Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Law and Graduate School students and faculty have been hard at work showcasing the school’s commitment to excellence and innovation in legal education and advocacy.
From securing top honors at the National Animal Law Competition to introducing a new resource that defines food systems resilience in the context of the climate crisis, the following initiatives highlight the school’s role in advancing legal education and advocacy in critical areas including animal law, climate resilience, legal innovation and energy efficiency.
Animal Law Students Excel at National Competitions
Animal Law students demonstrated their advocacy skills and expertise in animal welfare issues at the National Animal Law Competitions, an annual event organized by the Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy and judged by leading national scholars and practitioners.
Drew McCormick, Taylor Rush and Daria Bednarczyk secured top honors in the appellate advocacy and legislative drafting and lobbying components of the competition. Their success underscores the school’s commitment to preparing future legal professionals dedicated to advancing animal rights and welfare through comprehensive education and practical experience.
Center for Agriculture and Food Systems Introduces “Food Systems Resilience Planning and the Climate Crisis”
In response to the urgent challenges posed by the climate crisis on food systems, the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems has launched a new resource titled “Food Systems Resilience Planning and the Climate Crisis: Defining Concepts and Terminology.”
This detailed guide aims to foster equity-centered resilience planning, providing a critical framework for stakeholders to navigate the complexities of sustainable food production amidst environmental disruptions. As the climate crisis causes devastating emergencies across food systems, long-term equity-centered resilience planning becomes even more important. Building a shared understanding of language and concepts is an important first step.
Center for Legal Innovation Research Professor Debates Algorithms for Equity
Oliver Goodenough, a research professor at the Center for Legal Innovation at Vermont Law and Graduate School, co-authored “Words or Code First? Is the legacy document or a code statement the better starting point for complexity-reducing legal automation?” in Philosophical Transactions A. The article examines the two main approaches to converting legal rules into computable formats: direct translation of natural language laws into code or creating software that reflects the underlying structure of legal statements in a code-native way.
Institute for Energy and the Environment Drives Advocacy for Energy Efficiency Standards
The Institute for Energy and the Environment continues to lead the way in advocating for enhanced energy efficiency standards in manufactured housing. Partnering with national organizations including Earth Justice and the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, the Energy Clinic’s Net Zero Affordable Housing Team, led by professor Jenny Carter, submitted comments urging the Department of Energy to expedite the implementation of comprehensive energy efficiency measures. This initiative aims to address the significant energy inefficiency challenges faced by manufactured homes, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions and alleviating financial burdens on low-income residents.
About Vermont Law and Graduate School:
Vermont Law and Graduate School, a private, independent institution, is home to a law school that offers ABA-accredited residential and online hybrid JD programs and a graduate school that offers master’s degrees and certificates in multiple disciplines, including programs offered by the Maverick Lloyd School for the Environment, the Center for Justice Reform and other graduate-level programs emphasizing the intersection of environmental justice, social justice and public policy. Both the law and graduate schools strongly feature experiential clinical and field work learning. For more information, visit vermontlaw.edu, Facebook and Instagram.
SOUTH ROYALTON, Vermont (Aug. 8, 2024) — Vermont Law and Graduate School
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