Hari M. Osofsky

Associate Professor of Law

Hari M. Osofsky

338 Mondale Hall
229–19th Ave. South
Minneapolis, MN 55455

612-625-1038

hosofsky@umn.edu

Yale College, B.A.
Yale Law School, J.D.

Professor Hari M. Osofsky joined the faculty in 2010 as an associate professor with tenure at the Law School as well as an adjunct associate professor of geography and the associate director of law, geography, and environment with the Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment & the Life Sciences. She is also a Ph.D. student in the Department of Geography at the University of Oregon.

She completed her B.A. in philosophy and environmental studies at Yale College in 1993 and her J.D. at Yale Law School in 1998. She was book reviews editor on the Yale Law Journal, editor-in-chief of the first issue of Yale Human Rights and Development Law Journal, and played a leadership role in the Lowenstein Human Rights project and clinic. At graduation, she was awarded the Khosla Memorial Fund Prize for engagement in advancing the values of human dignity in the international arena and the Felix S. Cohen Prize for the best student paper relating to legal philosophy.

She clerked for Judge Dorothy W. Nelson of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena, Calif., in 1998-99, served as a Fellow at the Center for Law in the Public Interest in 1999-2001, and was a Yale-China Legal Education Fellow and visiting scholar at Sun Yat-sen University School of Law in 2001-02. In 2002-03, she began her academic career, as a visiting assistant professor at Vermont Law School and an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School. She then served as an assistant professor and director of the Center for International and Comparative Law at Whittier Law School in 2003–06, a visiting assistant professor and then assistant professor at the University of Oregon School of Law in 2005-08, and an associate professor at Washington and Lee University School of Law in 2008-10.

Professor Osofsky’s scholarship brings an interdisciplinary law and geography perspective to climate change governance questions. Her articles have been published in a variety of legal and environmental journals, including the Alabama Law Review, Climate Law, Chicago Journal of International Law, Journal of Human Rights and the Environment, Michigan Journal of International Law, Northwestern University Law Review Colloquy, Stanford Environmental Law Journal, Stanford Journal of International Law, Villanova Law Review, Virginia Journal of International Law, Washington University Law Quarterly, and Yale Journal of International Law. Her publications have won the Daniel B. Luten Award for the best paper by a professional geographer from the Energy and Environment Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers and have twice been runner-up for inclusion in the annual compilation of top land use and environmental law articles by Land Use and Environment Law Review. Her co-edited book Adjudicating Climate Change: State, National, and International Approaches was published by Cambridge University Press in 2009, and her co-authored casebook Climate Change Law and Policy is scheduled for release by Aspen Publishers in 2011.

Professor Osofsky’s advocacy work has included assisting with Earthjustice’s annual submissions on environmental rights to the U.N. Human Rights Commission and with the Inuit Circumpolar Conference’s petition on climate change to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. She has supervised student coursework on climate change litigation at the Western Environmental Law Center and the Southern Environmental Law Center. Her new Law School class, Environmental Justice and the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, made a submission to the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling for its consideration in preparation of its report.

She is a member of the Climate Legacy Initiative’s Consultants Working Group, the International Law Association’s Committee on the Legal Principles of Climate Change, the American Association of Law Schools’ Section on International Law and Section on Property Executive Committees, the Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation’s National Advisory Board, and the Board of Governors of the Society of American Law Teachers. She also is the inaugural treasurer of the Association for Law, Property, and Society and served as co-chair of the American Society of International Law’s 2010 annual meeting.

For further information on Professor Osofsky, please consult her curriculum vitae.

PUBLICATIONS

Books

Transition to a Clean Energy Future: The Role of Climate Change Litigation in Shaping Our Regulatory Path (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2014) (with Jacqueline Peel)

Environmental Sustainability: Law and Policy (Aspen Publishers, forthcoming 2013) (with Shelley Saxer, Craig Anthony Arnold & Dan Tarlock)

Climate Change Law and Policy (Aspen Elective Series) (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, 2012) (with Lesley K. McAllister)

Adjudicating Climate Change: State, National, and International Approaches (Cambridge University Press, 2009) (co-editor with William C.G. Burns)

Book Chapters

Complexities of Addressing the Impacts of Climate Change on Indigenous Peoples through International Law Petitions: A Case Study of the Inuit Petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, in Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples: The Search for Legal Remedies 313 (Randall S. Abate & Elizabeth Ann Kronk, eds., Edward Elgar Publishing, 2013)

Climate Change and Dispute Resolution Processes, in International Law in the Era of Climate Change 350 (Rosemary Rayfuse & Shirley V. Scott, eds., Edward Elgar, 2012)

Suburban Climate Change Efforts in Minnesota: Implications for Multi-Level Mitigation Strategies, in Local Climate Change Law: Environmental Regulation in Cities and Other Localities 105 (Benjamin J. Richardson, ed., Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Technology Transfer and Climate Change, in Sustainable Technology Transfer: A Guide to Global Aid & Trade Development 177 (Hans Henrik Lidgard, Jeffery Atik & Tu Thanh Nguyen, eds., Aspen Publishers, 2012)

The Creation of the International Law of Climate Change: Complexities of Sub-State Actors, in Non-State Actors, Soft Law and Protective Regimes: From the Margins 179 (Cecilia M. Bailliet, ed., Cambridge University Press, 2012)

The Right to Frozen Water: The Institutional Spaces for Supranational Climate Change Petitions, in Progress in International Law 749 (Russell A. Miller & Rebecca M. Bratspies, eds., Martinus Nijhoff, 2008)

Journal Articles

Environmental Justice and the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, 20 New York University Environmental Law Journal 99 (2012) (with Kate Baxter-Kauf, Bradley Hammer, Ann Mailander, Brett Mares, Amy Pikovsky, Andrew Whitney & Laura Wilson)

Litigation's Role in the Path of U.S. Federal Climate Change Regulation: Implications of AEP v. Connecticut, 46 Valparaiso University Law Review 447 (2012)

Suburban Climate Change Efforts: Possibilities for Small and Nimble Cities Participating in State, Regional, National, and International Networks, 22 Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy 395 (2012)

Climate Change and Crises of International Law: Possibilities for Geographic Reenvisioning, 44 Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law 423 (2011)

Diagonal Federalism and Climate Change: Implications for the Obama Administration, 62 Alabama Law Review 237 (2011) (winner of the Association of American Geographers' Climate Specialty Group's Student Paper Competition) (article)

Multidimensional Governance and the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, 63 Florida Law Review 1077 (2011)

The Role of Climate Change Litigation in Establishing the Scale of Energy Regulation, 101 Annals of the Association of American Geographers 775 (2011) (accepted through peer review process for special issue on Energy)

Climate Change and Environmental Justice: Reflections on Litigation over Oil Extraction and Rights Violations in Nigeria, 1 Journal of Human Rights and the Environment 189 (2010) (solicited; accepted through peer review process) (essay)

Multiscalar Governance and Climate Change: Reflections on the Role of States and Cities at Copenhagen, 25 Maryland Journal of International Law 64 (2010) (symposium essay)

The Continuing Importance of Climate Change Litigation, 1 Climate Law 3 (2010) (solicited; accepted through peer review process as lead article of inaugural journal issue) (essay)

The Future of Environmental Law and Complexities of Scale: Federalism Experiments with Climate Change under the Clean Air Act, 32 Washington University Journal of Law and Policy 79 (2010) (symposium essay)

Is Climate Change "International"?: Litigation's Diagonal Regulatory Role, 49 Virginia Journal of International Law 585 (2009) (article)

Scaling "Local": The Implications of Greenhouse Gas Regulation in San Bernardino County, 30 Michigan Journal of International Law 689 (2009) (symposium essay)

The Geography of Climate Change Litigation Part II: Narratives of Massachusetts v. EPA, 8 Chicago Journal of International Law 573 (2008) (awarded the Daniel B. Luten Award for the best paper by a professional geographer by the Energy and Environment Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers) (selected for the AALS-ASIL 2007 Joint Conference on International Law, Works-in-Progress Session) (article)

The Geography of Justice Wormholes: Dilemmas from Property and Criminal Law, 53 Villanova Law Review 117 (2008) (article)

The Scale of Networks: Local Climate Change Coalitions, 8 Chicago Journal of International Law 409 (2008) (essay) (with Janet Koven Levit)

A Law and Geography Perspective on the New Haven School, 32 Yale Journal of International Law 421 (2007) (selected for Yale Journal of International Law Young Scholars Conference) (essay)

Climate Change Litigation as Pluralist Legal Dialogue?, 26A Stanford Environmental Law Journal & 43A Stanford Journal of International Law 181 (2007) (joint issue) (selected for Stanford Climate Symposium) (runner-up for Land Use and Environment Law Review's compilation of the top land use and environmental law articles of 2007) (article)

Local Approaches to Transnational Corporate Responsibility: Mapping the Role of Subnational Climate Change Litigation, 20 Pacific McGeorge Global Business & Development Law Journal 143 (2007) (symposium essay)

The Intersection of Scale, Science, and Law in Massachusetts v. EPA, 9 Oregon Review of International Law 233 (2007) (symposium essay), reprinted in Adjudicating Climate Change: State, National, and International Approaches (William C.G. Burns & Hari M. Osofsky, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2009)

The Inuit Petition as a Bridge?: Beyond Dialectics of Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples' Rights, 31 American Indian Law Review 675 (2007) (symposium essay), reprinted in Adjudicating Climate Change: State, National, and International Approaches (William C.G. Burns & Hari M. Osofsky, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2009)

The Geography of the CEC's Citizen Submissions Process: Mapping the State-Corporate Regulatory Dynamic, 14 Michigan State Journal of International Law 463 (2006) (symposium essay)

Learning from Environmental Justice: A New Model for International Environmental Rights, 24 Stanford Environmental Law Journal 71 (2005) (article), reprinted in Human Rights and the Environment 219 (Dinah L. Shelton, ed., Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

The Geography of Climate Change Litigation: Implications for Transnational Regulatory Governance, 83 Washington University Law Quarterly 1789 (2005) (runner-up for Land Use and Environment Law Review's compilation of the top land use and environmental law articles of 2006) (article)

Defining Sustainable Development After Earth Summit 2002, 26 Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review 111 (2003) (essay)

Domesticating International Criminal Law: Bringing Human Rights Violators to Justice, 107 Yale Law Journal 191 (1997) (note), reprinted in Jurisdiction in International Law (W. Michael Reisman, ed., Ashgate/Dartmouth, 1999)

Environmental Human Rights Under the Alien Tort Statute: Redress for Indigenous Victims of Multinational Corporations, 20 Suffolk Transnational Law Review 335 (1997) (student publication)

Foreign Sovereign Immunity from Severe Human Rights Violations: New Directions for Common Law Based Approaches, 11 New York International Law Review 35 (1997) (student publication)

Book Reviews

Book Review, 106 American Journal of International Law 715 (2012) (reviewing The Oxford Handbook of International Environmental Law (Daniel Bodansky, Jutta Brunnee & Ellen Hey, eds., Oxford University Press, 2007))

Edited Symposia & Journals

Environmental Rights, 2:11 Human Rights Dialogue (Spring 2004) (co-editor with Joanne Bauer)

Editorials, Commentary & Letters

A Win for Oregon as Well as the Law, The Oregonian, April 5, 2007 (op-ed)

Katrina Disaster Exposes Environmental Injustice, The Register Guard, Sept. 7, 2005 (op-ed)

On-Site Reflections of China's Hong Kong Takeover, The Times Picayune, July 17, 1997 at B-7 (op-ed)

Other Publications

Blogger, IntLawGrrls (2007-Present)

Keith Aoki--Darth Remainder, Duck, and Ninja for Social Justice: A Model of Being There for People in Moments of Vulnerability, 45 U.C. Davis Law Review 1699 (2012)

The Geography of "Moo Ha Ha": A Tribute to Keith Aoki's Role in Developing Critical Legal Geography, 90 Oregon Law Review 1233 (2012)

AEP v. Connecticut's Implications for the Future of Climate Change Litigation, 121 Yale Law Journal Online 101 (2011)

An Introduction: International Law in a Time of Change, 104 Proceedings of the American Society of International Law 1 (2010) (with K. Russell LaMotte & Allen S. Weiner)

ASIL Annual Dinner: Reflections on Change in International Law, 104 Proceedings of the American Society of International Law 505 (2010) (remarks)

Climate Change Legislation in Context, 102 Northwestern University Law Review Colloquy 245 (2008)

Introduction, 9 Oregon Review of International Law 225 (2007) (Symposium on Complexities of Scale: The Role of the Subnational in International Law)

The Intersection of Scale, Science, and Law in Massachusetts v. EPA, 101 Proceedings of the American Society of International Law 61 (2007)

Transporting Climate Change: The Environmental Rights Implications of Local Choices, 10 Next American City 32 (Spring 2006)

Popular Sovereignty, Geography, and Public Participation in Environmental Decision-Making in China, 24 Temple Journal of Science, Technology & Environmental Law 225 (2005) (commentary on Chang Jiwen, How to Harmonize Community Autonomy and Administrative Responsibility in Environmental Decision-Making: Environmental Hearing Institutions in Wuhan, 24 Temple Journal of Science, Technology & Environmental Law 229 (2005))

Symposium Introduction: The Boundaries of International Law, 26 Whittier Law Review 997 (2005) (with William J. Aceves)

Environmental Rights Enforcement in U.S. Courts, 2:11 Human Rights Dialogue 30 (Spring 2004)

Understanding "Hostage Diplomacy": The Release of Wei Jingsheng and Wang Dan, 1 Yale Human Rights & Development Law Journal 143 (1998) (New Development)

COURSES

Environmental Justice and the BP Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill
Property
Renewable Energy