Columbia Law School Professor Michael Gerrard will discuss potential changes to land use and environmental laws to prevent the most dire climate change outcomes during a free lecture at 5:45 p.m. Thursday, April 9, in Chase Community Center at Vermont Law School.
The event, open to the public and press, is sponsored by the Land Use Institute at VLS's Environmental Law Center and marks the 11th annual Norman Williams Distinguished Lecture in Land Use Planning and the Law.
"We are pleased to welcome Professor Gerrard to Vermont Law School and encourage the greater community to join us for his lecture," said Associate Dean Melissa Scanlan, director of the Environmental Law Center. "The latest climate projections paint a bleak future unless radical measures are taken. Professor Gerrard will discuss how we need to revisit established doctrines and practices in land use and environmental law if we are to forestall the worst impacts of climate change, and cope with those that inevitably will occur."
At Columbia, Gerrard teaches courses on environmental law, climate change law, and energy regulation, and is director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and associate chairman of the faculty of the Earth Institute. He practiced environmental law in New York from 1979 through 2008, trying numerous cases and arguing appeals in federal and state courts and administrative tribunals, addressing environmental aspects of transactions and development projects, and advising clients in the private and public sectors on regulatory compliance.
The Norman Williams Distinguished Lecture in Land Use Planning and the Law series is named for Norman Williams, who came to Vermont Law School in 1975 after a long and distinguished career in public service and teaching, particularly in the area of land use planning, and who played a key role in founding the Environmental Law Center. The lecture series is a gift of Frances Yates, a longtime VLS supporter and former trustee, in memory of Professor Williams, Charles Yates '93 and Anya Yates '94.
For more information about this year's Williams Lecture, "Climate Change and Land Use Law: A Strategy to Avoid the Worst Impacts," visit www.vermontlaw.edu/williams, email rmilaschewski@vermontlaw.edu, or call 802-831-1287. For more information about Vermont Law School events open to the public, visit www.vermontlaw.edu/news-and-events.