SOUTH ROYALTON, Vt. (June 12, 2025) — Vermont Law and Graduate School has named Christophe Courchesne as director of the Environmental Law Center and associate dean for environmental and experiential programs in the law school.
In this leadership role, Courchesne will direct the Environmental Law Center, which houses VLGS’s nationally renowned environmental law program — the most comprehensive of its kind.
He will also oversee the law school’s expansive experiential learning program, including its nine law and policy clinics, externship program and other practice-oriented opportunities, which allow students to build expertise through real work with clients, public interest organizations and legal employers.
The news comes nearly a year after Courchesne was appointed interim director of the Environmental Law Center. He will continue to teach and direct the school’s Environmental Advocacy Clinic, a role he has held since 2023.
“Christophe is deeply committed to educating and mentoring the next generation of environmental advocates,” Law School Dean Beth McCormack said. “His thoughtful leadership, strategic vision and unwavering passion for the environment will continue to positively impact the VLGS community.”
Courchesne first joined Vermont Law and Graduate School in 2022 after serving as deputy chief of the Energy and Environment Bureau and chief of the Environmental Protection Division at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office. Prior to that, he was a senior attorney at Conservation Law Foundation and an associate at Goodwin Procter LLP.
Professor Beth Locker previously served as associate dean for experiential learning and director of the school’s prestigious JD Externship Program. She is returning to teaching and directing the externship program full time, working closely with Associate Dean Courchesne to ensure that program’s ongoing success in guiding VLGS students through opportunities to learn firsthand from distinguished judges and lawyers across the nation.
“I am truly honored to have the opportunity to contribute to this incredible institution through these roles and to build the future of our nation-leading environmental law and experiential programs, together with our terrific faculty and staff,” Courchesne said. “There is no better place than VLGS to train the next generation of advocates, counselors and policy experts to tackle the climate crisis, environmental injustices and other emerging threats to our society’s environmental progress.”
About the Environmental Law Center at VLGS
Consistently ranked a top environmental law program by U.S. News and World Report, the Environmental Law Center (ELC) offers more than 60 courses in environmental law and policy and six environmental legal clinics, in collaboration with the Maverick Lloyd School for the Environment and VLGS’s many environmental centers and institutes. Each year, the ELC hosts a wide range of programming — including its renowned Summer Session and Colloquium on Environmental Scholarship — which assembles preeminent scholars, students and distinguished visitors. In January 2025, the ELC launched the Parenteau Climate Action Fellowship to bring aspiring advocates and academics to VLGS to advance their research and contribute to the work of the school’s environmental clinics.
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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, Facebook and Instagram.