Victor Flatt
Blake Hudson
Dec. 10, 2019 — Two University of Houston Law Center faculty members have been chosen to share their expertise in environmental law as distinguished visiting scholars at law schools in New York and Vermont.
Professor Victor B. Flatt, the Dwight Olds Chair in Law, and Professor Blake Hudson, the A.L. O'Quinn Chair in Environmental Studies, were awarded week-long residencies as Haub Distinguished Environmental Scholars at Pace University’s Elisabeth Haub School of Law in White Plains, NY. Flatt and Hudson are co-directors of the Law Center’s Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Program.
“We are proud that these academics will enhance our environmental law program and allow our students to have a greater understanding of environmental law, policy and regulation and the intersection of these areas,” Dean Horace Anderson said in announcing the 2019-2020 Haub Visiting Scholars.
Hudson also has been chosen for a two-week summer program as a Distinguished Environmental Law Scholar at Vermont Law School for the summer of 2020. Richard Lazarus, of Harvard Law School, was Vermont’s 2019 Distinguished Environmental Law Scholar. Flatt was so honored by Vermont Law in the summer of 2013.
Flatt is a recognized expert on environmental law, climate law and energy law. His research focuses on environmental legislation and enforcement, with particular expertise in the Clean Air Act and National Environmental Policy Act.
While at the Haub School of Law in September, Flatt taught a class in Administrative Law and delivered a public lecture on the overlap of climate change and attorney ethics.
“The experience at the Elisabeth Haub School was fantastic,” he said. “It is a remarkable chance to discuss important environment, climate, and energy issues at one of the other law schools with a large and diverse environmental and energy programs.”
Hudson’s research focuses on the intersection of land use and natural resources law and policy, concentrating of late on private forest management and the role of forests in combatting climate change.
“I am honored to receive both the Haub and the Vermont distinguished visiting scholar opportunities,” he said. “Both schools are widely respected for their top-notch environmental scholarship, teaching and programming. It will be an incredibly valuable experience to immerse myself in their respective communities and learn from the excellent faculty and students at both institutions.”
While at Haub in April, he plans to speak about land use planning and climate change, and what New York City and Houston can learn from each other about land use-based adaptation after each recently experienced hurricanes and flooding made worse by climate change.
