Certificate Program in Sustainable Environmental, Energy and Resources Law
At Willamette, you get a lot more than an environmentally based class or two — you get the real deal. You learn about the law and the environment in a setting that actually respects the environment, and for that matter, the individual studying the environment. The professors involved in the program are dedicated, motivated, concerned and involved.
Students interested in careers in sustainability, environmental, energy and natural resources law have the opportunity to enroll in a focused program of study and earn a specialized certificate along with their Doctor of Jurisprudence degree.
The Certificate Program in Sustainable Environmental, Energy and Resources Law (SEER) places special emphasis on the role of the lawyer in formulating environmental and natural resources law and policy to sustain and protect our local and global resources. The program’s full course of study was designed by the Willamette law faculty to be both comprehensive and intensive. Students enrolled in the SEER Certificate Program will receive a solid foundation in all areas of the law but also have the academic flexibility to specialize in specific areas related to sustainability and the environment.
Willamette’s law school is well known for its challenging and rewarding curriculum; the SEER Certificate Program is no exception. The program requires completion of 15 hours of specialized coursework, including lawmaking process, environmental law, sustainable natural resources or global sustainability, and six additional hours of coursework from the core program. Participation in the program is open to 12 students each year.
First-year students interested in admission to the program should enroll in the introductory law and government course offered in the spring semester. In addition to the required courses, the program requires a major paper and a practicum.
Students have a wealth of choices available for satisfying the certificate program’s elective requirements, including environmental justice, environmental criminal enforcement, climate change and energy law, water law, ocean resources law, land use planning, wildlife law, American Indian law, cultural heritage law, international and comparative environmental law, and mediation and dispute resolution.
Why Study Sustainability Law at Willamette?
Willamette University College of Law has been preparing students for successful careers in environmental and natural resources law since 1989. Throughout the past two decades, the program’s emphasis has expanded from environmental, energy and natural resources law to encompass a more far-reaching paradigm — sustainability.
The Sustainability Law Program at Willamette was designed to prepare the next generation of lawyer-advocates to lead their communities, the nation and the world toward a more sustainable future. The program trains students to think about environmental issues in concrete ways and to translate broad legal theory into targeted public policy and litigation. The program provides new insights into environmental, energy and natural resources law, with a keen eye focused on the long-term sustainability of our world.
The professors who developed Willamette’s Sustainability Law Program are widely recognized as pioneers in environmental justice and sustainability law and include scholars who created one of the first international natural resources curricula emphasizing sustainability (1992), taught the first sustainability law course in the United States (1993), and published the first law review symposium focused on sustainability law and policy (1995).
