Environment, Energy & Natural Resources

KU Law offers a varied range of opportunities to students interested in the practice of environmental and natural resources law.

Overview

The law school offers an array of courses in environmental, energy and natural resources law. Students can enroll in introductory survey courses and advanced seminars. KU Law also offers the Environment, Energy & Natural Resources Law Certificate.

The school's law faculty includes full-time and adjunct professors with significant experience in their fields. A number of faculty members address environmental and energy law in their research and scholarship.

KU Law students participate in the national environmental law moot court competition and get involved through the Energy and Environmental Law Society. Alumni have an impact on environmental issues through their work in government, nonprofit and academic institutions.

Environmental Law Curriculum Guide

Recommended Upper-Level Courses:

  • Environmental Law
  • Energy Law and Policy
  • Environmental Law Seminar (rotating topics such as Environmental Justice, Climate Change Law)
  • Global Challenges in Law, Agriculture, Development and Ecology
  • Water Law
  • Oil and Gas
  • Renewable Energy Law Practice
  • Special Topics
  • Independent Research

Course descriptions

The Environment, Energy & Natural Resources Law Certificate exposes students to the basics of a constantly changing area of practice. At the end of the program, students can address environmental and natural resources law issues wherever they arise. 

Certificate requirements include a core group of courses in Administrative Law and Environmental Law. Students round out their knowledge through an array of electives relevant to this area of the law. They also take an experiential or writing-intensive course.

Each year, interested students compete for the chance to participate in the National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition. Winners of an in-house competition prepare written briefs and prepare for oral arguments (with the assistance of the faculty) at Pace. The KU team frequently reaches the late rounds of the competition, which tests students’ knowledge of environmental law by evaluating their legal writing and oral advocacy skills while providing a firsthand experience in environmental litigation. Students from KU Law also have the opportunity to compete in the Stetson International Environmental Law Moot Court Competition.

Related student groups include the Energy and Environmental Law Society. The group sponsors a variety of activities at the law school, including regular meetings often attended by the KU environmental law faculty or by federal, state and regional practitioners with environmental expertise.

In addition to full-time faculty, KU Law’s adjunct faculty offer expertise and teach courses including Oil and Gas Law, Water Law, and Renewable Energy Law and Practice.

KU Law also has a strong cohort of faculty whose environmental research and scholarship spans environmental law, energy law, agriculture law, corporate law and international law.

Full faculty list

Questions?

Uma Outka
William R. Scott Law Professor
uoutka@ku.edu
785-864-9241