University of Michigan, B.A.
University of Wisconsin, J.D.
Professor Alexandra B. Klass teaches and writes in the areas of energy law, environmental law, natural resources law, tort law and property law. Her articles have appeared in Iowa Law Review, Notre Dame Law Review, Minnesota Law Review, University of Colorado Law Review, Ecology Law Quarterly, Harvard Environmental Law Review, Emory Law Journal, Vanderbilt Law Review, and William & Mary Law Review, among others. Professor Klass was named the Stanley V. Kinyon Teacher of the Year for 2009-2010, and she served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 2010-2012.
Prior to her teaching career, Professor Klass was a partner at Dorsey & Whitney LLP in Minneapolis, where she specialized in environmental law, natural resources, and land use cases. During her years in private practice from 1993-2004, she handled cases in federal and state trial and appellate courts in Minnesota and other states involving contaminated property, wetlands, environmental review law, mining, environmental rights law, zoning, eminent domain, and environmental torts. She continues to represent clients pro bono in cases involving environmental law and land use matters. She was an Associate Professor of Law at William Mitchell College of Law from 2004-2006.
Professor Klass received her B.A. degree in political science and French with distinction from the University of Michigan in 1988, and her J.D. cum laude from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1992, where she was an articles editor for the Wisconsin Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif. She clerked for the Honorable Barbara B. Crabb, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, from 1992-1993.
Professor Klass has served in leadership positions in state and national bar organizations. She is currently on the Board of Directors of the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy and on the Governing Council of the Environmental and Natural Resources Section of the Minnesota State Bar Association. She served as co-chair of the Environmental Law Section of the Hennepin County Bar Association from 2000-2006. She is a Member Scholar at the Center for Progressive Reform, and a Resident Fellow at the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment.
For further information on Professor Klass, please see her curriculum vitae.
The Practice and Policy of Environmental Law (Foundation Press, 2d ed., 2010) (with J.B. Ruhl, John Nagle & James Salzman)
Book Chapters
State and Municipal Energy Efficiency Laws, in The Law of Clean Energy: Efficiency and Renewables (Michael B. Gerrard, ed., American Bar Association, Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, 2011) (with John K. Harting)
The Growing Influence of Tort and Property Law on Natural Resources Law: Case Studies of Coalbed Methane Development and Geologic Carbon Sequestration, in The Evolution of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Lawrence J. MacDonnell & Sarah F. Bates, eds., Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, American Bar Association, 2009)
Journal Articles
Takings and Transmission, North Carolina Law Review (forthcoming 2013)
State Standards for Nationwide Products Revisited: Federalism, Green Building Codes, and Appliance Efficiency Standards, 34 Harvard Environmental Law Review 335 (2010)
Carbon Capture and Sequestration: Identifying and Managing Risks, 8:3 (Balancing the Risks: Managing Technology and Dangerous Climate Change) Issues in Legal Scholarship Article 1 (2009) (with Elizabeth Wilson)
Punitive Damages after Exxon Shipping Company v. Baker: The Quest for Predictability and the Role of Juries, 7 University of St. Thomas Law Journal 182 (2009)
Climate Change and Carbon Sequestration: Assessing a Liability Regime for the Long-term Storage of Carbon Dioxide, 58 Emory Law Journal 103 (2008) (with Elizabeth Wilson)
Adverse Possession and Conservation: Expanding Traditional Notions of Use and Possession, 77 University of Colorado Law Review 283 (2006) (lead article)
Restoring the Trust: Water Resources and the Public Trust Doctrine, A Manual for Advocates (Center for Progressive Reform, White Paper #908, Sept. 2009) (with Ling Yee Huang)
