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At the School of Law
School to Begin New Environmental Law Clinic
Winter 2007

Starting in January, 2008 UDM School of Law’s new Environmental Law Clinic will give students a unique opportunity.  Students participating in traditional environmental law clinics at most law schools bring “private attorney general” citizen suit actions to enforce environmental compliance.  UDM students will be doing something very different.  Working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan and the Environmental Enforcement Section of the US Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., UDM students will be bringing environmental enforcement actions on behalf of various US agencies.

 “We’re thrilled to introduce such a unique program for those students interested in practicing environmental law,” said School of Law Dean Mark Gordon.  “UDM Law’s Environmental Clinic offers students the opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of how to litigate complex environmental statutes, while obtaining insight into the workings of the Justice Department and various federal agencies.”

To enable the clinic to handle actions on behalf of the federal government, the Director of the UDM School of Law Environmental Clinic, Visiting Professor Lynn Dodge, will be appointed as a Special Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District.  Professor Dodge has been an Appellate Attorney, a Trial Attorney, and Senior Counsel for the United States Department of Justice.  

The students, who must successfully complete a security clearance in order to participate in the clinic, will handle environmental enforcement matters referred from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, or the U.S. Coast Guard.  The matters will be brought in Federal District Court under such federal environmental statutes as the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

UDM Law offers a wide range of clinical programs, including the Urban Law Clinic (helping seniors with disability, consumer protection, predatory lending, and identity theft issues) and the Immigration Clinic (in which students represent refugees seeking asylum).  Students in the Appellate Advocacy Clinic write briefs for indigent clients on appeal (in coordination with the State Appellate Defenders Organization); students in the Mediation Clinic mediate cases in the Oakland County courts.  The School also recently began piloting a Criminal Law Clinic.  The new Veterans Clinical Program got its start recently as well.  See page ___ for more information on the Veterans Clinical Program. 

As part of the School’s commitment both to serving the community and ensuring that law students receive practical training as lawyers while in school, the UDM Law faculty recently voted to require all UDM Law students to participate in either a clinic or an externship while in law school.