Michael R. Barsa
Professor of Practice
Co-Director of the Environmental Law Concentration
Phone
(312) 503-7983
Curriculum Vitae (pdf)
Assistant
Lisa Weiner
Assistant Phone
(312) 503-8340
Assistant Email
lisa.weiner@law.northwestern.edu
Biography
Professor Barsa has written widely on food security and climate change, international environmental claims under the Alien Tort Claims Act, risk perception, the Public Trust Doctrine, the Deepwater Horizon disaster, and judicial review in an age of hyper-polarization. Professor Barsa’s opinion pieces have appeared in The Chicago Tribune and The Chicago Sun-Times, and he has been interviewed on WTTW Chicago Tonight and on international radio. He has received numerous teaching awards, including the Robert Childres Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence and the Outstanding Professor Award in the Master of Science in Law Program. He also lectures to high school students about environmental issues and was a keynote speaker for the Midwest State of the Junior State of America.
Courses
Selected Publications
- Reconceptualizing Nepa to Prevent the Next Preventable Disaster (forthcoming) (with David A. Dana).
- Three Obstacles to the Promotion of Corporate Social Responsibility by Means of the Alien Tort Claims Act: The Sosa Court’s Incoherent Conception of the Law of Nations, the “Purposive” Action Requirement for Aiding and Abetting, and the State Action Requirement for Primary Liability, 21 Fordham Environmental Law Review 79-121 (2010) (with David Dana).
Education
- BA, Stanford University
- MA, Stanford University
- JD, Stanford University
Prior Appointments
- Senior Lecturer, Northwestern University School of Law
- 1999-2008, Munger, Tolles & Olson
- Law Clerk, 1997-1998, Hon. Cynthia Holcomb Hall, U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit