The Environmental Advocacy Clinic
Overview
The Environmental Advocacy Clinic is a public interest environmental law firm. Its mission is to inspire the next generation of environmental attorneys with practical, real-world opportunities to learn the skills and strategies of environmental litigation and advocacy. In the clinic, students represent public-interest clients including leading national, regional, and local non-profit organizations under the supervision of experienced lawyers, working on cases involving important and challenging environmental and natural resources issues. The clinic’s work is especially focused on litigation projects at the intersection of natural resource protection, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and environmental justice. Past clinic cases have sought to advance climate action, strengthen and preserve vital federal and state environmental protections, conserve natural resources and public lands, secure clean air and water, protect endangered species, reduce community exposure to toxic pollution, achieve meaningful community participation in environmental decision-making, and promote climate resilience.
Highlights
In the Clinic, students serve lead attorneys, supervised by experienced lawyers, representing clients—including leading national conservation organizations and local community groups to promote access to justice on important environmental and natural resources issues. We’ve created positive outcomes for clients in a variety of areas including:
Protecting New England’s Mature Forests
VLGS students are advocating for the protection of mature forests critical to the region’s climate resilience and biodiversity, representing our client Standing Trees, a grassroots membership organization that works to protect and restore New England’s forests for the benefit of the climate, clean water, and biodiversity, with a focus on state and federal public lands in New Hampshire and Vermont.
Students are now challenging several U.S. Forest Service proposed logging projects in the White Mountain National Forest that seek to log mature forests with outstanding natural resource value and have filed formal objections to these projects. Students are also using the Freedom of Information Act and state public records laws to obtain important agency documents about these projects and other forest and wildlife protection issues. The students’ advocacy seeks to ensure that the Forest Service uses the best available science in considering logging projects and fully complies with relevant federal environmental protection laws and guidance – including the National Forest Management Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Endangered Species Act.
Protecting Communities from Pollution
A team of students filed comments with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) calling for a comprehensive analysis of flooding and natural resource impacts on the relicensing of the Pensacola Dam in northeastern Oklahoma. The dam exacerbates flooding upstream, especially along the highly contaminated Tar Creek.
One of the first superfund sites in the country, Tar Creek is laden with toxic pollution from long-abandoned lead and zinc mining operations in the area. Students are continuing to work to ensure that during the relicensing process, FERC takes responsibility for comprehensively analyzing upstream flooding exacerbated by the dam, climate change impacts on the dam’s operations, impacts of toxic pollution, and compliance with the Endangered Species Act.
Who We Are
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Christophe Courchesne
- Associate Dean, Environmental and Experiential Programs
- Director, Environmental Law Center
- Director, Environmental Advocacy Clinic
- Associate Professor
Expertise: Administrative Law, Energy Law and Regulation, Environmental Law -
Hillary Hoffmann
- Visiting Professor of Law
Expertise: Environmental Law, Indigenous Law and Policy, Natural Resources Law and Management, Public Lands -
Rachel Westrate
- Parenteau Climate Action Fellow
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Taylor Cox
- Program Coordinator, EAC/EJC
Environmental Advocacy Clinic News and Events
Faculty and Staff in the News – August 2025
September 5Below is a selection of recent news highlights featuring members of Vermont Law and Graduate School’s faculty and staff. Understanding Heirs PropertyJuly 11, 2025Lincoln…
Environmental Advocacy Clinic Joins Litigation Effort to Defend Vermont’s Wild Worcester Range and Enforce State’s Public Trust Obligations for State Lands
August 29Lawsuit Alleges Vermont Agency of Natural Resources Has Violated the State Constitution and Discriminated Against Vermonters in its Management of State Lands MONTPELIER, Vt. (…
Environmental Advocacy Clinic Contributes to Major Win for Water Quality with National Impact
August 28By: Rubina Manjikian JD/MCEP’27 and Haleigh Smith JD/MCEP’27 The Vermont Law and Graduate School (VLGS) Environmental Advocacy Clinic (EAC), together with its clients, is …
Faculty and Staff in the News – July 2025
August 4Below is a selection of recent news highlights featuring members of Vermont Law and Graduate School’s faculty and staff. Human Rights Economy: A Solution to Economic Cru…
E&E News interviewed Christophe Courchesne in “Vermont Wants to Make Big Oil Pay. And It’s Bringing Receipts,” May 2024
Scientific American interviewed Christophe Courchesne in “Vermont Is Coming for Big Oil, Making It Pay for Decades of Climate Pollution,” May 2024.
NHPR interviewed Christophe Courchesne in “Environmental Group Sues US Forest Service for Logging Projects in White Mountain National Forest,” May 2024
InDepthNH.org credited Christophe Courchesne “Group Files Lawsuit to Challenge Logging in White Mountain National Forest,” May 2024
Contact Us
If you have questions about the Environmental Advocacy Clinic at Vermont Law School, you are welcome to contact us. Please note that the Clinic does not typically take cases on behalf of individuals, particularly in situations involving complaints against neighbors. We select cases and projects based upon our capacity, and the degree to which they advance the public interest in environmental protection. The Clinic does not represent commercial interests.
Contact
Christophe Courchesne, Director
Phone: 802.831.1630
Taylor Cox, Program Coordinator
802.831.1630
Email: tcox@vermontlaw.edu
Mailing Address
Environmental Advocacy Clinic
Vermont Law School
PO Box 96
South Royalton, VT 05068
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