Ohio State Law Journal Symposium 2024

This year’s Symposia will focus on where traditional environmental statutes have succeeded and where there are opportunities to improve, including considering the immediate impact of recent Supreme Court decisions on environmental law. We then hope to begin to articulate the promise of a new future for the next generation of environmental statutes, including how new statutes might be more effective and fulfill our commitment to a healthy and sustainable environment for all. 

We have planned for the Symposia to have at its core three discussion panels along with a Keynote Address and Fireside Chat. The first panel will react to the Supreme Court decisions in Sackett and West Virginia from multiple perspectives, and comment both on what led to the decisions and the impact of the decisions on current environmental statutes and regulatory schemes in the short and long term. 

We will then turn to imagining what this means for the future of environmental law and regulation. In particular, the second panel will explore how to meaningfully wrestle with the systemic issues of environmental injustice and how to ensure that all people and places will be included in protection from harm.

The third panel will consider new statutes and governance structures that better fit the global challenges of today, including climate change and energy. It will also consider what those new statutes will need to be effective and how they might be shepherded forward in the current political climate. 

Richard Lazarus, the Charles Stebbins Fairchild Professor of Law at Harvard University, will deliver a keynote address on how the Supreme Court has shaped Environmental Law, and how the sitting Court can greatly influence the future of environmental law structures.

Lastly, the event will feature a Fireside Chat on environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG). This chat will feature Gurbir Grewal, Director of Enforcement at the SEC and Paul Rose.

Detailed Time Schedule