Upcoming Events 

Final Round

• Date and Time: March 24, 2025, 09:45 AM - 12:45 PM
• Venue: Frost Institute of Chemistry and Molecular Science Seminar Room 
• Finalists:
  
  • Chapman University School of Law
  • Makerere University School of Law
  • University of Pittsburgh School of Law
• Competition Judges:
  • Anya Freeman, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Kind Designs
  • Keith Hirokawa, Distinguished Professor of Law, Albany Law School
  • Mauricio Rodas, Visiting Fellow, Penn Institute for Urban Research & Former Mayor, Quito, Ecuador

The University of Miami School of Law and the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University are hosting the final round of the 2024-25 Environmental Law and Policy Hack Competition. The Hack Competition is a problem-solving event that invites students across the world to propose an innovative and practical response to a current environmental challenge and awards seed funding to support implementation of the winning concept. 

This year’s Hack Competition challenged participants to reimagine how capital can flow to nature-based solutions and resilient infrastructure. In this final round, the teams will be presenting their innovative approaches—ranging from policy interventions and regulatory changes to new financial structures—to scale investment in projects that protect communities, improve health outcomes, and build climate resilience.

 

 

The Environmental Law Program proudly presents Books and Brews with Prof. Rob Verchick to discuss his book, The Octopus in the Parking Garage: A Call for Climate Resilience, winner of the 2023 Choice of Outstanding Academic Title. Miami Herald’s lead climate change reporter, Alex Harris, will be leading the session, which will feature key themes in book, including risk management, adaptation, and climate resilience as climate justice.

This event is part of Resilience 365, a two-day conference during Miami Climate Week organized by the UM Climate Resilience Institute. It is co-sponsored by the Environmental Law Society,  Office of Sustainability, Abbess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy, Rosenstiel School Department of Environmental Science and Policy, School of Communication Department of Journalism and Media Management, HOPE Public Interest Resource Center, and Office of Intellectual Life.

 Register

Recent Events & Lectures

From Dubai to Baku: ‘Ratcheting’ Up the Promise of the Paris Agreement’s Legal Architecture

Speaker: Prof. Tracy Bach, Lecturer, Tuck School of Business in Dartmouth College
Date: November 1, 2024
Format: Hybrid

The ELP welcomed repeat visiting professor Tracy Bach to conduct a short course on international climate change negotiations and to deliver a lecture on the the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Paris Agreement.

"From Dubai to Baku" was a lunch time session focusing on the legal architecture of the Paris Agreement and on the expected outcomes of the 29th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC. The session was open to the UM community and co-sponsored by the Environmental Law Society, Abbess Center for Ecosystem Science & Policy, the Department of Environmental Science & Policy at the Rosenstiel School, the University of Miami Office of Sustainability, the Climate Resilience Institute, and the Miami Law Intellectual Life Program.

Baynanza 2024: 42nd Biscayne Bay Cleanup Day

Date: April 12, 2024
Venue: Biscayne Bay
Format: In-person

To celebrate Biscayne Bay and its significance as one of the most important ecological systems in South Florida, ELP joined UM students in volunteering to clean up Biscayne Bay's shoreline at Baynanza 2024.

Baynanza is an annual event hosted by Miami-Dade County to promote environmental stewardship over the Bay's abundant marine resources. Biscayne Bay Cleanup Day is one among a series of community-oriented events taking place across 30 locations all over the county.

The 43rd Biscayne Bay Cleanup Day will take place on Saturday, April 12, 2025. For more information, visit Miami-Dade County's official Baynanza Page.  

Miami Law at Baynanza 2024

• Distinguished Speakers
• Environmental Justice
• Symposia
• Books and Brews

Wetlands Law: Emerging Trends and Challenges

Date: November 3, 2023

Wetlands Law: Emerging Trends and Challenges was the second conference in ELP's Distinguished Speaker Series. Hosted by ELP and the Robert Traurig-Greenberg Traurig Real Property Development Program, the conference brought experts from across the US and Latin America to examine developments in wetlands law at the local, national, and international levels.

The ELP was proud to host experts on the Florida Everglades, Kelly Cox, director of Everglades Policy at the National Audubon Society, and Edward Ornstein, special counsel on Environmental Affairs for the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida. 

 Watch Recordings

The Right to a Healthy Environment: From Recognition to Practice

 Date: February 23, 2023

The Right to a Healthy Environment: From Recognition to Practice was the first event under the Distinguished Speaker Series. 

In July 2022, the United Nations General Assembly recognized for the first time the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. Legal experts in international environmental law and human rights discussed the effort to obtain the declaration and how recognition of a human right to a healthy environment will help with efforts to improve environmental conditions around the world. 

Speakers:

• Dr. Osvaldo Jordan Ramos, Staff Researcher, International Center for Political and Social Studies
• Smit Narula, Haub Distinguished Professor of International law, Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University
• Daniel Magraw, Senior Fellow, Johns Hopkins University SAIS
• Nadia Ahman, Associate Professor of Law, Barry University
• Sumudu Atapattu, Director, Global Legal Studies Center, University of Wisconsin Law School

Watch Recordings

Climate and Racial Justice Talk Series

Date: February 1 & 22, March 22, November 1, 2021 Created by the Environmental Justice Clinic and other UM departments, this event was a four-part series focused on anti-racism and climate justice. It provided a forum for leading voices in science, medicine, state government, grassroots organizations, policy, and law to discuss questions on the disproportionate impact of climate change and the consequences of climate policies on underserved and marginialized communities. Watch Recordings

Environmental Health Debate

Date: October 28, 2020

A collaboration between the Environmental Justice Clinic and the M.D.-M.P.H. Program of the Miller School of Medicine, this debate fostered interdisciplinary dialogue between UM's law and medicine students on the political, economic, and social implications of abolishing or maintaining the foster and prison care systems in the U.S. Justice in environmental health requires extraordinary leaders from all disciplines and this event is a first step in developing crucial leadership skills in future lawyers and physicians coming from the University of Miami. 

Resiliency, Climate Change and Redevelopment

Date: December 9, 2020
Speaker: Neisen Kasdin, Former Mayor - Miami Beach; Managing Partner at Akerman Miami
Format: Virtual

Hosted by the Real Property, Probate, Trust Law Society in collaboration with the Real Property Development LL.M. Program, this virtual session was a conversation on the transformation of real estate development and its impact on communities in South Florida. Climate change was identified among the key considerations in redevelopment, with the need to reduce carbon footprints and the geographic location of South Florida driving major changes in Miami and other cities nationwide.
 

 

An Unequal Burden: Exploring Environmental Justice and the Climate Crisis

Date: February 10-11, 2023

The 2023 Symposium focused on the unequal burden imposed by the impacts of climate change ondifferent communities and the efforts of the environmental justice legal movement to right historic wrongs. It examined a variety of subjects, such as Miami-centric issues, labor and immigration, indigenous approaches, climate racism and human rights, and just energy transitions. 

Through the Climate Resilience Academy, the University of Miami has demonstrated a renewed determination to address the climate crisis on our own campus. 

Climate Wrongs and Human Rights

Date: February 10-11, 2017

The 2017 Symposium explored the human rights implications of climate change through the lens of democracy, federalism, immigration, and philosophy. 

• Panel I - Ground Zero: Miami  provided a comparative analysis of adaptation measures amongst different parts of the city and examined the disparate impact of climate change in Miami. 
• Panel II - Climate Democracy explored how political and legal institutions must adapt to the climate crisis to effectuate meaningful solutions.
• Panel III - Climate Refugees discussed the link between climate change and human migrations, exploring if and how immigration law and policy should evolve to address climate refugees
• Panel IV - Climate Philosophy focused on the moral obligation to address climate change and ameliorate the human rights impact of climate change

Books & Brews: A Conversation with author Karen Bradshaw on her book, "Wildlife as Property Owners"

Guest: Prof. Karen Bradshaw, Mary Sigler Fellow & Professor of Law, Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, Arizona State University
Date: January 25, 2024
Format: In-person

UM Rosentiel School's Jennifer Jacquet sat down with author Karen Bradshaw to talk about her book, Wildlife as Property Owners: A New Conception of Animal Rights. Joined by Miami Law faculty and students, Prof. Bradshaw discussed the role of anthropocentric property in biodiversity loss. She advocates for including animals in the existing property law system, giving them opportunity to be landowners.

Photos

Author Karen Bradshaw (left) with ELP Director Jessica Owley (center) and Prof. Jennifer Jacquet (right)	Prof. Bradshaw (right) answering a question during a discussion moderated by Prof. Jacquet (left)
Left to right: Students Katie Geddes, Gabe Berman, John Dennis, & Sophia Pastorini attended Books and Brews 2024	Miami Law faculty and students join Prof. Bradshaw and Prof. Jacquet

• Faculty Speakers Series
• International Environmental Law
• Ocean and Maritime Law