| Law Clinic – Environmental Litigation and Practice

Environmental Law practice has forged a limelight for itself over the recent years. The vast body of environmental law that has developed, both internationally and domestically, since the United Nations Conference on Human Environment (UNHCE), 1972, coupled with the active role of judiciary in making environmental rights justiciable has transformed the landscape of legal practice. Many public-spirit citizens, activists, lawyers, non-governmental organizations, enforcement agencies are now actively engaged in environmental litigation.

The Centre for Environmental Law, Education, Research and Advocacy (CEERA), of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru is a premier research Centre that focuses primarily on research, policy advocacy and training in the field of environmental law. It has been a steady choice for government agencies like Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEFCC), Pollution Control Boards, Biodiversity Boards, Department of Justice etc. Effectively networking among all stakeholders, undertaking training and capacity development exercises, providing consultancy services, and building an environmental law community are few of our main objectives. As part of its advocacy imitative, CEERA undertakes a diversity of litigation and practice-based assignments such as drafting legal opinions, litigation work, policy drafting, drafting legal documents etc. and has been empaneled by agencies such as the Karnataka Biodiversity Board etc.

The Clinical Course on Environmental and practice will provide an opportunity to the students to work closely with CEERA and learn the practice side of environmental law. Students will be engaged in drafting legal opinion, observe client meetings, participate in policy making, drafting legal documents, field visits etc.

The pedagogy of the course will be a combination of Socratic lecture method, classroom discussion and participate learning through field visits, and litigation-oriented activities. The classroom discussion will be based on the experience of the faculty and CEERA team in the field of environmental law.

The present course is in addition of the core course on Environmental Law and Policy which is taught to the students during the BALLB program and will refine theoretical learning and conceptual understanding through practice and litigation oriented participatory exercises.

• To strengthen learning of environmental law through participatory practical learning
• To understand how environmental law is being implemented by state agencies through actual cases, observation and field visits.
• To impart clinical knowledge required for successful environmental law litigation and legal practice through experience sharing
• To appreciate and understand the technical nuances in environmental law practice and contemporary issues and challenges in environmental law policy making
• To develop and nurture advocacy skills of the students in the field of environmental law