Pat Parenteau, emeritus professor at Vermont Law and Graduate School, recently received the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy and Resources.
A professor at Vermont Law since 1993, Parenteau served as director of the Environmental Law Center, founded the school’s Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic and served as senior counsel at the Environmental Advocacy Clinic. In May 2022, he received an honorary degree from the school.
Off campus, Parenteau has worked as vice president for conservation at the National Wildlife Federation; as of counsel to the Perkins Coie law firm; as special counsel to the US Fish and Wildlife Service; as commissioner of the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation; and as regional counsel for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In 2018, he taught in the Fulbright Scholar program in Cork, Ireland.
“Pat is a VLGS legend and we are so happy to see him honored in this way,” said Jennifer Rushlow, dean of the Vermont School for the Environment at VLGS. “He is an inspiration to us all — past, present and future environmental advocates, lawyers or otherwise, and we thank him for his lifetime of amazing work.”