The Environmental Law Center and Maverick Lloyd School for the Environment at Vermont Law and Graduate School (VLGS) host numerous events throughout the year, including symposia, podcasts, and lectures that provide a platform for environmental law and policy experts and scholars to come together to exchange insights about current environmental issues and engage students on campus and beyond.
Read on for the 2025 highlights from our environmental lectures, events, and other gatherings.
Colloquium on Environmental Scholarship
Each fall, environmental law scholars come to VLGS to present their works-in-progress and receive feedback from their colleagues. This year, the 16th Colloquium on Environmental Scholarship welcomed over 30 panelists and more than 60 attendees. Participants enjoyed the glorious Vermont fall weather while engaging in inspired dialogues and conversations.
Dr. Sarah Mills Delivers 20th Annual Norman Williams Distinguished Lecture in Land Use Planning and the Law
The 20th Annual Norman Williams Distinguished Lecture in Land Use Planning and the Law was presented by Dr. Sarah Mills, director of the Center for EmPowering Communities and Clinical Associate Professor of Practice of Urban Planning at the A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan. Her lecture, entitled “Navigating an Energy Transition,” focused on lessons learned from rural communities grappling with the siting of new energy facilities.
This series is named for Norman Williams, who joined Vermont Law School in 1975 and played a key role in founding the Environmental Law Center.
Julia Olson Gives 2025 Environmental Honorary Degree Lecture
VLGS was honored to welcome one of this generation’s most important climate litigators and leaders, Julia Olson, co-executive director and chief legal counsel for Our Children’s Trust, to campus as the environmental speaker during our 49th Commencement festivities in May.
Julia Olson’s lecture, “Children’s Climate Rights: Foundation of Democracy,” was recorded and can be viewed at the link below.
Hothouse Earth Podcast’s 2025 Highlights
This year, Hothouse Earth, VLGS’s in-house podcast featuring thought-provoking conversations on pressing topics in environmental law and policy, presented engaging discussions on range of topical environmental subjects. In 2025, we dove deep into the management of Grand Canyon National Park with Park Superintendent Edward Keable JD’86, found reasons for optimism in environmental justice with Marianne Engelman-Lado and Sharmila Murthy, and explored disaster law with Dr. Kirsten Bookmiller JD’26–just a handful of this year’s topics.
In the most recent episode, Lindi von Mutius JD’08, visiting professor of law at VLGS, Class of 1946 Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies at Williams College, and inaugural director of the Center for Environmental Networks, chats with Chandra Taylor-Sawyer, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC). Chandra is the leader of SELC’s Environmental Justice Initiative, which recently released “Plantations to Pollution: Black Communities, Legacy Pollution, and the Path Forward,” a multimedia storytelling series that follows the through-line from slavery to pollution, revealing how Black communities have borne environmental injustices for generations and continue to demand the healthy present and future they deserve.
Workshop Showcases Growing Need for Disaster Law
We were joined by Dr. Kirsten Bookmiller JD’25, professor in the Department of Government, Law, and International Relations and a faculty associate with the Center for Disaster Research and Education at Millersville University, for an in-person disaster simulation workshop this summer. A world-renowned expert on disaster law, Dr. Bookmiller led a practical workshop that provided an introduction to natural and man-made disasters, an increasingly relevant topic.
Dr. Bookmiller was also featured on the Hothouse Earth podcast to discuss the complex impact of disasters on every level, including human rights, migration, and displacement, as well as the need for the emerging field of disaster law.
2025 Hot Topics in Environmental Law Lecture Series
Throughout the summer, our distinguished summer scholars, media fellows, and other invited experts delivered presentations on a variety of current issues in environmental law and policy as a part of the annual Hot Topics in Environmental Law lecture series. This year’s series featured 16 talks on the climate crisis, environmental justice, animal law, and much more. Experts presented on a unique range of topics, such as VLGS distinguished energy law summer scholar Mijin Cha’s lecture, “A Just Transition for Whom? Understanding the Opportunities and Limitations of a Just Energy Transition” and VLGS animal law media fellow Marin Scotten’s “Toxic Sewage Sludge: How the Biosolid Fertilizer Industry is Poisoning Farm Animals.”
This year’s lecture series is available in its entirety. Find the full playlist here.
Energy Law and Policy Symposium Tackles the Energy Transition
The Energy Law and Policy Symposium brings together leading experts in energy law to deliver timely overviews on current topics. This year, the 12th Annual Alumni Energy Law and Policy Symposium returned to Climate Week NYC. Titled “Navigating Challenges to the Energy Transition,” the program featured in-depth discussions on the energy impacts of data centers, the challenges facing independent power producers, and investing in climate tech, plus a keynote from James Van Nostrand, outgoing chair of the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities.
The symposium included more participants, both online and in-person, than ever before. Showcasing VLGS alumni who contribute to the energy field and Institute for Energy and the Environment partners, the event also provides a unique opportunity for current students to make professional connections.
Watch the complete recording of the 12th Annual Alumni Energy Law and Policy Symposium here.
Bench-Bar Gathering in Burlington
Christophe Courchesne, associate dean for Environmental and Experiential Programs and director of the Environmental Law Center and the Environmental Advocacy Clinic, addressed a full classroom of more than 50 alumni, along with current students and Vermont attorneys, at VLGS’s downtown Burlington office. Practitioners and the judges and clerks of the Vermont Superior Court’s Environmental Division came together to learn from each other during this November Bench-Bar gathering, which was organized with the help of Tarrant, Gillies & Shems attorney and former VLGS professor David Mears JD/MSEL’91, and co-sponsored by the Court, the Environmental Law Section of the Vermont Bar Association, and the Environmental Law Center.
Highlights from Vermont Journal of Environmental Law
Vermont Journal of Environmental Law (VJEL) is a student-run organization that provides a forum to discuss contemporary environmental issues and environmental justice.
Available exclusively online, publications this year include VJEL Volume 26, Issues 1-4, featuring articles such as “Re-Indigenizing Food Sovereignty in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area” by Fredrick Ole Ikayo LLM’24, and “What Lies Beneath: Is America’s Most Common Method for Disposing of Oilfield Wastewater Legal?” by Justin Nobel and Megan M. Hunter JD’14.
VJEL also released its annual Top 10 Watch List, a selection of 10 articles considered the “top 10” most pressing environmental law issues of the year. Co-authored by staff editors and partnering faculty, this publication serves as a vital resource for practitioners, policymakers, and academics navigating the rapidly evolving field of environmental law.
Read more of Vermont Journal of Environmental Law‘s recent work here.