ENR Program-Description
 Oregon Law was the first public law school in the nation to establish an environmental law program. Our professors, students and alumni have played leading roles in the public environmental movement. We draw tremendously talented and committed students, many of whom engage in environmental work. Our program is part of a world-class research institution with a focus on environmental studies. Our faculty members are some of the nation's leading scholars in the field of environmental law. Academic life is enriched by extra-curricular activities immerse students in scholarship and service opportunities in the environmental area.
Curricular Opportunities
Oregon Law's ENR Program offers courses in a broad range of natural resources law, pollution law, international law, and federal Indian law and policy subjects. Click here for a full catalogue of ENR courses offered.
Statements of Completion
Second and third-year students can begin to develop a specialty in various fields, including Environmental and Natural Resources Law, International Law, Ocean and Coastal Law, Public Interest & Public Service Law, and Sustainable Business and Tax Law.
 Environmental Law Clinic
The Environmental Law Clinic is nationally renowned for its successful enforcement of the law through citizen suits. Students perform work for the Western Environmental Law Center (WELC) and learn how to counsel clients, prepare expert witnesses, develop evidence, and prepare winning legal briefs and memoranda.
Externships
Externships provide skill-building opportunities through placement with organizations such as the Regional Solicitor's Office of the U.S. Department of Interior, the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals, the McKenzie River Trust, and the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW).
Joint Degree Program
Law students may apply to a joint degree program which offers a concurrent juris doctor and masters in environmental studies. Joint degree students condense the time frame for achieving both degrees and enjoy the advantage of a cross-disciplinary focus in the environmental field.
Faculty
 Our faculty are some of the nation's leading scholars in the field of environmental and natural resources law. A third of Oregon Law's faculty teach courses and produce scholarship in or related to environmental law. Our faculty members have founded key public interest organizations, such as ELAW, which supports a network of environmental lawyers in 60 countries; and WELC, which brings citizen suit litigation to protect landscapes and natural resources in the West. Faculty members have served in advisory roles to help federal agencies shape governmental policy on ocean and coastal law, environmental justice, and environmental issues affecting native nations. As a body of scholars, we collectively bring legal content to the global sustainability effort by focusing much of our research on: international mechanisms for environmental law, institutional responses to a biodiversity crisis, environmental democracy and citizen processes, new sovereign borders in a multinational corporate world, globally significant threats to indigenous knowledge, management and property constructs, emerging themes defining sustainability, such as the precautionary principle, public trust doctrine, intergenerational equity, and indigenous rights.
Student Organizations and Publications
Land Air Water Association (LAW)
LAW is the nation's oldest student environmental law society. LAW organizes the annual Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (PIELC) and publishes the Western Environmental Law Update. The PIELC is the premier gathering for environmentalists worldwide. More than twenty years old, the conference brings together 3,000 activists, attorneys, students, scientists, and concerned citizens from more than fifty countries around the globe to share their experience and expertise. The conference is organized by volunteers of Land Air Water and is cosponsored by Friends of Land Air Water, a nonprofit organization.
Green Business Initiative (GBI)
Backed by tremendous student and faculty support, the GBI creates a forum to discuss the role that the law can play in supporting the entrepreneurs who will change the way people interact with the environment.
Native American Law Students Association (NALSA)
The Native American Law Students Association (NALSA) was organized to promote the study of Indian law, the study of law by Native Americans, and the retention and support of Native students. Additionally, NALSA strives to represent indigenous views and values in the greater University of Oregon community.
Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation
The Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation (JELL) provides a national forum for new ideas and theories in environmental and natural resources law. Staffed by students, JELL publishes two issues a year and sponsors an annual symposium on current environmental themes.
Affiliated Programs and Centers
Many Nations Longhouse
The Many Nations Longhouse serves as a place of welcome, community, and learning that brings members of the native community, visitors, faculty members, and students together to engage in discussion, learning, and ceremony. The Center for Indigenous Cultural Survival is an educational and cultural component of the longhouse and serves as a liaison with indigenous communities in the United States and around the globe. The law school's emphasis on native environmental and sovereignty issues is an integral part of the campuswide initiative.
Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics
The Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics, housed in the law school, was established as a living memorial to Oregon's late senator and former Oregon Law dean, Wayne Morse. Its purpose is to stimulate interdisciplinary research and discussion on topics that Morse championed, including human rights, natural resource protection, public process, and international law. Center activities include lectures, community events, and conferences. The center funds visiting and resident scholars and offers grants.
Public Interest Public Service Law Program
The Public Interest Public Service Law Program (PIPS) includes the Loan Repayment Assistance Program, the Oregon Law Students Public Interest Fund, and opportunities to engage in pro bono work recognized by a pro bono certification upon graduation. In recent years, students have performed substantial pro bono work for Earthjustice, the U.S. Department of Justice, WELC, Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals, Defenders of Wildlife, Idaho Rivers United, LandWatch of Lane County, Northwest Environmental Justice Center, and ELAW.
Law Library Resources
 The John E. Jaqua Law Library provides access to a rich and diverse collection of print and electronic resources in environmental law. It houses the Ocean and Coastal Law Center Collection, one of the premier collections of marine legal affairs publications in the country.
University Resources
The University of Oregon is engaged in leading environmental research in a variety of disciplines. The Law School is part of the Institute for a Sustainable Environment, a University center engaging in collaborative and applied research projects with the goal of solving complex problems and sustaining economies and environmental systems. University Library subject specialists collaborate with departmental scholars to select and acquire a full array of materials to support research and instruction in environmental studies as part of the combined University holdings of over 2.2 million volumes.
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