About the Emmett Environmental Law & Policy Clinic
The Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic at Harvard Law School offers students the opportunity to explore the practice of environmental law through work on a variety of litigation, administrative, legislative, and policy projects.
Clinic projects focus on environment, natural resources, energy, public health, and social justice issues. The Clinic works with scientists, medical professionals, nonprofit and public interest organizations, Native American communities, and government clients on legal issues at the federal, state, and local level. The work includes writing briefs and comment letters, developing litigation strategies that are pursued in state and federal administrative and judicial forums, commenting on proposed federal and state regulations; proposing legislative and regulatory reforms, providing legal advice to non-profit and government clients, preparing
guidance documents and manuals for non-lawyers, drafting model legislation, and
preparing policy papers.
The Clinic develops novel strategies to address environmental problems, investigates new cases, works with scientific, economic, and policy experts to help them present their views about the impacts of legal reforms, and convenes meetings of policy-makers and regulators. The Clinic also works with groups across the country to help their advocates prepare for oral arguments in federal appellate courts. Some students work off-campus with government agencies and nonprofit organizations, while others work on campus on projects and case work under the supervision of the Clinic’s faculty and staff.