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Certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law

The Certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law (the “Certificate”), which will be awarded to qualified Lewis & Clark Law School students at graduation, recognizes successful concentration in the Environmental and Natural Resources Law curriculum. A student who satisfies the requirements for the Certificate will be entitled to a certificate denominated “Certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law.” Students who believe that they will fulfill the requirements must complete an application that is available from the Registrar in order to be awarded a certificate.

The Associate Dean of the Environmental, Natural Resources, and Energy Law program, Janice Weis, will serve as the administrator for the Certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law. Any questions may be directed to her at: jweis@lclark.edu or 503-768-6649.

Students are also welcome to seek curriculum advice for the certificate from the environmental law faculty.

Certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law

This page describes the requirements to obtain a certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law and provides links to the documents that must be submitted to the Registrar’s Office by February 1st for a May graduation date or October 31st for a January graduation date.

Please also visit the Environmental, Natural Resources, and Energy Law program page for general information about Environmental, Natural Resources, and Energy Law at Lewis & Clark Law School.

Documents:

Application

Paper Requirement

Students qualify for the Certificate by satisfying the course, paper, practical skills, and grade point average requirements set forth below.

A. Course Requirements

Required Core Courses

Elective Courses

In addition to the required courses listed above, students must take at least 8 additional credits from the following list:

Please note that curricular offerings and titles may change from time to time and the fact that a class is listed above does not necessarily mean that it will be offered during the period when the student is pursuing the Certificate. Classes not on the list may be deemed to count as an elective for the Certificate in the discretion of the Certificate Administrator. Students should seek approval in advance of registering for any course or combination of courses that do not automatically satisfy Certificate requirements, to ensure that the course or courses will qualify.

Transfer Credits: Course credit may also be allowed, with the advance approval of the Certificate Administrator, for one course, of up to three units of credit, taken at another law school. In that event, only the credit earned for that course will be applied to the Certificate; the grade earned for the course will not be counted in determining the student’s GPA for the Certificate.

Ungraded Courses: Up to 4 ungraded credits may be applied to the Certificate (this applies to the practical skills component of the certificate, noted below.)

B. Writing Requirement

Students must also complete two substantial papers on an environmental and natural resources topic (done as part of coursework or as an independent study). The papers may also count as the student’s Writing Intensive Experience (WIE) or Capstone paper, if the paper meets those requirements and if the student desires but the paper is not required to be either a WIE or a capstone. The paper must be “substantial” meaning it counts for at least half of the grade in a course and several writings in a course could cumulatively count for this requirement. Students must obtain the approval of the Certificate Administrator to ensure the paper meets the writing requirement.

C. Grade Point Requirement - Updated for Fall 2023

The student must maintain a minimum GPA of 3.00 in certificate courses. To obtain the Certificate “with Distinction,” a student must maintain an overall grade point average of 3.67 or better in courses that are taken and submitted to satisfy the requirements of the Certificate.

For students graduating in 2024 or 2025, if the average of all courses submitted for the certificate is below 3.0 but is at least 2.7, then the student will receive the certificate if all certificate courses taken in Fall 2023 or after and submitted for the certificate meet the 3.0 average.

No credits transferred from another law school and accepted for use toward a Certificate, or credits for a class taken on a credit/no credit basis and approved by the Certificate Administrator, will be used in computing the grade point average.

D. Pursuing Other Certificates

Students are not prohibited from seeking another certificate along with the environmental and natural resources law certificate. However, pursuing more than one certificate is generally not advisable except in certain circumstances and students are strongly advised to work with the directors of the certificate programs in advance to determine the feasibility of obtaining more than one certificate in addition to meeting all graduation requirements. Note that Administrative Law is the only course that may be applied to the environmental and natural resources law certificate and another certificate. No other classes may be counted towards another certificate and the environmental and natural resources law certificate. Papers used for any other certificate, including the energy, innovation, and sustainability law certificate, may not be applied towards the environmental and natural resources law certificate. Also please note that a student who wishes to obtain both the energy, innovation, and sustainability law and the environmental and natural resources law certificates cannot double count any classes towards both certificates other than Administrative Law, which is required for both. No other classes taken may be counted towards both the environmental certificate and energy certificate.

Students should also check the requirements for any other certificate they may wish to pursue to see if there are any other restrictions on obtaining two certificates as each certificate’s requirements vary.

Updated 8/5/23