Law - Environmental and Energy Law Programs

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The School of Law is currently in the process of transitioning its longstanding Environmental Law, Science & Policy Certificate Program into a new Energy & Environmental Law Area of Concentration:

Students who were admitted with the Class of 2016 or earlier classes can choose either to pursue the Certificate or the Area of Concentration. Whichever choice a student makes, the student must register for, and complete the requirements of, the chosen program in order to have completion of that program reflected on their transcripts.

Students who are admitted with the Class of 2017 or later classes may only enroll in the Area of Concentration.

The law around the development, sale, use and preservation of natural resources is the practice framework for energy and environmental lawyers. Pitt Law offers a flexible concentration that allows students to pursue transactional, regulatory, litigation, or policy-based courses in the area of energy & environmental law. Students pursuing this concentration may explore the law of shale plays, utility law, international commercial transactions, pollution control laws, conservation statutes, renewable energy incentives, and climate law and policy.

Energy and environmental law is often practiced in or through interactions with administrative agencies and tribunals. The Concentration exposes students to administrative decisionmaking, statutory interpretation, rulemaking and adjudication, and judicial review of agency decisions.