Environmental Distinguished Lecture Series

Cary Coglianese at the 2020 Lecture

Each semester, the Journal of Land Use & Environmental Law at the Center for Environmental, Energy, and Land Use Law brings the nation's foremost scholars in Land Use & Environmental Law to FSU College of Law. The lecturer's paper appears in the proceeding issue of the Journal. 

The series is made possible by contributions to the Journal, particularly the continuing support of the Environmental & Land Use Law Section of The Florida Bar.

Environmental Law 2.0: A Former State Lawmaker’s Perspective on the Remaking of American Law

Wednesday, October 22, 2025

Kirsten Engel, Charles E. Ares Professor of Law at James E. Rogers College of Law of the University of Arizona and Interim Chief of the Environmental Protection Unit in the Arizona Office of the Attorney General

Recording 

Professor Engel presented her lecture, "Environmental Law 2.0: A Former State Lawmaker’s Perspective on the Remaking of American Law" which offered a profoundly interesting and timely take on this moment of great legal change. As a former Arizona state legislator and having served in both the Arizona House and Senate, along with her Eighth Circuit judicial clerkship, Professor Engel brings a nearly 360-degree perspective on the legal system. 

Engel is the co-author of an environmental law textbook, book chapters and articles. Her work appears in journals such as the UCLA Law Review Discourse, the Minnesota Law Review, and the Ecology Law Quarterly. Prior to joining the law faculty at the University of Arizona, she held numerous permanent and temporary appointments within academia and in the public and nonprofit sectors, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Massachusetts' Attorney General's Office, and Harvard, Vanderbilt, and Tulane Law Schools

 

 

 

America’s Public Lands: What Will Donald Trump’s Legacy Likely Be

Wednesday, February 26, 2025

John Leshy, Emeritus Harry D. Sunderland and Distinguished Professor of Real Property Law at UC Law San Francisco

Recording 

Building on his deep knowledge of public lands and his 2022 book Our Common Ground, Professor Leshy leveraged his extensive experience in public land policy and administration to examine the complex dynamics at play. Drawing from key events during the first Trump Administration, he explored potential answers to the question posed in the lecture title, offering informed insights and initial predictions.

Professor John Leshy came to UC Law SF in the fall of 2001 after serving as Solicitor (General Counsel) of the U.S. Department of the Interior throughout the Clinton Administration. Previously, he taught at Arizona State University College of Law and served in the Interior Department in the Carter Administration as special counsel to the Chair of the Committee on Natural Resources, U.S. House of Representatives, and with the Natural Resources Defense Council in California. He started his legal career as a litigator with the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.