Application for Admission to the Environmental
Law Writing Seminar
2015-16
Introduction
The Environmental Law Writing Seminar is a great way to fulfill your writing requirement with
intensive supervision and feedback from environmental faculty and student TAs. This year it will
be co-taught by Holly Doremus and Bob Infelise.
For JD students in the seminar, faculty identify important recent developments in environmental
law, most often judicial decisions but sometimes also key legislation, regulation, treaties and the
like. We look for developments that are not only important but suitable for a writing project that
is completed from start to finish in a semester. We welcome your suggestions for developments
of particular interest. To make a suggestion, please send us the citation or document, along with
a brief explanation of why you think it is important.
We will circulate the list of potential topics in late summer. Students bid on the topics, and based
on those bids we assign them. We have never had a student who was not able to land a topic he
or she was excited about.
Students have a great deal of freedom, in consultation with their supervising faculty member and
TA, to develop their thesis based on the topic. Approaches to topics vary widely, from intensive
evaluations of the reasoning supporting a judicial opinion, to its practical consequences, to a
much broader consideration of the general topic area or insights the development generates about
related aspects of environmental law. We encourage creativity.
The writing process is front-loaded and hard work. We require that students submit case reports,
research pathfinders, outlines, and draft papers, and have frequent meetings with supervising
faculty and TAs. There is much red ink and feedback that may be difficult to hear. It can make
for a stressful semester, but most students find that the end product is well worth it. You should
emerge with a high quality paper to show potential employers, not to mention your proud
parents, and with a strong mentoring relationship with your supervisors. Papers meeting ELQ’s
standards will be published in the Annual Review issue.
Requirements are a bit different for LLM students, who are encouraged to generate their own
topic and have two semesters to write their paper. LLM papers are not targeted for ELQ’s
Annual Review, but we hope they will be of publishable quality and that authors will seek
publication venues.
Application
JD students should complete Part I of this application. LLM students should complete Part II.
Applications should be submitted by e-mail to both Holly Doremus
(hdoremus@law.berkeley.edu) and Bob Infelise (rinfelise@law.berkeley.edu).
Part I
Application for Admission for JD Students
Deadline: July 15, 2015
Students will be notified by August 1, 2015 whether they have been admitted to the course.
Please note that by submitting this application you are committing yourself to taking the course.
If you are admitted, you will be enrolled in the course shortly after August 1. We will then start
the process of assigning topics to students in the course; that process will be completed by midAugust. Once you have cast your votes for a topic, you will not be able to drop the course in
the absence of extraordinary circumstances (i.e., debilitating illness).
Please submit the following information on a separate document:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Your name and summer contact information.
Expected date of graduation.
Brief explanation of why you wish to take the course (up to 250 words).
Prior environmental law courses taken (either at Berkeley or elsewhere).
Any involvement with Ecology Law Quarterly.
Part II
Application for Admission for LLM Students
Deadline: August 18, 2015
Students will be notified by the first day of classes whether they have been admitted to the
course. LLM students will be able to drop the class after the first day of classes if necessary.
However, given the limited slots we can offer to students in the course, you should only apply if
you are seriously interested in the class and believe that dropping the course is unlikely.
Please submit the following information on a separate document:
1. Your name and contact information.
2. Brief explanation of your personal and professional experience with respect to
environmental law (up to 250 words).
3. Brief explanation of why you wish to take the course (up to 250 words).
4. Brief explanation of your career goals after receiving your LLM degree (up to 250
words).
5. A list of up to three potential topics for the paper you would write in this class (up to 250
words total for all three topics). (You may submit fewer than three topics if you wish.
You are not required to write your paper in this class on any of these three topics. You
may choose a different topic depending on our discussion in class over the course of the
semester.)