landscape Auction in the United States

Weeks of June 14, June 21

What’s Next for Public Lands in a Climate-Changed World?

Sara Phillips to Start LLM Program at McGill

VLS to Use $250,000 Grant for Green Renovations in Clinics Building

U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Effort to Remake Property Rights Law

VLS Helps Start China's First Public Interest Environmental Law Firm

Codi Raymond Motivated by Community Service

Week of June 7

Week of May 31

California Expands Ocean Protections

Week of May 24

Merrill Bent a Finalist in Ms. JD Fellowship Program

Week of May 17

Dean Urges VLS Graduates to be Active Citizens

Paul Ferber Retires, Lauded as Innovative Scholar

McCann Discusses NCAA Lawsuit with The New York Times

Echeverria Speaks to AP about Northwest Water Dispute

Dennis Heads Pro Bono Project for Katrina Victims

U.S.-China Partnership Chief Joins EPA

Marc Mihaly Receives Tenure at Vermont Law School

Michael McCann Receives Tenure at Vermont Law School

Mark Latham Receives Tenure at Vermont Law School

Jackie Gardina Receives Tenure at Vermont Law School

John Echeverria Receives Tenure at Vermont Law School

Howard Dean to Discuss a “New American Generation” at VLS Commencement

Erin Woolley Scholarship Fund Sets Record for VLS Class Gifts

U.S.-China Partnership Chief Joins EPA, Partnership Expands Under New Leadership

ENRLC Files Brief in Wetlands Case

Week of May 10

Week of May 3

Weeks of April 19, April 26

Kagan a "High-Risk, High-Return" Choice for Justice, Hanna Says

By Cheryl HannaProfessor of Law, Vermont Law School

VLS, Chinese Prosecutors to Discuss Pollution Lawsuits

Association of Corporate Counsel Honors Diana Vogel

VLS Expert to Discuss Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Standards

VLS Clinic Helps Tribal Group Win Victory in Natural Gas Dispute

VLS Opens Campus Arboretum

VLS Starts Composting on Campus

Speth Calls for a Radical Overhaul of Government, Economy, Environmentalism

Speth to Receive Yale Award of Merit

Week of April 12

Same-Sex Marriage No Threat to Traditional Marriage, Law Professor Says

VLS National Security Expert to Discuss Military Detention of Civilians

Vermont Law School Professor, Trustee To Receive Yale Merit Award

Gus Speth to Discuss a “New American Environmentalism” on Earth Day

Vermont Law School Again Ranked First in Environmental Law

Week of April 5

VLS to Mark Sexual Assault Prevention Month

Baugh, Gatto, Connor Selected as New Trustees at VLS

Johnson Takes Lead Role in Marriage Equality Conference

Willbanks Elected to American Law Institute

Czarnezki Named Earthcast 2010 Keynote Speaker

Welch Announces $450,000 Grant for Smart-Grid Program at VLS

Novick Receives Distinguished Alumni Award

Weeks of March 22, March 29

Frito-Lay Executive to Discuss Corporate Sustainability at VLS

VLS to Announce Smart Grid Research Funding on Monday

Global Warming Requires Changes in Legal Framework, VJEL Speaker Says

Tuholske Receives Rydberg Award

VLS to Offer Animal Cruelty Investigation Workshop

International Law Students Help Feed Hungry Families

Week of March 15

VLS Expert to Testify on Federal Loan Guarantees for Nuclear Plants

Vermont Supreme Court Hears Arguments in Lake Champlain Pollution Case

VLS Panelists Defend School’s Ban on Military Recruiting

By Cheryl Hanna
Professor of Law, Vermont Law School