An Auburn University professor is the only economist invited to the Duke Environmental Law and Policy Forum at the Duke University Law School on March 2-3. This is a very important and controversial feature of the law.
Environmental laws are the only laws with the citizen suit features.
The Supreme Court has addressed the issue several times over the past decade. A high court ruling in January on Friends of the Earth vs. Laidlaw Environmental Services was a landmark ruling that will have far-reaching implications for private and public enforcement of environmental law, says Barnett. In effect, the ruling makes it much easier for citizens to privately enforce environmental law. The lawyers who argued the Laidlaw case before the Supreme Court, along with several professors, have been invited to present papers at the conference. The papers will be published by Duke after the conference.