Environmental Advocacy Center

The Northwestern Pritzker School of Law Bluhm Legal Clinic's Environmental Advocacy Center (EAC) works with communities and professional advocates to address some of the most pressing environmental and energy issues facing our region and planet. The EAC takes on cases and environmental projects that offer unparalleled opportunities for students to practice lawyering and advocacy, and contribute uniquely to environmental problem-solving. The EAC’s diverse docket of projects is organized in three primary issue-areas: (1) environmental justice in Chicagoland; (2) climate change and energy policy advocacy in Illinois; and (3) the protection and restoration of natural resources through litigation and regulatory advocacy under federal environmental statutes.  By partnering with leading environmental justice organizations, like the Southeast Environmental Taskforce, People for Community Recovery, and Immigrant Solidarity DuPage, and with key environmental organizations, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Law and Policy Center, World Wildlife Fund, and Elevate Energy, the EAC extends its impact as well as opportunities for students. 

Students in the EAC pursue environmental solutions through a broad range of strategies: litigation, administrative proceedings, legislative and rule-making proceedings, public advocacy, and media. "Environmental attorneys can be called on to deploy nearly every tool in the legal toolbox – from litigation, to counseling and dealmaking, from crafting common law claims to disentangling Byzantine statutory and regulatory requirements,” notes EAC Director Rob Weinstock, “and therefore environmental lawyers must be comfortable in every type of forum – be it courts, agencies, legislatures or the public forum. The EAC designs its docket to train  students to be just the sort of dynamic and multifaceted environmental lawyer who can succeed in any setting.” Working with attorneys, scientists, economists, and legislative experts, and participating directly on cases and in a weekly seminar, students learn to assess environmental issues as part of interdisciplinary teams and to collaboratively develop and implement solutions that work. 

The opportunity to tap expertise across Northwestern University is a significant asset. “One of the most exciting things about the opportunity to join Northwestern was the incredible array of experts that could be partners in our work,” says Weinstock. For example, the EAC is working with an interdisciplinary team on developing and deploying new rapid drinking water quality tests, based on cutting edge synthetic biology technology developed at the Evanston campus, to influence local and federal policies toward better protecting communities from lead in drinking water. The EAC is part of the Trienens Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern, which connects the clinic to experts around campus and partner organizations and agencies around the globe. “Environmental lawyers in practice work closely with engineers, scientists and other experts every day. Because we are part of a world-class university, EAC students train to be interdisciplinary lawyers by doing the work of interdisciplinary lawyers in their clinic work. Our students work with Northwestern experts to draft reports in litigation, develop comments on proposed actions, and help our clients understand and act on complex technical and scientific information.”  

The Environmental Advocacy Center was founded in 2009, by EAC Director Emeritus Nancy Loeb and as it continues to grow, new opportunities emerge to find solutions, to drive change, and to protect our region’s residents and the Midwest's natural resources. Please see a summary of some of our major projects, peruse recent work public product, and check out recent press coverage of our work.   As our society faces down the existential threat of climate change and the irascible stain of persistent and pernicious environmental inequities, the need for brilliant, creative, diligent, and empathetic environmental advocates is limitless.  Fortunately, Northwestern law students never cease to bring those qualities to the EAC.  The EAC is proud to connect our superlative students to the cases and clients that maximize both their social impact and educational growth.   

If you have questions about our work at the EAC, please never hesitate to contact Professor Weinstock.