In 2025, UC Irvine Law’s Environmental Law Program achieved many milestones. Dozens of articles, book chapters, op-eds, and presentations. Partnerships with and representation of community organizations, regional networks, statewide coalitions, national non-profit organizations, Tribes, and government agencies. Rich course offerings that include Environmental Law, International Environmental Law, Land Use and Development Control Law, Ocean and Coastal Law, Environmental Law Practicum, Advanced Environmental Law Clinic, Climate Justice, Tribal Nations and the Law, Toward Abolition Democracy, Energy Transition in California, Complex Negotiation, and Multi-Party Dispute Resolution, among others. Advocacy before federal and state legislatures, agencies, and courts. And, as we outline, a focus on state and local climate action, conservation, and environmental justice and community protection. We are proud to work at one of the premier research universities in the United States, a Minority-Serving Institution, a national leader and global model of inclusive excellence, and a public university with a long tradition of outreach to and collaboration with underserved communities. | | Center for Land, Environment, and Natural Resources | | |
The Center for Land, Environment, and Natural Resources (CLEANR) at UC Irvine Law built on the significant momentum that it achieved over the past several years. Gregg Macey, Director of CLEANR, worked with Faculty Director Alejandro Camacho and the Faculty Advisory Committee to promote innovative research and catalyze policy action in environmental and land use law. CLEANR faculty and staff worked on an incredibly diverse range of environmental areas.
Much of this work was carried out by Dr. Macey. In 2025, he conducted over 100 interviews, published articles, reports, comments, letters, and op-eds, and guided the completion of outputs from over $7 million in funded research that he acquired over the past two years. Each initiative Dr. Macey directed is driven by the following principles that he brings to his work: (1) develop multi-year partnerships with community leaders and organizations; (2) address community-identified, policy-relevant research gaps; (3) celebrate and center community science and decades of attempts by individuals, organizations, and coalitions to address environmental, public health, or infrastructure disparities; (4) include community leaders and organizations as Co-PIs; and (5) share new resources evenly to directly fund community organization staff and capacity-building.
Detailed descriptions of CLEANR’s research programs can be found on its website.
Three core research programs at CLEANR are Integrated and Equitable Climate Action (IECA), the Wildland-Urban Interface Climate Action Network (WUICAN), and the Community Environmental Research Accelerator (CERA). For IECA, Dr. Macey (Co-PI), Professor Camacho (PI), environmental justice leaders (Co-PIs), Blaire Bernstein, Postdoctoral Scholar of Climate Action Research and Policy Development, and law students worked together to advance vital work on the challenges of and opportunities for local climate action planning. In 2025, the IECA team investigated climate change and land use planning documents throughout Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley and examined state-level climate laws and policies. Through 63 interviews, Dr. Macey and Ms. Bernstein evaluated how jurisdictions address environmental justice, plan for disadvantaged and unincorporated communities, and consider the disparate impacts of their policies and laws. The results can be found in Climate Action Governance: Lessons from California. In 2025, IECA achieved 11 major goals. The team: 1) developed a California Climate Action Legal Tools document, the most comprehensive account of California state law, regulation, policy, incentives, and guidance on climate and environmental justice policy in existence, with a focus on implications for local governments; (2) prepared a Climate Action Inventory with evaluative metrics for every jurisdiction in the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California; (3) conducted extensive case studies into barriers and innovations for local climate action, producing a report as to findings based on interviews with 63 planners and local officials; (4) prepared 20 policy briefs with key findings from our research on a variety of topics related to climate action planning, which will be made available to the public along with the Inventory and Legal Tools document; (5) assembled a GIS database with CalEnviroScreen and hazards-based data to allow the public to better track, compare, and target jurisdictions according to risks, hazards, and ongoing climate action; (6) organized an inaugural IECA Policy Summit held across the street from the California State Legislature and began work on a second Policy Summit to be held in the Central Valley; (7) drafted a second report that features analysis of several hundred climate action plans in Southern California; (8) carried out research into how 8 jurisdictions can better convene, draft, and update Climate Action Plans and General Plan elements; (9) completed focused research on the climate riskscape and local response across select jurisdictions in Southern California; (10) actively participated in webinars and conferences as part of a supplemental grant award; and (11) worked with community partners on their current campaigns as well as proposals for future research.
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| |  | For WUICAN, Dr. Macey worked with a consortium of community organizations, Tribes, land managers, and researchers to address the climate crisis. Research is underway with community organizations and Tribal leaders with a focus on groundwater management in the Borrego Valley, climate hazards and air quality in Santa Ana, and support for the state’s Agricultural Land Equity Program. CERA, a program that Dr. Macey developed in 2023, is an innovative partnership with the Newkirk Center for Science and Society. CERA strengthened its partnership with Environmental Working Group, with a focus on pesticide use in a changing climate. CERA also began a new partnership with the American Lung Association, the premier provider of national and regional air quality assessments. The objective of this collaboration is to create and share tools and protocols for the use of community data to inform policy development and implementation across California agencies, to ensure that affected communities meaningfully inform, engage, and lead policy development regarding air quality.
CLEANR's Air Quality, Goods Movement, and Just Transition program expanded its research partnership to consider freight and logistics as an environmental justice issue. Dr. Macey worked with a logistics expert at the University of Southern California to: (1) determine environmental justice state policy pathologies in California; (2) assess the legality of indirect source review (ISR) programs under the Clean Air Act; (3) compare regional ISR programs in Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley; (4) propose elements of a robust ISR program that can be adopted by air districts in other regions; and (5) analyze public health burdens and costs of warehouse expansion. Dr. Macey hosted a conference in the Bay Area called "Pollution Magnets: Addressing Gaps in Air Pollution Regulation through Effective and Equitable Indirect Source Review." At the workshop, CLEANR brought together community leaders, city and agency officials, and researchers to present findings about the suitability and public health benefits of warehouse indirect source review (ISR) in the Bay Area. The event yielded numerous outputs: a major report co-authored by Dr. Macey, an invitation for Dr. Macey to join the newly formed Bay Area Air District Civil Rights in Permitting Roundtable, use of CLEANR’s findings to inform rulemaking in the Bay Area Air District and San Diego Air Pollution Control District, an article in the Sierra Club Magazine, an op-ed in the San Diego Union Tribune, and a presentation to the North County Climate Alliance. Dr. Macey is also preparing peer-reviewed articles with colleagues based on the workshop and related research.
In 2025, the Pesticide Reform and Farmworker Health program, a partnership with a statewide coalition of over 200 organizations led by Californians for Pesticide Reform (CPR), continued its invaluable work on pesticide use and occupational practices. Following Dr. Macey’s work with CPR to carry out research on civil rights violations in the Central Valley, host a People’s Tribunal on Pesticide Use and Civil Rights, and present findings to state agencies and the California Attorney General, Assemblymember Damon Connolly requested that the California State Legislature’s Joint Legislative Audit Committee approve an audit that examines “California’s enforcement of specified agricultural pesticide use laws and regulations.” The audit request notes that an audit is consistent with the legislature’s objectives to support “good governance, efficient use of state funds, effective enforcement, and the protection of human health and the environment.” Dr. Macey wrote a Letter to Chair Harabedian, Vice Chair Laird, and Members of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, California State Legislature in support of an audit of California’s Enforcement of Specified Agricultural Pesticide Use Laws and Regulations in July 2025. The audit was approved and will involve several thousand hours of dedicated review of enforcement programs at the Department of Pesticide Regulation and several County Agricultural Commissioners. Dr. Macey continues to meet regularly with a statewide coalition of 200 organizations to design new initiatives that further pesticide reform in the state and region.
The Transportation and Infrastructure Equity program continued its partnership with the American Society of Civil Engineers. Dr. Macey will serve as guest editor of a special issue on “Climate Adaptation and Resilience for Buildings and Infrastructure” for the Journal of Infrastructure Systems. Dr. Macey also completed research on the Community Air Protection Program, through which community emissions reduction plans are created and deployed as directed by Assembly Bill 617, with an article and Institute of Transportation Studies report as outputs for the year.
In 2025, CLEANR’s Ecology and Climate Policy program continued to work with Defenders of Wildlife attorneys on barriers to affirmative furtherance of conservation under Section 7(a)(1) of the Endangered Species Act. CLEANR (led by Dr. Macey and Professor Camacho) filed detailed comments in response to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Notice Request for Information and Comment Concerning Endangered Species Act Program Implementation. The comments were informed by a policy workshop co-hosted with Defenders of Wildlife that explored “Best Practices for Affirmative Conservation Programs under the Endangered Species Act.” Dr. Macey and Defenders of Wildlife attorneys interviewed federal officials to understand the barriers to effective use of ESA Section 7(a)(1) authority, including what the provision calls for with regards to endangered and threatened species; the development, adoption, and implementation of conservation plans; strategies and incentives for planning and implementation; and challenges and opportunities presented by climate change. An article, “Enabling Institutional Entrepreneurs at Federal Agencies,” is being prepared based on the public comments and interview data.
Finally, CLEANR, directed by Professor Camacho, has been working with Mikhail Matz at the University of Texas and Andrew Baker of the University of Miami on the challenges and opportunities of coral ecological replacement, with a particular focus on Florida (as the unfortunate “tip of the spear” of coral ecological crisis in the Caribbean). Professor Camacho and students conducted extensive legal and social science research including interviews to develop the white paper “The Science, Law, and Ethics of Ecological Replacement in the Caribbean,” canvassing the scientific, legal, and ethical issues of more interventionist strategies to help coral adapt to current and future stressors. CLEANR received extensive input on this white paper from a wide range of experts and then organized and convened a policy workshop on December 15 located at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science. Leading coral scientists, law and ethics scholars, and local, state, federal, and other national policymakers further explored the challenges, opportunities, and possible best practices for managing risks and advantages of coral transplantation in Florida. An article, to be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is expected in early 2026. Further workshops and outputs are expected in 2026 and beyond, in cooperation with UCLA’s Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
| | Postdoctoral Scholar of Climate Action Research and Policy Development | |
| | | This year, we highlight the work of Blaire Bernstein, CLEANR’s Postdoctoral Scholar. She carries out research and program development as part of CLEANR’s Integrated and Equitable Climate Action (IECA) program, a collaborative, community-driven effort to investigate and improve local and regional climate action throughout California and ensure compliance with state climate policy and civil rights laws. Before joining UC Irvine, Blaire worked as a legal consultant and researcher for the University of Oxford’s Climate Litigation Lab, investigating legal avenues to hold public finance institutions accountable for continued fossil fuel investments. She also worked as a law clerk for Our Children’s Trust, supporting national and international climate litigation efforts and identifying opportunities for strategic climate litigation. Bernstein earned a J.D. from Villanova Law School and an LL.M. in Global Environment and Climate Change Law from the University of Edinburgh Law School. In addition to serving as a writer and editor for the Villanova Law Review, she worked extensively in the fields of environmental and public interest law as a research assistant as well as for the Institute to Address Commercial Sexual Exploitation and the Clean Air Council.
The year ahead: “This year, the IECA Team held a policy conference with climate planning, land use, and government experts dedicated to identifying and overcoming challenges to environmental justice and climate action planning. Based on conference feedback, quantitative and qualitative data, literature review, and interviews conducted over the previous year, we wrote and published an extensive report titled Climate Action Governance: Lessons from California. Additionally, our team continued to compile data from planning documents across California, created policy briefs to assist local governments in climate action and environmental justice planning, and evaluated and provided recommendations to improve UC Irvine’s Climate Action and Adaptation Plan. We are excited to utilize CLEANR’s extensive network and resources to work closely with jurisdictions on developing climate action plans and environmental justice elements and give assistance through policy briefs, recommendation memoranda, and legal inventories. UC Irvine’s environmental law program offers unique opportunities by connecting law students with the work of local governments and CBOs.”
| | Second- and third-year law students in UC Irvine Law’s highly-regarded Environmental Law Clinic continued to work alongside and represent local, regional, and national non-profit organizations advocating to enhance and protect the environment and community health on a wide range of matters in California and beyond. Recent clinic work includes counseling on matters involving public trust and natural resources protection, species conservation, greenwashing, redevelopment, and community health and welfare. For the seventh consecutive year, Clinic students led the law school’s participation in the Global Day of Action. In this year’s event, clinics and NGOs from around the world hosted sessions around the clock, and across time zones, addressing decarbonization and just transition. In UC Irvine’s Clinic students led a well-attended and engaging discussion among leaders from labor, community and environmental justice, and academia. | | Publications and Presentations | | |
Alejandro Camacho
Chancellor’s Professor of Law and CLEANR Faculty Director
In 2025, Alejandro Camacho published: (1) The Case for Addressing Ecological Risk from Emerging Biotechnologies and an Agenda for Future Reforms, 85 Ohio St. L. J. 1221-50 (with David Dana) (2025); (2) Donald Trump’s record-breaking race to wreck the planet, The Hill (Aug. 25, 2025); (3) NEPA: The Accepted Lies and Mistakes About This Critical Environmental Law, The Revelator (June 27, 2025) (with Robert L. Glicksman); and (4) Climate Action Governance: Lessons from California, CLEANR Briefing Report (with Gregg Macey and Blaire Bernstein) (2025). Professor Camacho was UC Irvine Law’s Pro Bono Faculty Awardee from the American Association of Law Schools for his work with law students developing federal anti-regulatory trackers. He also served as amicus curiae for Learning Resources, et al., v. Donald Trump, and Donald Trump v. V.O.S. Selections et al. (DC Cir. Case Nos. 24-1287 and 25-250, 2025), and submitted comment letters on the following proposed and final federal regulations: (1) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Docket EPA-HQ-OAR-2024-0505, EPA Proposed Rule Setting Renewable Fuel Standards for 2026 and 2027 (Aug. 8, 2025); (2) U.S. Department of Energy Docket DOE-HQ-2025-0207-0001, Draft July 2025 Report A Critical Review of Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on the U.S. Climate (Aug. 8, 2025); (3) U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Request for Information and Comment concerning Endangered Species Act Section 10(a) Program Implementation; Development of Conservation Benefit Agreements and Habitat Conservation Plans (July 9, 2025); (4) U.S. Department of Energy, Docket DOE-HQ-2025-0024 (General Provisions), Docket DOE-HQ-2025-0015 (New Construction Requirements), Docket DOE-HQ-2025-0025 (Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities), and Docket DOE-HQ-2025-0016 (Basis of Sex in Sports Programs) (June 16, 2025); (5) U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Docket # FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0034 – Rescinding the Definition of “Harm” Under the Endangered Species Act (May 16, 2025); (6) Council on Environmental Quality, Docket # CEQ-2025-0002, Interim Final Rule, National Environmental Policy Act Implementing Regulations, 90 Fed. Reg. 10610 (Feb. 25, 2025); and (7) Council on Environmental Quality, Docket # CEQ-2025-0002, Interim Final Rule, National Environmental Policy Act Implementing Regulations, RIN 0331-AA10 (March 27, 2025). Additionally, Professor Camacho served on the Board of Directors of the Center for Progressive Reform and on the Editorial Board of Frontiers in Climate, Climate Law & Policy. Professor Camacho also spoke at Caltech, UC Merced, Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, UCLA, Northeastern, Minnesota, and Miami.
The year ahead: “I look forward to continuing to work with law students, scholars, and other advocates to advance conservation at local, state, federal, and international scales. There are likely to be many challenges ahead, but it is as vital as ever to resist attacks on conservation, find opportunities for practical solutions in state governments, and help the next generation of environmental lawyers be a bulwark against environmental degradation and injustice.”
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Joseph DiMento
Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus
In 2025, Joseph DiMento continued to serve as a review editor for “Frontiers.” His mid-range research goes forward with Jessica Perrucci on urban freeways in the 21st Century: their social and environmental impacts. He is lecturing on the topic, including a library presentation in central New York. His article on the limitations of the Trump administration's efforts to dismantle environmental law was published with recent UC Irvine Law graduate Danielle Strauss in the Daily Journal. He contributed to an amicus brief of the Stanford environmental law clinic on the public trust and ground water. With Jessica Petrucci he published Arctic Law: Even More Sustainable? Roles of the US and EU,” 93 UMKC Law Review 935 (2025).
The year ahead: “UC Irvine’s fundamental and long-standing interdisciplinary commitment has made for ongoing efforts between the law school and many other units to do research and offer public presentations on science, law, and the environment. UC Irvine Law’s Environmental Law Program has several special characteristics: the faculty are long-term associates and/or colleagues with environmental and land use lawyers throughout California and beyond. The deep research focuses of the faculty provide many opportunities for students interested in research to focus on environmental and equity projects.”
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Gregg Macey
Director, Center for Land, Environment, and Natural Resources
In 2025, Gregg Macey, CLEANR Director, published: (1) California’s Firth Climate Change Assessment, Topical Synthesis Report on Racial Equity and Climate Justice (chapter author) (under review); (2) Climate Action Governance: Lessons from California, Center for Land, Environment & Natural Resources, UC Irvine (with B. Bernstein and A. Camacho) (Nov. 2025); (3) Goods Movement and Environmental Justice Policy Pathologies, Center for Land, Environment & Natural Resources, UC Irvine (with S. Dexter) (Mar. 2025); (4) Between the Forest and the Trees: Navigating Silos and Setbacks to Vegetative Roadway Barriers, Journal of Urban Affairs (with D. Houston, J. Pearce, and C. Garoupa) (under review); (5) Community Strategies to Transform Roadways in California’s San Joaquin Valley, University of California Institute for Transportation Studies (with D. Houston, J. Pearce, and C. Garoupa) (2025); (6) Environmental Justice Pioneer Reflects on a Life of Service, Center for Land, Environment & Natural Resources, UC Irvine (Sept. 2025) (interview with Charles Lee); (7) County Air District Ignoring its Environmental Justice Obligations (Opinion), The San Diego Union-Tribune (Aug. 28, 2025) (with Charles Rilli); (8) Letter to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior re: Response to Fish and Wildlife Service Notice Request for Information and Comment Concerning Endangered Species Act Program Implementation (July 9, 2025); (9) Technical Advisory Committee, California Air Resources Board (peer review of Opportunities to Address Past Inequity to Build Healthier, More Sustainable Communities (2025) (July 2025); (10) Letter to Chair Harabedian, Vice Chair Laird, and Members of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, California State Legislature in support of audit of California’s Enforcement of Specified Agricultural Pesticide Use Laws and Regulations (June 10, 2025); (11) Comments on Warehouse Indirect Source Rule Framework Supplement, San Diego Air Pollution Control District Board (May 31, 2025); (12) Environmental Justice and Compassionate Administration, Center for Land, Environment & Natural Resources, UC Irvine (Apr. 2025) (with Imari Keith); (13) Letter to Katherine Scarlett, Chief of Staff, Council on Environmental Quality re: CEQ’s Interim Final Rule, “Removal of National Environmental Policy Act Implementing Regulations”, CEQ-2025-002 (Mar. 27, 2025); (14) Coalition of Organizations Urge Trump Administration to Protect Americans from Pollution, NAACP Press Statement (Mar. 27, 2025); (15) Letter to Lee Zeldin, Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency re: Maintaining Critical Protections Against TCE Health Risks under the Toxic Substances Control Act (Mar. 26, 2025); and (16) Improving UC Irvine’s Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, Center for Land, Environment & Natural Resources, UC Irvine (with B. Bernstein) (Nov. 2025). In 2025, Dr. Macey presented: (1) The State and Environmental Justice: Toward Reconciliation, Socio-Legal Studies Workshop Series, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA (Feb. 2025); (2) Agenda 2030 for the University: Climate and Sustainability Research, Workforce Development, and Tech Commercialization, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (Feb. 2025); (3) The Shifting Landscape of Community-Academic Climate Action Research, University of California Climate Action Research Conference, Sacramento, CA (Feb. 2025); (4) Pollution Magnets: Addressing Gaps in Air Pollution Regulation (organizer and presenter; partnered with Sierra Club and Earthjustice), Oakland, CA (Mar. 2025); (5) Innovative and Equitable Climate Action Planning (organizer and presenter; partnered with UC Davis, members of the California State Legislature, and environmental justice organizations), Sacramento, CA (June 2025); (6) Bay Area Air District’s Civil Rights in Permitting Program, Bay Area Air District Civil Rights in Permitting Roundtable (Aug. 2025); (7) A Tale of Two Climate-Addled Agencies, Campo-Sano Climate Action Conference on Farmworkers and the Environment, UC Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA (Oct. 2025); and (8) Legislative Action for Occupational Health and Safety (partnering with a statewide coalition for pesticide reform), Lindsay, CA (Dec. 2025). In 2025, he also drafted several articles to be submitted for publication in early 2026, including “Enabling Institutional Entrepreneurs at Federal Agencies” (with David Jennings), “Pesticide Use and Climate Change: Asking the Wrong Questions” (with Alexis Temkin), and “Environmental Justice Futurism: Excavating the Archives.” He served as a peer reviewer for several journals as well as the Los Angeles Region Chapter for California’s Fifth Climate Change Assessment and was appointed to serve as guest editor of a special issue on “Climate Adaptation and Resilience for Buildings and Infrastructure” for the Journal of Infrastructure Systems for the American Society of Civil Engineers. He co-authored “Sustainability and Climate Change Across the Law School Curriculum,” a report for an American Bar Association. And he served on the Steering Committee of the Title VI Alliance, a nationwide environmental justice coalition.
The year ahead: “It is a privilege to work with dozens of colleagues in the environmental justice movement, national non-profit organizations, leaders of state and local agencies, and academics to advance environmental policy and community protection in the world’s fourth largest economy. As Director of the Center for Land, Environment, and Natural Resources, I learned that my best work can be done through partnerships that unleash the potential of diverse groups to solve problems. In 2026, I look forward to completing the over 7.5 million dollars in funded research that I generated as Director, and to hosting policy design workshops on such topics as intentional discrimination in environmental protection, a history of Title VI litigation, climate action in the San Joaquin Valley, and community science and its use to inform air quality regulation. At the close of my time at UC Irvine, I look forward to working in a leadership position to develop and mobilize staff, convene new research teams, encourage policy change, further knowledge production, and expand the capacity of organizations to serve the public.”
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Nicholas Marantz
Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy
In the 2024-2025 academic year, Professor Nicholas Marantz was based in Paris, France, as a visiting researcher at Science Po’s Center for Research on Social Inequalities and its Center for European Studies.
The year ahead: "My research centers the roles of state and local governments in addressing the challenges of housing affordability and environmental sustainability. State and local action is likely to become even more important in the coming months and years, in the face of countervailing pressures at the federal level. To tackle climate change and housing unaffordability, California must advance green infrastructure and expand its housing supply. My research and students are driving solutions that promote social equity and enhance environmental quality, mobilizing the university's resources to meet these pressing challenges. Through interdisciplinary research, partnerships with community organizations, and engagement with policymakers, UC Irvine's environmental law program equips students and members of the public with the tools to address real-world challenges at the intersection of environmental protection and social equity."
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Michael Robinson-Dorn
Clinical Professor of Law
Michael Robinson-Dorn, who directs the Environmental Law Clinic and serves as Co-Associate Dean for Experiential Education, is continuing collaborations with colleagues in the U.S., Canada, and the UK focusing on manifestations of geography, and of climate and justice, on pedagogy, and on the benefits of strengthening networks of environmental law clinics.
Myron and Sonya Glassberg Chair: Professor Robinson-Dorn was installed as the inaugural Myron and Sonya Glassberg Chair in Environmental Law. Established through a generous pledge from the Mysun Charitable Foundation, the endowed chair will sustain and expand the clinic’s work on issues ranging from climate justice to natural resources protection.
| | Student Leadership at UC Irvine and Beyond | | |
Benjamin Garfinkel
Benjamin Garfinkel is a 2L at the University of California, Irvine School of Law and an Environmental Law Scholar, with a strong interest in environmental and coastal law. Before law school, he attended the University of California, San Diego, where he earned a double major in history and American politics and a minor in marine science. At UCSD, Benjamin served as a legal volunteer with AmeriCorps, providing legal assistance to unrepresented litigants, and worked on campus with the Green New Deal initiative to explore pathways for decarbonizing University of California campuses. After graduating, he took a gap year volunteering at the Birch Aquarium, where he educated visitors about the biodiversity of California’s coastal and marine ecosystems. During law school, Benjamin has completed over eighty hours of pro bono service, including work with the Surfrider Foundation during the Fall 2025 semester. He has also served as both a 1L and 2L representative in the Student Bar Association. In the summer of 2025, Benjamin worked with the California Coastal Commission’s enforcement division, assisting with investigations of permit compliance and alleged coastal violations.
The Year Ahead: “In the coming year, I plan to continue building practical experience in environmental and coastal law through both coursework and service. After taking Environmental Law last semester, I am eager to further develop that foundation by enrolling in the Environmental Law Clinic, Land Use and Development, and Ocean and Coastal Law next semester, which I see as important opportunities to better understand how environmental law operates in practice. I am also seeking a summer position in environmental law where I can continue developing these skills outside the classroom. In addition, I plan to continue my pro bono work with the Surfrider Foundation, supporting efforts to protect coastal resources and public access. Together, these experiences will allow me to deepen my understanding of the many facets of environmental law. I am grateful that UC Irvine Law offers students meaningful opportunities to engage with environmental law both in the classroom and in practice.”
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Ariana Keshishian
Ariana Keshishian is a third-year law student at UC Irvine School of Law and earned her B.A. in Sociology from UC Irvine. As an undergraduate, she pursued extensive coursework and research focused on environmental issues, including global environmental governance, sustainability, and the social dimensions of environmental change. Her honors thesis examined how global environmental regimes have been integrated into education systems worldwide over time. In the Sustainable Societies program, she conducted research on sustainable urban development in Arizona, retail-level food waste in Denmark, and the environmental consequences of industrialization in Indonesia. Before law school, she engaged in environmental writing and advocacy through journalism and nonprofit work. As an editor for the New University, she covered environmental events and initiatives across Orange County. She also collaborated with clinical fellows from the Environmental Law Clinic at UC Irvine Law to organize an informative campus event. After graduation, she volunteered as a writer and editor for a local ocean conservation nonprofit, where she supported public-facing education and outreach efforts. In 2025, she served as a Legal Research Associate for Professor Alejandro Camacho. In that role, she worked on research supporting Lessons for a Warming Planet: A Vital History of US Environmental Law, an upcoming book examining U.S. environmental legal history through the current era. She also worked on research addressing marine species translocation and energy policy. As an advanced Community & Economic Development clinical student, she worked on land use matters for multiple nonprofit organizations.
The year ahead: “In the coming year, I plan to continue my engagement with environmental law through research, advocacy, and professional development. I will attend the University of Texas School of Law’s Nonprofit Organizations Institute in Austin to learn more about the governance, compliance, and advocacy frameworks that shape how environmental organizations operate and pursue their missions. I also plan to undertake independent legal research examining the role of legal advisors within advocacy- and mission-driven institutions. At a moment when environmental protections, regulatory authority, and public trust in institutions continue to be tested, I am grateful to be part of a legal community that encourages thoughtful, critical engagement with the environmental challenges of our time.”
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Paloma Ledesma
Paloma Ledesma is a Latina from a rural community near the Salton Sea, an experience that has shaped her commitment to environmental justice and community-centered advocacy. She studied Biochemistry with a minor in Conservation and Resource Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, where she began to understand the health challenges facing her community through an interdisciplinary lens that combined science, policy, and organizing. While at Berkeley, Paloma was involved with the Student Environmental Resource Center (SERC) as a Community Organizer and Sustainability Fellow. Through her work at SERC, she organized coordinated partnerships with student and community organizations and led environmental education efforts. Before entering law school, Paloma worked at the Anthropocene Institute directing air quality research and leading community outreach efforts across California. This work strengthened her interest in toxicology, environmental regulation, and the role of law in addressing climate and public health inequities. She chose to attend UC Irvine because of the strength of its environmental law faculty and research opportunities. At UC Irvine, Paloma contributes to CLEANR’s equitable climate action planning project with jurisdictions across California. This past semester, she worked pro bono on immigration defense and advocating for environmental regulatory action. In her coursework, she studied environmental law with Professor Camacho. As a clinical student at UC Irvine’s International Justice Clinic, she researched academic freedom with a focus on climate science and public health. Currently, she serves as Director of Academic and Professional Development for the Environmental Law Society and organized a mentorship picnic connecting mentors and mentees.
The year ahead: “Action is the antidote to despair, and I am grateful for the opportunities available at UC Irvine to take action. Working on academic freedom and connecting with climate and public health researchers has underscored the importance of advocacy in the face of injustice. For the spring semester, I intend to continue my work as an advanced student at the International Justice Clinic. I also look forward to expanding my knowledge through coursework in climate justice, indigenous sovereignty, and land use. Additionally, I will pursue pro bono opportunities to address immigration issues in response to ongoing attacks against immigrant communities, as well as projects focused on environmental regulation. In summer 2026, I will work at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, where I plan to further develop my legal research and advocacy skills at the intersection of environmental, regulatory, and land use law. Through this combination of private-sector experience, rigorous academic study, and sustained public interest work, I aim to build a legal practice grounded in equity, accountability, and community-centered advocacy.”
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Gabrielle Moore
Gabrielle Moore is a third-year law student at UC Irvine Law with a passion for exploring environmental and social justice issues. Prior to law school, she studied Global Environments and Sustainability at the University of Virginia. During her fourth year, she worked as a research assistant for an environmental law professor at UVA School of Law, where she explored the intersectionality of environmental law. Moore is interested in the intersection of environmental law with land use, housing, and civil rights. She is strengthening her understanding of these realms as a student in the Civil Rights Litigation Clinic. She is now a Legal Research Associate for Professor Alejandro Camacho, contributing to projects such as legislation analysis, opposition letters to Congress on proposed bills, and research into the history of environmental law in the United States. Most recently, she assisted with research on assisted migration of coral. Selected as an Environmental Law Scholar, Moore is eager to expand her understanding to contribute to equitable and sustainable solutions for the pressing environmental and social issues we currently face.
The year ahead: “In 2026, I plan to dive deeper into the intersection of real estate and environmental law, learning how the two impact each other and how both can be improved to serve the other’s needs.”
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Estrella Ramos
Estrella Ramos, a second-year law student at UC Irvine Law, was born and raised in the Central Valley. She is a first-generation college graduate and law student. She chose to attend UC Irvine Law because she appreciated the school’s focus on interdisciplinary learning, practical training, and pro bono work. While navigating law school, she has received incredible support from her peers, professors, and mentors. “This campus is such an inclusive space that fosters an engaging classroom environment. There is also a variety of welcoming student organizations that make you feel right at home. Personally, I am passionate about responsible environmental development and building safe and healthy communities! I have had so many opportunities to support underserved communities during my time at UC Irvine Law, thanks to the quality education I have received.” She is a member of the Latinx Law Student Association, Environmental Law Society, Law Students for Justice in Palestine, and If/When/How. She is a student in the Environmental Law and Domestic Violence clinics and has carried out pro bono work for Abortion Access Legislative Tracking, Litigation Services for the Underserved, and Family Preparedness Clinic.
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Stanley Shaw
Stanley Shaw is an ardent environmentalist born and raised in Arcadia, California. Watching The Day After Tomorrow in 2004 sparked his then-childhood concern over climate change. Since then, he tailored his formal education and work opportunities to become a well-rounded environmental attorney serving the public interest. Shaw graduated cum laude from UC Berkeley with a B.A. in History, a B.S. in Conservation and Resource Studies, and a minor in Forestry and Natural Resources. Prior to law school, Shaw worked for three years at Save the Redwoods League, protecting coastal redwoods and giant sequoias in conjunction with federal and state agencies, Tribal partners, and other environmental nonprofits. Shaw chose to attend UC Irvine Law for its strong environmental law faculty and cohesive community. In his first year of law school, he completed nearly 100 hours of pro bono work and later interned with the South Coast Air Quality Management District in summer 2024. As a 2L, he served as the Chair of the Environmental Law Society, Co-Chair of the Public Interest Law Fund, Executive Editor for the Journal of International, Transnational, and Comparative Law, and Historian for both the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association and Tabletop Club. He is also involved with First Generation Professionals, Native American Law Student Association, and the Admissions Ambassador program. Shaw enjoyed participating in the Environmental Law Clinic during Fall 2024 because it provided him with his first substantive experience working on environmental law matters. He organized and led ELS's sixth Global Day of Action alongside UC Irvine Law's Environmental Law Clinic and the UC Irvine Sustainability Resource Center. In addition, he completed environmental pro bono work for the Surfrider Foundation and American Constitution Society. He clerked for Earthjustice's California Regional Office in Summer 2025. In Spring 2025, Shaw and the ELS Executive Board signed ELS onto a letter-of-support for Assembly Bill ("AB") 1056 seeking to retire gillnet fishing permits. AB 1056's subsequent passage into law highlighted how ELS—the only student-led signatory among 36 other cosigners such as Sierra Club California and NRDC—can leverage student voices in strengthening support for meaningful environmental legislation. In Fall 2025, Shaw organized (1) ELS's attendance at the 34th Environmental Law Conference at Yosemite, (2) ELS's Mini Field Trip to the Langson Institute's "Habitat: Making the California Environment" exhibit, and (3) UC Irvine Law's first-ever competition team for the National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition ("NELMCC") held annually at Pace Law.
The year ahead: “In addition to taking two classes on climate justice and Indigenous sovereignty, I will be returning to the Environmental Law Clinic a third time to reprise my role as an Advanced Clinic Student. For extracurricular activities, I will be traveling to New York with my teammates and fellow 3Ls, Maria Alvarado and Serapia Kim, to deliver oral arguments for NELMCC. And because Spring 2026 is my last semester at UC Irvine Law, I want to continue fostering our environmental community's connection with one another through a collaborative multimedia project that I am preparing.”
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