Wildlife Law

Catalog description

Wildlife law is unique in that its focus is how the law applies to living beings other than humans. This field of law is dynamic and continues to grow as lawyers attempt to find new ways to both constrain and advance wildlife and habitat protection. This course will focus upon the Constitutional bases for wildlife law, including federalism and various justiciability challenges, the international component of wildlife law, and the specific statutory and regulatory regimes under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA), Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA), Lacey Act, federal public land law, and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This course will encourage students to creatively apply existing legal doctrine, and to craft new legal approaches to this field of law.