Lewis & Clark Hires Professor Lisa Benjamin

Lewis & Clark Law School is pleased to announce that Dr. Lisa Benjamin will be joining the Lewis & Clark faculty in the fall of 2019 as the newest member of our Environmental, Natural Resources, and Energy Law Program.

Professor Benjamin is a globally recognized expert and scholar in energy, climate change, and corporate law—particularly as they intersect—and her expertise will allow Lewis & Clark to expand its curriculum, scholarship, and impact in areas such as international climate change law, the energy transition, environmental justice, and corporate environmental and social responsibility.

Further, her areas of focus will be a significant complement to the work of Professor Melissa Powers, who founded both the energy law component of the environmental law program as well as Lewis & Clark’s Green Energy Institute, which develops comprehensive strategies to transition to renewable energy. Dr. Benjamin will also help advise students pursuing our new certificate in Energy, Innovation, and Sustainability.

“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Benjamin to our faculty,” said Dean Jennifer Johnson. “Her expertise is a perfect addition to our highly acclaimed environmental law program, particularly with her focus on the intersection of corporate law, energy and climate change. Lisa will help our students navigate an increasingly complex regulatory arena as they prepare to serve future clients.”

Dr. Benjamin received her LLB from the University College London and her LLM with merit from the University of London. She received a PhD from the University of Leicester, England, where she won the Doctoral Inaugural Lecture Award in 2018. Lisa practiced law both in her native Bahamas and in London before serving as an Assistant Professor in the LLB Programme of the University of the Bahamas. She is currently teaching as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Penn State Law.

Dr. Benjamin has also served on some of the most important boards and commissions relating to climate change, including serving as a fellow on the Platform on International Energy Governance, as a member of the Compliance Committee (Facilitative Branch) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, a member of the Bahamas Trade Commission, and a member of the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law. Dr. Benjamin is also the co-founder of the Climate Change Initiative, which is dedicated to research and education on climate change in small island states. She has published widely on climate change and energy issues.