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Robyn Powell, Reproductive Justice for Disabled People During COVID-19 and Beyond, in Routledge Gender Companion to Gender and COVID-19 (Routledge, 2024)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
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Kirsten K. Davis and Francis J. Mootz, Contemporary Law Through the Classical Lens, in Classical Rhetoric and Contemporary Law: A Critical Reader (Francis J. Mootz et al. eds., University of Alabama Press, 2024)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
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Kirsten K. Davis, Qunitilian: The Lawyer, Speaking – The Lawyer as “Perfect Orator”, in Classical Rhetoric and Contemporary Law: A Critical Reader (Francis J. Mootz et al. eds., University of Alabama Press, 2024)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
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Kristen R. Moore, Field Note: Supporting Student Parents in Law School, in Supporting Student Parents in the Academic Library: Designing Spaces, Policies, and Services (Association of College and Research Libraries, 2024)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
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Roy Balleste, The Consciousness of Astronautical Ethics, in Human Flourishing: The End of Law (W. Michael Reisman and Roza Pati eds., Brill|Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2023)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
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Royal C. Gardner et al., Ramsar Convention Governance and Processes at the International Level, in Ramsar Wetlands: Values, Assessment, and Management (Peter A. Gell et al. eds., Elsevier, 2023)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
Various players participate in the governance of the Ramsar Convention. The Conference of the Parties (COP), which typically meets every 3 years, consists of the Convention’s Contracting Parties and holds ultimate decision-making authority. At each COP, Resolutions are adopted, providing instruction and guidance regarding the Convention’s implementation. Between COPs, the Standing Committee, consisting of Contracting Parties based on regional representation, exercises decision-making authority. The Convention’s Secretariat, which is located in Switzerland, provides administrative support, while the Scientific and Technical Review Panel is the Convention’s scientific advisory body. The Convention is further supported by International Organisation Partners, which are intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations. Ramsar operates largely through consensus and collaboration. Much of the Convention’s first 50 years focused on building institutional structures and developing technical guidance. Yet, as the Global Wetland Outlook indicates, the Contracting Parties have thus far failed to halt wetland loss and degradation.
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Royal C. Gardner et al., Ramsar at the National Level: Application and Incorporation into Domestic Law, in (Peter A. Gell et al. eds., Elsevier, 2023)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
A Contracting Party to the Ramsar Convention assumes certain obligations under international law: designation and conservation of wetlands of international importance (Ramsar Sites), wise use of all wetlands within its territory, and international cooperation regarding shared wetland resources, including species. Although it is a framework convention that lacks a formal enforcement mechanism, the Ramsar Convention influences domestic legal regimes in a number of ways. Its impact on domestic laws, policies, and practices for wetlands depends in part on whether a particular Party subscribes to a monist, dualist, or mixed approach to international law. In a monist system, Ramsar obligations, including those flowing from Resolutions agreed upon at the regular Conference of Parties, may apply directly within a domestic legal regime. Under a dualist approach, Ramsar obligations may require specific implementing legislation before they are effective within the domestic sphere.
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Robyn Powell and Elspeth Slayter, An Overview of Disabled Children and Parents in the Family Policing System, in Social Work Practice and Disability Communities: An Intersectional Anti-Oppressive Approach (Elspeth Slayter and Lisa Johnson eds., ROTEL Project, 2023)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
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Susan D. Rozelle and Carolyn B. Ramsey, People v. Berry, 556 P.2d 777 (Cal. 1976), in Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Criminal Law Opinions (Bennett Capers et al. eds., Cambridge University Press, 2022)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
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Christine E. Cerniglia et al., Creating Blueprints for Law School Responses to Natural Disasters, in The Cambridge Handbook of Disaster Law and Policy: Risk, Recovery, and Redevelopment (Susan S. Kuo et al. eds., Cambridge University Press, 2022)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
A recent onslaught of domestic natural disasters created acute, critical needs for legal services for people displaced and harmed by storms and fires. In 2017, Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria and Michael struck much of Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico, displacing millions from their homes. Wildfires burned throughout California and tested the capacity of pro bono and legal aid systems across the state. In 2018, Hurricane Florence flooded North Carolina, and Hurricane Michael devastated the Florida Panhandle. California again suffered wildfires, the largest and most devastating in recorded history. Natural disasters are both more common and more destructive, the “new abnormal.”
Social and economic inequities emerge sharply after each natural disaster. Low-income and vulnerable people both suffer more from disasters and experience heightened barriers to accessing the post-disaster resources necessary to survive, rebuild, and return home. Marginalized and vulnerable populations, in particular, need legal assistance and expertise to overcome these barriers.
Natural disasters also inspire law students, law clinics, law schools and law faculty to help. Law school responses to assisting with post-disaster legal needs have been diverse. Some efforts have been law student initiated, while several law school clinics have provided legal assistance in a variety of ways. Some law schools have launched clinics with a devoted budget and strict focus on disaster practice. Some took on disaster work because it was the greatest need for existing clients and communities. Others shifted the focus of existing clinics to disaster needs, and still others launched temporary clinics in various forms to respond to acute crises. Some wanted to help but did not have ready relationships or resources to be responsive.
Each of the authors has direct experience surviving natural disasters and providing legal assistance from within the academy. This article provides necessary information about the nature of natural disasters, the ecosystem of response systems, and common legal issues for law schools and clinical programs interested in providing legal assistance to disaster-affected communities. It then describes varying models of law school institutional responses to increasingly common natural disasters. Building on lessons learned through these experiences, law schools can develop a blueprint for community-engaged disaster response. Building a framework for institutional responses in the legal academy can advance and improve access to justice for vulnerable communities recovering after a disaster and can provide students with an opportunity to learn from this social justice engagement.