Following in the Footsteps of the Program’s Namesake, Scholars Work to Solve Pressing Environmental Issues
SOUTH ROYALTON, Vt. (September 19, 2025) — Emerging environmental experts Rachel Westrate and Terrence Neal have joined Vermont Law and Graduate School as the inaugural Parenteau Climate Action Fellows. Sponsored by the school’s Environmental Law Center, the yearlong program kicked off in August, offering a strong starting point for an academic career in doctrinal or clinical environmental law teaching, and for other public interest opportunities.
Named for the school’s prolific professor emeritus and climate policy expert, Pat Parenteau, the fellows will conduct academic, legal and policy research on climate law. The pair will also work directly with student clinicians in VLGS’s Environmental Advocacy Clinic and Environmental Justice Clinic on cutting-edge climate litigation and justice advocacy.
“I’m honored to see the launch of this fellowship bearing my name,” Parenteau said. “Rachel and Terrence are brilliant young scholars who bring innovative ideas to bear on the greatest environmental challenges facing humanity in the 21st century. I can’t wait to see what they produce.”
Learn more about the fellows below.
Rachel Westrate specializes in international environmental negotiations and air quality and climate law. Prior to joining Vermont Law and Graduate School, Westrate worked for the Office of International Affairs at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, leading negotiations in various international fora including the United Nations, the Group of 7 (G7) and the Group of 20 (G20). She also served as a climate policy advisor in the Office of Management and Budget, focusing on the implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. In law school, Westrate was editor-in-chief of the Harvard Environmental Law Review and a student attorney in the International Human Rights Clinic. She spent summers at the Environmental Defense Fund and the Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense. Prior to law school, Westrate worked at the World Resources Institute as a research assistant.
Westrate graduated from Harvard Law School. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in environmental policy and English literature from Washington University in St. Louis.
Her research focuses on how countries design and implement air quality and climate legal frameworks in order to better understand how the law can successfully reduce air and climate pollution across different jurisdictions. During her fellowship, she will draft a model integrated air and climate pollution law which consolidates best practices and lessons learned from countries around the world. The model law can then be used as a base text by countries that wish to adopt, amend or update their air quality and climate legislation and regulations, and will be useful in aligning jurisdictions to better address transboundary air and climate pollution. In addition, Westrate will work with student clinicians in VLGS’s Environmental Advocacy Clinic.
Terrence Neal’s research is focused on advancing climate and environmental justice both domestically and globally, and explores issues related to environmental rights, Indigenous peoples’ rights, environmental governance and foreign relations law. His work has been published in the Lewis & Clark Law Review, Harvard Environmental Law Review (online) and by the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability.
Prior to joining VLGS, Neal was an attorney-adviser at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. There, he advised on a range of international and domestic issues, including regarding the extraterritorial application of U.S. law, the implementation of UNDRIP, human rights treaties and the Minamata Convention, and the mainstreaming of environmental justice, equity and climate change considerations into EPA programs. In addition, he helped negotiate a variety of international instruments, including the proposed United Nations plastics treaty. Neal has also held legal positions at the International Court of Justice and the United States District for the Middle District of Florida.
He obtained his juris doctor from Harvard Law School and his bachelor’s degree in public policy from Duke University.
Neal’s experience growing up in rural Florida informs his interest in environmental protection and addressing issues facing populations in marginalized and other vulnerable situations. Employing a comparative law approach, Neal’s current research project explores the role of certain non-judicial institutions, such as human rights bodies and citizen advisory councils, in realizing constitutional environmental rights. He is particularly interested in how these institutions can enhance public deliberation and participation in decision-making to galvanize governments’ fulfilment of these rights. In addition, Neal will work with student clinicians in VLGS’s Environmental Justice Clinic.
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Vermont Law and Graduate School, a private, independent institution, is home to a law school that offers ABA-accredited residential and online hybrid JD programs and a graduate school that offers master’s degrees and certificates in multiple disciplines, including programs offered by the Maverick Lloyd School for the Environment, the Center for Justice Reform and other graduate-level programs emphasizing the intersection of environmental justice, social justice and public policy. Both the law and graduate schools strongly feature experiential clinical and field work learning. For more information, visit vermontlaw.edu, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.