About
Environmental, oceans, and clean energy law are essential to promote healthy environments, people, and economies. Environmental law is the broad area that examines and regulates issues related to the environment, including water, hazardous waste, air quality, species protection, wetlands, biodiversity, agriculture, green initiatives, waste management, sustainability strategies, and alternative energy sources.
The Certificate in Environmental and Oceans Law is designed to prepare students for careers in important fields like environmental law and policy, energy law, global warming and renewable energy, oceans and coastal law, and many other related areas. The program is open to current J.D. students and consists of coursework, a topical paper, experiential learning, and professional or scholarly activities.
Academic Requirements
To receive the Certificate in Environmental and Oceans Law, a candidate must complete the following:
Coursework
Required Courses (two of the following):
Nine credits from these courses:
Environmental and Land-Related Courses
Ocean and Maritime Related Courses
Externship
*The Certificate Supervisor may approve additional courses with a substantial focus on environmental or oceans law. Note that not all courses are offered every year.
Paper
Candidates must satisfy the upper level writing requirement by writing a paper (or journal contribution(s)) on a topic related to environmental or oceans law. The paper topic must be pre-approved by the environmental and oceans law program coordinator.
Professional/Scholarly Activity
Prior to graduation, candidates must participate in or attend at least one professional or academic conference on a topic related to environmental or oceans law, such as events hosted by ABA-accredited law schools, E2Tech or another Maine environmental organization, or a conference hosted by Maine Law. Participation may be in-person or virtual and must be pre-approved by the environmental and oceans law program coordinator.
Experiential Learning
The certificate includes an experiential learning component that can be satisfied in one of three ways: (a) The candidate may apply for and complete an externship that relates substantially to environmental or oceans law issues; the externship must be pre-approved by the environmental and oceans law program coordinator and the Maine Law externship program director, (b) the candidate may complete this requirement by working at a pre-approved job during law school (at least 150 working hours) focused on environmental or oceans law issues (Academic credit is not given for work at a job under this option); or (c) the candidate may complete this requirement by enrolling in a pre-approved “practicum” course related to environmental or oceans law issues.
Additional Information
Candidates must declare their intent to obtain the certificate by the end of their third semester. Students cannot earn both the Certificate in Environmental and Oceans Law and another certificate.