- Environmental law is a high-paying, stable career with good job prospects and countless potential places of employment.
- There are many paths to becoming an environmental lawyer, but the most common is to earn a bachelor’s degree, followed by a Juris Doctor (JD) degree.
- Many environmental lawyers work for the government or nonprofits, but there are also opportunities to work in private law firms specializing in environmental law.
Environmental issues have gained significant importance in the 21st century. Thus the need for environmental lawyers is also increasing day by day. While the article answers the question of how to become an environmental lawyer, it also provides an overview of the history and developments of environmental law, environmental lawyer requirements, information about environmental law programs, salary, and gives tips on how to get the practice and where to seek potential career paths. Let’s go dive into the topic together in a more detailed way below.
In this guide, you’ll learn:
History of environmental law
In the United States, environmental law history dates back to the late 1800s. The Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 was the first piece of legislation dealing with the environment. This act has largely been replaced by the Clean Water Act (CWA).
Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference v. Federal Power Commission is one of the first environmental matters to go to trial. It was decided in 1965 by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The case helped prevent the construction of a power plant on Storm King Mountain in New York State. This case is widely regarded as one of the most important in American environmental law history.
In the time period from the late 1960s to the early 1980s, many important environmental laws were passed. Some of the most prominent are listed below:
Most major federal statutes about the environment were passed in the time from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. Some of the examples include:
4 Steps to becoming an environmental lawyer
These are the four main steps to becoming an environmental lawyer:
1. Earn an undergraduate degree.
You will first need to complete law school. It takes 4 years to earn an Undergraduate/Bachelor’s degree. There is no compulsory major specialty required for becoming an environmental lawyer. If you have an option beyond core subjects you can choose elective courses that are about or intersect with environmental law topics.
2. Acquire a Juris Doctor (JD) Degree.
Applicants for a JD degree must already possess a bachelor’s degree, and the J.D. education by itself takes three years to complete. After completing this stage, the graduate must pass the bar examination in order to practice law. While the bar exam is intended to be taken during your JD curriculum, it is also frequently taken after graduation.
3. Pass your state's bar exam.
It is a common practice and recommended to pass your state’s bar exam and become licensed within the state where you plan to work. Because the format according to the states varies, however the bar exam usually includes 2 parts: one is Multistate Bar Examination (except for Louisiana) and another is usually state-specific one. More details about the bar exam can be found here.
4. Meet any additional requirements.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) indicates that in general to become a practitioner environmental lawyer, as any other law fields, you will need to meet additional criteria for government agency employment. For example, passing security checks, including a criminal background investigation.
Environmental law programs
Different universities have very interesting programs, projects, and clinics specializing in environmental law. Some of the examples are as follows:
- Harvard University: Since the establishment of the Environmental Law Program in 2005, the environmental law community at HLS has grown substantially. To learn more, explore the program here. In addition, Harvard University has a guide to environmental law careers here.
- Stanford University: The Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy Program at Stanford University (ENRLP) has established a solid reputation as a top program for education and study in this area. To learn more, explore it here.
- Yale: The Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy was established in 1994, as a joint initiative of Yale Law School and the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. The Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy is a core part of the environmental law program. More details are available here.
Environmental law career paths
There are various career opportunities for environmental lawyers. Some of the example areas are as follows:
- Natural resource laws govern the extraction and use of water, minerals, oil, and timber; the protection of wildlife and their habitats; and the use of public lands like national forests and parks.
- Land use laws limit the permissible uses of land. They define rules for zoning, city planning, and residential patterns. In the public interest, lawyers ensure that these laws protect natural or scenic resources and maintain biodiversity. Lawyers can challenge permitting decisions or advise nonprofit and government developers. While planning innovative and sustainable cities, environmental lawyers advocate for environment-friendly city plans, for example consuming less energy and releasing fewer emissions.
- The warming of the Earth’s climate system has inspired a new field of climate change law. Climate change lawyers work also aims to tackle the causes of climate change. Designing legal tools to incentivize emissions reduction is very important.
- Energy law governs the use of electricity, gas, and oil, along with renewable energies. Government lawyers ensure that companies follow existing price structures, permit rules, and emission standards.
- Water lawyers confront threats to the rivers, lakes, oceans, groundwater, and wetlands.
- It is not difficult to guess that most of the environmental problems are not confined within national borders. The issues of international concern include ozone depletion, oil spills, threats to biodiversity including overfishing, air pollution.
Besides drafting laws, environmental lawyers are also the ones working to enforce them on the international level. Here it must be mentioned that the World Bank and the World Trade Organization, also conduct projects aiming for environmental protection.
Environmental lawyer average salary & job outlook
Your exact salary will be determined by the kind of position you want, your employer’s location, and your level of expertise.
While there isn’t a salary available specifically for an environmental lawyer, in 2020, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that the average salary per year is $126,930 for all lawyers, although this can vary depending on your experience and the state where you practice.
To sum up, becoming an environmental lawyer might require hard work but incentives must not be forgotten. As it is discussed throughout the blog, it offers very diverse job opportunities with the possibility to find solutions for our environmental protection.
Places of employment for environmental lawyers
The following examples give you an overview of potential career opportunities in this field.
Governmental branch
The governmental branch could include federal (executive or legislative), state, local, and international directions.
Potential places of employment in the governmental branch include:
Non-profit organizations
And, there are also potential places of employment for environmental lawyers in non-profit organizations, such as:
The scope of an environmental lawyers work
Describing the scope of the environmental lawyer work aims to make it at least a little bit more clear if it’s the area that interests you. Even though environmental lawyer seems quite a narrow specialization, it still provides a remarkable diversity of areas to professional practice. In general, it seems fair to say that there is no need to be intimidated by the perception that being an environmental lawyer requires expertise in science. Instead, if you are good at collaborative work, as usual scientists will be there to accomplish scientific tasks. Let’s discuss some of the examples below.
Example #1: Designing new legislation
Among other activities, environmental attorneys draft legislation and design new regulatory regimes. As far as the scientific understanding of environmental issues develops in a fast way, environmental lawyers need to make sure that the law keeps up so that it tackles new environmental problems. When an environmental lawyer is involved in the legal drafting and is well aware of the myriad environmental laws, then they have a great opportunity to offer consultancy on how to achieve compliance with the environmental regulatory framework.
Example #2: Developing innovative approaches
If you are a person keen on innovative solutions, which is very important in the 21st century, as an environmental lawyer you will have a chance to develop innovative approaches to, for example, permitting. Alternatively, you can participate in public-private partnerships to experiment with new technologies.
Example #3: Advising on policies
If you are an environmental lawyer and you see yourself as a visionary person you can advise policymakers at different levels of government. There is also the possibility to challenge the legitimacy of existing public policies. However, if you decide to become a lawyer claiming that the defendant’s actions harm the public interest, you must be aware that demonstrating evidence might be quite challenging. Environmental cases may be dismissed if the court considers that the plaintiff has not suffered any demonstrable harm yet.
Example #4: Balancing economical and ethical issues
If you get excited about multidisciplinary opportunities, it must be noted that environmental lawyers also handle serious economic and ethical questions. For instance, environmental lawyers are challenged to find a balance between environmental protection and economic development. Besides caring for the environment, environmental lawyers need to think about distributing risks in a balancing way, meaning to prevent job loss and on the other hand, to ensure access to natural resources.
Example #5: Educating others
If you are an environmental lawyer and also you have a passion for education, you can share your knowledge. You can coordinate community education in different forms, for example, you can cooperate with academic institutions. By educating people about environmental law, you can help create a more sustainable future for our planet.
Final thoughts
To sum up this article, the presented examples demonstrate that to become an environmental lawyer quite a broad range of skills are required. However, according to the practitioners, those fundamental skills crucial to any lawyer in any field like critical thinking, negotiation, research, writing, etc., are also key to practicing environmental law. Beyond this, it’s up to you to decide what interests you most and how you master your skillset in a way to become an outstanding environmental law professional.