IELP - Lewis & Clark Law School (Portland, OR)

General

• Mission:

Lewis & Clark Law School established the first environmental law program in 1969, anticipating the need for a new generation of lawyers to help craft, implement, and enforce environmental law. Lewis & Clark’s environmental law program is regularly ranked as one of the best in the nation. It continues to innovate, now housing the only on-campus legal clinic specializing in international environmental law—IELP. IELP works directly with governments, institutions, and non-governmental organizations on marine conservation, international wildlife trade, climate change, and trade-environment issues. IELP has worked closely with advocates on an array of international wildlife conservation issues, including turtles, polar bears, African elephants, migratory birds, monarchs, and whales. As a clinic, IELP also trains and educates students to develop, implement, and enforce international environmental law.

IELP Director Chris Wold has been practicing international environmental law for more than 20 years, starting with the Center for International Environmental Law in 1990. He has participated in CITES meetings for almost 20 years. He is also the lead author of Climate Change Law & Policy (2009) numerous publications concerning international wildlife law. Professor Erica Lyman has been IELP’s staff attorney since 2005. She has quickly established herself as a leading CITES attorney, recently providing CITES training to the government of Morocco. Lewis & Clark College, of which IELP is a part, is a 501(c)(3) organization.

• History:

Professor Chris Wold came to Lewis & Clark Law School in 1994 to add an international component to the law school’s highly regarded environmental law program. At that time, he began teaching international environmental law courses and engaging students in real-life international environmental law. One of the first projects that students worked on was the drafting on an international treaty among Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Panama to protect sea turtles in the Caribbean Sea, which is now being implemented by Costa Rica and Panama. Since then, IELP and IELP students have worked on an extraordinary range of projects and issues, including petitioning to the NAFTA environmental commission alleging that the United States is failing to enforce the Migratory Bird Treaty Act against loggers, representing NGOs at meetings of the International Whaling Commission, and providing legal advice to Pacific Island Developing States in the climate change negotiations. Because of IELP’s broad expertise in international environmental law, international trade law, and public international law, IELP has been hired by a range of nongovernmental organizations, governments, and international institutions. These have included the CITES Secretariat, the governments of Germany and Mauritius, World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace, and many others.

• Year established:1994

Registration

• Organization type:Grantseeker
• Country of registration:United States
• Year established:1994
• Tax Determination Letter:Received Determination Letter
• IRS Section:501(c)(3)
• IRS Subsection:509(a)(1)

Web Listing

• Guidestar listed:Yes
• Charity Navigator listed:Yes
• Give.org listed:No
• Charity Watch listed:No