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Frequently Asked Questions
Most of the details of the Certificate Program in Environmental and Land Use Law are described on the Student Registration and Tracking Form available on the Program web page. The following additional questions arise frequently for students who are beginning to explore options for their upper level curriculum:
What is the Certificate Program?
The Certificate Program is designed to assist College of Law students with an interest in environmental or land use law in designing a coordinated curriculum and achieving a meaningful level of curriculum emphasis in these fields. This is done through a combination of required courses, selected electives, and a special seminar open only to Certificate Program participants.
Who should consider participating?
Students with an academic or career interest in environmental law or land use law may find the Certificate Program a desirable way of achieving enhanced exposure to the subject matter of those fields. Participating in the Program offers several advantages:
When do I enroll in the Program?
Students who wish to participate in the Program should begin taking the required courses (Environmental Law, Land Use Regulation, and Administrative Law) in their second year. NOTE: All required courses must be taken for a GRADE. Taking a required course P/NP will disqualify the student from receiving the Certificate.
A student should also decide as soon as possible which semesters he or she wants to take the Environmental Certificate Seminar. Students may take the seminar in any two semesters after their first year of law school; however, the Program faculty recommend that students wait to start the seminar until AFTER the student has completed at least one of the core requirements.
As soon as the student begins making progress toward earning the Certificate, the student should complete and submit a Certificate Program tracking form to the Associate Dean for Environmental Programs. Students should submit a new tracking form EVERY SEMESTER until the student has completed the Certificate requirements.
What else can I do in starting the Certificate Program?
The Program faculty strongly recommend that students interested in the Certificate Program meet with a Program Director early in your second year and at least once thereafter. Four FSU College of Law faculty help to administer the Certificate Program: Professors Donna Christie, Robin Kundis Craig, David Markell, and Hannah Wiseman (beginning Spring 2012). In addition, there is an Associate Dean for Environmental Programs (currently Professor Robin Craig) who is available to answer all questions and to help with planning and registration.
What is the Environmental and Land Use Certificate Seminar?
The Seminar is required for all students seeking the Environmental and Land Use Law Certificate. It involves a series of presentations by College of Law faculty, other FSU faculty, and outside speakers, as well as by the students in the Seminar. The seminar focuses on developing policy analysis skills and on introducing the students to a wide variety of current environmental and land use issues. The Seminar carries a 3-credit course assignment.
IMPORTANT: The 3 credit hours for the Certificate Seminar do not count toward the minimum 88 credits required for your J.D. degree, even if you do not complete the Certificate Program. In other words, once you complete the Certificate Seminar, you MUST complete a total of 91 CREDITS in order to graduate from the College of Law.
How do I enroll in the Seminar?
For the first semester of the Seminar, you attend the Seminar but do not officially enroll in the course through the Registrar. Your attendance is recorded by the Program Director teaching the Seminar that semester, and your records are kept on Blackboard. In the second semester, you should enroll officially through the course registration process, at which time you will pay for the entire 3 credits of the course. All 3 credit hours of the course are awarded at the conclusion of the second semester. Students not completing the Seminar receive no credits on their academic record.
What are the other Program requirements besides the Seminar?
All program requirements are listed on the Program’s web site. In brief, to receive the Certificate, all Program students must take three required courses in addition to the Environmental and Land Use Certificate Seminar: (1) Environmental Law; (2) Land Use Regulation; and (3) Administrative Law. These requirements serve to give Program participants a necessary overview of the various aspects of environmental law practice. Program participants must also complete an additional 9 hours of program electives. At least one of the electives must be a course designated as a “Natural Resources” elective (see the Registration and Tracking Form and list of courses). Up to three credit hours of these electives may be satisfied through an approved externship.
IMPORTANT: All required courses, including the Certificate Seminar, must be taken for a grade. Students who take one of the required courses P/NP CANNOT earn the Certificate.
What electives count toward the Program?
The College of Law offers an impressive number and variety of elective courses in the Program fields. The Program also has identified courses in other departments of FSU that will be accepted as Program electives. Not all the courses are offered at the College of Law or in other departments each year, however, and in many years new courses are created that may be accepted into the Program. A list of courses that satisfy the elective requirement is available on the Program website. You should consult course offerings each semester to determine which of the eligible electives are being offered.
What if I do not complete the Program?
There is no penalty for not completing all the Program requirements. Failure to achieve the Certificate is not recorded on your College of Law record.
Can I earn academic honors for the Certificate Program?
Yes. The Certificate Program awards three levels of honors: Honors; High Honors; and Highest Honors. These designations will appear on the final Certificate issued to the student.
The GPA requirements for honors in the Certificate Program track the numeric GPA requirements for honors at graduation, but your GPA for Certificate honors purposes is calculated solely on the basis of your Certificate Program courses. If you complete more elective courses than the minimum required for the Certificate, the Associate Dean for Environmental Programs will give you the benefit of the best GPA calculation; however, in all circumstances, the honors calculation must include the four required courses (Environmental Law, Land Use Regulation, Administrative Law, and the Environmental Certificate Seminar) and one course that fulfills the natural resources elective requirement.
Honors in the Certificate Program are calculated AFTER graduation, after all grades have been turned in.
When will I receive my Certificate?
Program staff will mail you your Certificate in Environmental & Land Use Law in the semester AFTER you graduate. For those of you who graduate in May, Certificates will be mailed in late summer.
IMPORTANT: Please be sure to give the Administrative Assistant for the Environmental Law Program (currently Ms. Lori Wingfield) the address to which you want your Certificate sent, keeping in mind where you might be living when it is mailed.