Trends in Environmental Law Scholarship 2008-2014

• Date: 01 August 2015
• Author: Linda K. Breggin, Jamieson Brock, Clarke Agre, and Michael P. Vandenbergh

8-2015 NEWS & ANALYSIS 45 ELR 10731

C O M M E N T

Trends in Environmental Law

Scholarship 2008-2014

by Linda K. Breggin, Jamieson Brock, Clarke Agre, and Michael P. Vandenbergh

Linda K. Breggin is a Senior Attorney with the Environmental Law Institute and an Adjunct Professor at Vanderbilt

University Law School. Jamieson Brock is a recent graduate of Vanderbilt University Law School. Clarke Agre is a recent

graduate of Vanderbilt University Law School. Michael P. Vandenbergh is the David Daniels Allen Distinguished Professor

of Law and Co-Director of the Energy, Environment, and Land Use Program at Vanderbilt University Law School.

The Environmental Law and Policy Annual Review

(ELPAR) is published by the Environmental Law

Institute’s (ELI’s) Environmental Law Reporter

in partnership with Vanderbilt University Law School.

ELPAR provides a forum for the presentation and discus-

sion of the best ideas about environmental law and policy

from the legal academic literature.

As part of the article selection process each year, Van-

derbilt University Law School students assemble and

review the environmental law articles published during

the previous academic year. In this Comment, we draw on

the results of the ELPAR article selection process to report

on trends in environmental lega l scholarship for academic

years 2008–2014.

Specically, this Comment reports on the number of

environmental law articles published in general law reviews

and environmental law journals. We nd that although the

precise totals varied from year to year, more than 400 envi-

ronmental law articles were published each year during the

2008–2014 period. Additionally, this Comment provides

data on the topics covered in the environmental law articles

reviewed by the ELPAR sta. e goal is to provide an

empirical snapshot of the environmental legal literature

and to track trends over time.

I. Methodology

A detailed description of the methodology is posted on the

Vanderbilt University Law School and Environmental Law

Institute ELPAR websites.1 In brief, t he search for articles

that qua lify for ELPAR review is limited to art icles pub-

lished from August 1 of the prior year to July 31 of the

current year, roughly corresponding to the academic year.

e search is conducted in law reviews from the top 100

1. Environmental Law Institute, https://www.eli.org/environmental-law-and-

policy-annual-review/publications (last visited June 10, 2015); Environmen-

tal Law & Policy Annual Review Online Supplements, http://law.vanderbilt.

edu/academics/academic-programs/environmental-aw/environmental-law-

policy-annual-review/index.php (last visited June 10, 2015).

law schools as ranked by U.S. News and World Report in

its most recent report, counting only articles from the rst

100 schools ranked for data purposes (i.e., if there is a tie

and over 100 schools are considered top 100, those that

fall in the rst 100 alphabetically are counted). Addition-

ally, environmental law journals as listed most recently by

Washington & Lee University School of Law are searched,

with certain modications.2

e ELPAR Editorial Board and Sta start with a

keyword search for “environment!” in an electronic legal

scholarship database.3 Articles without a connection to the

natural environment (e.g., “work environment” or “politi-

cal environment”) are removed, as are book reviews, eulo-

gies, non-substantive symposia introductions, case studies,

editors’ notes, and student scholarship. We recognize that

all ranking systems have shortcomings and that only exam-

ining top journals imposes limitations on the va lue of our

results. Nevertheless, this approach provides a snapshot of

leading scholarship in the eld.

For purposes of tracking trends in environmental schol-

arship, the next step is to cull the list generated from the

initial search in an eort to ensure that the list contains

only those a rticles that qualify as environmental law arti-

cles. Determining whether a n article qualies as an envi-

2. Law Journals, Submissions, and Rankings Explained, Washington & Lee

Univ. Sch. of Law, http://www.lawlib.wlu.edu/LJ/method/asp (last visited

Apr. 12, 2014).

3. For the purposes of this analysis, an article is “published” only if it was

available on Westlaw on the date the search was conducted. In the spring

semester, ELPAR members conduct a search for articles published between

August 1 and December 31 of the previous year. In the fall semester, mem-

bers search for articles published between January 1 and July 31 of that year.

erefore, “embargoed” journals, which are only available on Westlaw after

a delay, as well as journals that are published on a date after their “publica-

tion date” as listed by Westlaw, are not included for selection by ELPAR

and are not counted for trends data purposes. e exact date of access for

each journal varies according to when each individual ELPAR member per-

formed the searches on their assigned journals, but the spring searches were

performed in the third week of January, 2014, and the fall searches were

performed in the third week of August, 2014. Law reviews of schools added

to the U.S. News and World Report Top 100 are searched for the entire year

in the fall, and schools removed from the top 100 after the spring search are

not considered for trends data.

Copyright © 2015 Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, DC. Reprinted with permission from ELR®, http://www.eli.org, 1-800-433-5120.