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David Firestone
Faculty

David B. Firestone

Professor of Law
Environmental Law Center

JD, Harvard University, 1969

BS, Wayne State University, 1965

802-831-1298

Curriculum Vitae

David B. Firestone

Biography

Professor David Firestone is an expert in environmental law, contracts, and international and comparative environmental law. The courses he has taught at Vermont Law School include Contracts, Commercial Law, Environmental Law, and Income Taxation.
Professor Firestone earned his BS degree in mechanical engineering, cum laude, from Wayne State University in 1965 and his JD degree, cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1969. Prior to law school, he worked as an associate engineer-scientist with Douglas Aircraft Co., in Santa Monica, California. After receiving his law degree, he served as an attorney with the Boston Regional Counsel's Office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. He joined the faculty of Vermont Law School in 1973. He has served as a lecturer in Madagascar on environmental law in developing nations; as a visiting law fellow at King's College in London, where he researched international and comparative environmental law; and as a consultant for the World Bank on using environmental issues as a vehicle for judicial reform in developing countries.

Professor Firestone has lectured and served as seminar leader for the Federal Judicial Center and the American Bar Association; for USAID and USIA/State Department programs in Madagascar, Micronesia, Austria, and Eastern Europe; and at New York University, McGill Law School, Hawaii Law School and Hawaii Pacific University, University of Vermont School of Business Administration, King's College in London, University of Mysore and Cochin University of Science and Technology in India, and Petrozavodsk State University Law School in Russia. He gave the keynote address at the inaugural seminar of the Center of Environmental Law Studies at the University of the Andes in Chile and presented a workshop on United States environmental law to the Japan Federation of Bar Associations. He has also been of counsel to private law firms and governmental entities on a variety of legal issues.

Publications

Books

​With Dr. Frank Reed and Caitlin Stanton, Environmental Law for Non-Lawyers (5th ed. SoRo Press 2014).​

Presentations

​Lecturer and seminar leader for US Information Agency in Eastern Europe, Austria, and Micronesia, since 1986; topics include environmental law and citizen participation in government decisionmaking in United States.​​

Fine Tuning with Professor Firestone, NYC Area VLS Alumni Event, University Club of New York, Invited Speaker, April 23, 2015.

Fine Tuning with Professor Firestone, Boston Area VLS Alumni Event, McDermott, Will, and Emery LLP, Invited Speaker, March 19, 2015.

​"An Overview of United States Environmental Law," Japan Federation of Bar Associations, 2013.​
"Environmental Law and Sustainable Enterprises," University of Vermont School of Business Administration, 2013.​
"Global Environmental Law and the Military," Norwich University, 2011.​
"Environmental Issues Involving the U.S. Military on Okinawa," Japan, 2009.​
​"The Need for and Possible Founding of a New Law School at Ashesi University," Accra, Ghana 2008.​
"International Trade in Hazardous Materials," University of Mysore and Cochin University of Science and Technology, India 2007.​
​"Using Market Mechanisms to Control Emissions - Law, Transferable Credits, and International Transactions," Universidad de Los Andes, Santiago, Chile 2005.​
​"The Law-Science Interface," Hawaii Pacific University, 2003.​
"Sustainable Development in Developing Countries,” University of Hawaii Law School, 2003.​
"Beginning, Evolution, and Future of Environmental Law," University of Hawaii Law School, 2003.​
​"Water Pollution Control Law in the US," Petrozavodsk State University, Russia, 2001.​
"Law Trends in the '90s in the United States—Away from Command and Control and Toward Market-based Economic Incentives," speaker at environmental law conference in Madagascar, 1999.​
​"Law and the Global Environment," McGill University Law School, 1996.​
​"Beyond Our Borders: Global Themes and Legal Studies; Regulation and Protection of the Environment," American Bar Association conference, Rye, NY, 1992.​
​Lecturer on environmental law for US federal judges, since 1993.​

Awards & Accomplishments

Awards, Honors or Grants

​Visiting Fellow, Faculty of Laws, King's College, London, 1986–87, international and comparative env​ironmental law.​

Service Work

​Representative of town of Barnard, VT, to the Upper Valley Joint Municipal Survey Committee concerning the establishment of a regional waste disposal and recycling program, 1991.​​
​Participant in establishing the Environmental Law Center at the State University of Petrozavodsk in Karelia, Russia, 2000.​

​Professor at Vermont Law School since 1973.

​Member, Vermont Supreme Court four-year clerkship study committee, 1990.​

​Advisor to Barnard Planning Commision with respect to Town Plan and Zoning Ordinance Revisons, 2011

Advisor to Municipalities and NGOs in Japan concerning environmental issues related to the U.S. military on Okinawa, 2009 - 2011.​

Affiliations

​Consultant to Ashesi University, Accra, Ghana, about adding legal education to the Ashesi program, 2008.​
​World Bank consultant, environmental law and judicial reform issues, 2003.​​
​Lecturer on environmental law, New York University School of Continuing Education, 1978–85.