Hometown: Kapilvastu, Nepal
Program: LLM in Environmental, Natural Resources, & Energy Law
Graduation Date: May 1999
Current Position: Director, School of Law, Lumbini Buddhist University; Associate Professor
Since graduating from Lewis & Clark Law School in 1999, Prakash Mani Sharma Bhusal has devoted his life and legal career to defending nature and advancing public interest environmental law. Now serving as the Director of the School of Law at Lumbini Buddhist University in Nepal and teaching Public Interest Environmental Advocacy and Litigation as an Associate Professor, Prakash continues to inspire and train the next generation of environmental advocates.
He is also a Senior Advocate and Patron of the Prakash Mani Sharma Academy for Public Interest Law, where he mentors young lawyers and represents them in court. “I can impart my law school knowledge and skill and also my 35 years of public interest lawyering experience,” Prakash shares, reflecting on how the program shaped his career and current work.
Before joining Lewis & Clark, Prakash was already a seasoned public interest lawyer, serving as Executive Director of Pro Public, a Nepali organization dedicated to environmental and social justice. Although he had earned an LLM from the University of Delhi, his passion for environmental law led him to seek deeper, more focused training. “As per my inner interest, I was working in environmental litigation, so I wanted to study Environmental and Natural Resources Law,” he explains. “So I planned to pursue the Master’s degree at Lewis & Clark Law School.”
Prakash traces his passion for environmental law back to his days in Delhi, where he was deeply inspired by the work of famed Indian environmental attorney M.C. Mehta. “Without Nature, humans have no existence,” he says simply, a belief that has guided his decades of environmental advocacy and education.
During his time at Lewis & Clark, Prakash appreciated both the academic environment and the natural setting of the campus. “I enjoyed the nature and the teachers.The campus was a very pleasant natural area and has good physical facilities,” he recalls. He credits all of his professors for their expertise and approachability, saying, “All professors were very friendly and nice.”
Through an externship during the program, Prakash had the opportunity to work on a real environmental case—an experience that gave him hands-on insight into legal advocacy in the U.S. context and reinforced his commitment to environmental law.
To prospective students considering the LLM, Prakash offers heartfelt encouragement: “The best law program, and if one gets the opportunity, they must study—as I did.”