Environmental Dispute Resolution

This course explores methods of resolving common disputes regarding land use and natural resources. Students are heavily oriented in law school to the methods of litigating such disputes, but are not as well prepared to participate in the settlement of these disputes as they arise and to avoid litigation when it is in the client’s interest to do so. The course examines the roles that lawyers play in facilitated and mediated processes designed to maximize benefits to the parties to disputes, including bi-lateral controversies and those involving multiple stakeholders. The course involves several simulations where students play the roles of attorneys and their clients or stakeholders in a range of situations. The objective is to help students understand and employ the skills used by neutral third parties and legal counsel for the parties where near-term dispute resolution, rather than litigated resolution, is in the parties’ best interests.