Journal of Environmental Law & Litigation : Vol. 25, No. 2, p. 249-302 : How Judicial Hostility Toward Environmental Claims and Intimidation Tactics by Lawyers Have Formed the Perfect Storm Against Environmental Clinics: What’s the Big Deal About Students and Chickens Anyway?
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Date
2010
Authors
Babcock, Hope M.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon School of Law
Abstract
What is it about law students working for credits and grades
that powerful interests find so threatening that they spend their
resources on eliminating clinics instead of confronting them in court?
Is the attack on clinics part of a broader attack on public access to the
courts for righting environmental wrongs? Do these attacks reflect
something about the nature of the attacker and her victim?
This Article seeks to answer those questions, and concludes that
clinics, like environmental organizations, function in an environment
that is exceptionally hostile to the types of clients they represent and
the cases they bring. This means that the claims environmental clinics
file, like those filed by the national groups, will be met with a barrage
of opposing filings based on a number of jurisdictional and other
challenges enabled by the U.S. Supreme Court’s anti-public interest
jurisprudence. Unlike the well-funded, publicly visible, and widely
supported national organizations, environmental clinics are more
vulnerable to less conspicuous attacks brought directly by the
economic interests they challenge and their political supporters.
Perhaps clinics unwittingly invite these attacks that in turn weaken
their ability to function in this already hostile environment. The
combination of the two can create a perfect storm for environmental
clinics.
Description
54 p.
Keywords
Environmental clinics
Citation
25 J. ENVTL. L. & LITIG. 249 (2010)