Curriculum VitaeBiography
John Echeverria is a Professor of Law at Vermont Law School where he teaches Property, Water Resources, and other environmental and natural resource law courses. Prior to joining the Vermont Law School faculty in 2009, he served for 12 years as Executive Director of the Georgetown Environmental Law & Policy Institute at Georgetown University Law Center. He also was General Counsel of the National Audubon Society and General Counsel and Conservation Director of American Rivers, Inc., and was an Associate for four years in the Washington, D.C. office of Hughes, Hubbard & Reed. He served for one year as law clerk to the Honorable Gerhard A. Gesell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia immediately after graduating from law school.
Professor Echeverria has written several books and numerous scholarly articles on environmental and natural resource law topics. He has published pieces for more general audiences in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other publications. He has represented state and local governments, environmental organizations, and planning groups in a variety of legal matters at all levels of the federal and state court systems. Professor Echeverria received the Jefferson Fordham Advocacy Award from the American Planning Association as well as a lifetime achievement award from the American Bar Association to recognize outstanding excellence within the area of state and local government law. In addition to teaching at Vermont Law School, he has served as a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School and Georgetown University Law Center.
Professor Echeverria received a JD degree from the Yale Law School. He received a Master’s degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies as well as a BA degree from Yale College (summa cum laude).
Publications
Articles
"The National Flood Insurance Program and the Growing Cost of Natural Disasters in the Era of Climate Change" (with Cameron Briggs Ramos), Vermont Journal of Environmental Law (December 2021).
“Looming United States Water Wars” (with Taylor Tavormina), Vermont Journal of Environmental Law (January 2021).
“What is a Physical Taking?” 54 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 731 (2020).
Chapters
Commentaries
Legal Advocacy
Presentations
Panelist, "Recent Developments in Fifth Amendment Takings Jurisprudence," Court of Federal Claims Bar Association (July 19, 2021).
“The Takings Clause and Sovereign Immunity,” 11th Annual Colloquium on Environmental Scholarship, Vermont Law School, (September 26, 2020).
Panelist, “Border Zones II: This Land is Whose Land?” Texas Hispanic Journal of Law & Policy Symposium, University of Texas School of Law, February 19, 2019.
"Taking Sea Level Rise Seriously" at the 2018 IUCN Academy of Environmental Law Colloquium in Glasgow, Scotland on July 5, 2018.
Awards & Accomplishments
Awards, Honors or Grants
2014 Best Paper Winner, 32nd Annual American Bar Association Water Law Conference
2009 Certificate of Commendation from the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice
2009 article selected for republication in the Land Use and Environmental Law Review, annual compilation of "best" environmental law articles of the year.
2007 Jefferson Fordham Advocacy Award from the ABA Section on State and Local Government Law
Affiliations
Member, Strafford VT Planning Commission
Board Member, Vermont Natural Resources Council