SOUTH ROYALTON, Vt. (July 23, 2026) — Rachel Westrate and Terrence Neal, the first Parenteau Climate Action Fellows at renowned environmental institution Vermont Law and Graduate School, have completed the yearlong program and are transitioning to exciting new chapters in their professional journeys.
In this fellowship program sponsored by the school’s Environmental Law Center and named for professor emeritus and climate policy expert Pat Parenteau, the fellows conducted academic, legal and policy research on climate law. They also worked directly with student clinicians in VLGS’s Environmental Advocacy Clinic (EAC) and Environmental Justice Clinic (EJC) on cutting-edge climate litigation and environmental justice advocacy.
Rachel Westrate remains at VLGS, now serving as an assistant professor of law on the tenure track. During her fellowship, Westrate made significant contributions to the EAC by collaborating with student attorneys on public-interest environmental litigation, working on the clinic’s federal court cases involving the National Environmental Policy Act and contributing to the clinic’s amicus brief on behalf of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group (VPIRG) in support of the Vermont Climate Superfund Act.
In May, Westrate was the lead author of a First Circuit amicus brief on behalf of Puerto Rican advocates supporting a National Environmental Policy Act challenge to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s electric grid investment plans, focusing on its failure to consider distributed energy resources in the aftermath of major hurricanes.
Additionally, Westrate advanced research on international air quality law, presented at scholarship workshops and published articles in the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law, including a commentary on the Trump administration’s withdrawal from U.N. climate negotiations. She also guest lectured and assisted with courses and moot court competitions throughout the year.
Terrence Neal has joined his alma mater, Duke University, as a clinical professor and supervising attorney in its Environmental Law Clinic. During his year at VLGS, Neal played a key role in the EJC, including its work in northeastern Oklahoma’s Tar Creek watershed, where students assisted community members responding to inadequate government action on multiple health threats linked to industrial siting and contamination. He also contributed to the clinic’s work along Vermont’s Ottauquechee River, where students helped draft a model township ordinance to advance rights-of-nature principles and strengthen local tools to protect the river.
Neal guided student clinicians in advocacy with federal agencies regarding one of the original Superfund sites, which remains unremediated. He also played a key role in shaping a practical legal approach to the draft rights-of-nature ordinances with strong prospects for passage and legal durability.
In addition, Neal developed a revised seminar for advanced clinicians in the EJC that focused on building practitioner skills. Recently, he published a major article in Vermont Journal of Environmental Law on the Environmental Protection Agency’s role in the National Environmental Policy Act’s international cooperation provision.
“Rachel and Terrence have represented VLGS with distinction and made significant contributions to the scholarship and advocacy of environmental and climate justice,” Parenteau said. “Each has a brilliant career ahead.”
VLGS hopes to invite applications for the fellowship again in the near future.
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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.