Natural Resources Law Certificate
A student will receive a Certificate in Natural Resources Law with a corresponding notation in the student’s permanent academic record if he or she meets the following criteria:
1. Successfully completes 12 hours of credit in specified natural resources classes and programs.
- (a) Up to three of the required 12 hours may be fulfilled by (i) earning credit for work with the Natural Resources Law Journal (2 hours), (ii) earning credit for participation on a qualifying moot court team (2 hours)1, (iii) earning credit through work at a clinic overseen by ASL’s Natural Resources Law Center Program (1-3 hours)2, or (iv) earning credit through Independent Study on an approved topic (2 hours).3
- (b) At least 9 of the 12 hours must be earned by obtaining passing grades in approved natural resources classes.4
- (c) The Natural Resources Law committee will have the authority to determine classes, programs, competitions and topics that qualify for credit, and to otherwise modify the credit requirements for achieving the Certificate.
2. Achieves at least a cumulative 3.0 grade point average in the graded ASL courses that count towards the 12 qualifying credit hours.
3. Commencing in July 2016, students complete a publishable quality note in addition to the curricular writing requirements within the Certificate qualifying courses.
4. Meets all other requirements to graduate from ASL.
1 Qualifying moot court teams include those that compete at the Pace National Environmental Law Competition and at the West Virginia National Energy Law Competition.
2 Students can earn credit toward the certificate by (a) working in the NRLC Clinic or (b) participating in a live client clinic in connection with their enrollment in a natural resources course. Credit earned through a live client clinic must be approved by the externship director and faculty member responsible for teaching the related natural resources course in order for the student to earn academic credit toward the certificate.
3 Criteria for approved Independent Studies credit are already part of the Academic Standards. Students would have to meet all of those standards in addition to obtaining approval of the Natural Resources Law committee for the proposed topic.
4 Qualifying courses in the ASL academic catalog are: Sustainable Energy Law, Administrative Law, Supreme Court Survey of Energy Law Cases, Mineral Title Examination, the Law of Coalbed Methane, Environmental Law and Policy, Environmental Crimes and Torts, Doing and Undoing Environmental Regulations, Natural Resources Law & Policy, Energy & Utility Law and the SCC, Coal, Oil and Gas Law, Solar Energy Law, Environmental Law & Policy, Natural Resources: Why Lawyers and Engineers Need Each Other, and Appellate Advocacy – Natural Resources.