Michael B. Gerrard

Michael B. Gerrard, Andrew Sabin Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia Law School, teaches courses on environmental law, climate change law, and energy regulation, and is director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. He also chairs the faculty of Columbia University’s Earth Institute.

From 1979 through 2008, he practiced environmental law in New York, most recently as partner in charge of the New York office of the firm now known as Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer. Upon joining the Law School faculty in 2009, he became the firm’s senior counsel. His practice involved trying numerous cases and arguing many appeals in federal and state courts and administrative tribunals; handling the environmental aspects of numerous transactions and development projects; and providing regulatory compliance advice to a wide variety of clients in the private and public sectors.

A prolific writer in environmental law and climate change, Gerrard twice received the Association of American Publishers’ Best Law Book award for works on environmental law and brownfields. He has written or edited eleven books, including Global Climate Change and U.S. Law, the leading work in its field (second edition published in 2014, co-edited with Jody Freeman), and the 12-volume Environmental Law Practice Guide.

Gerrard was the 2004-2005 chair of the American Bar Association’s 10,000-member section of environment, energy, and resources. He also chaired the New York City Bar Association’s executive committee and the New York State Bar Association’s environmental law section. He has served on the executive committees of the boards of the Environmental Law Institute and the American College of Environmental Lawyers. Several independent rating services ranked Gerrard as the leading environmental lawyer in New York and one of the leading environmental lawyers in the world.

Gerrard has taught courses at Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and New York University Law School; as a visiting professor at Universite Paris 1 Panteon-Sorbonne; and as visiting distinguished scholar at Vermont Law School. He has also lectured on environmental law in Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Spain, Italy, Vatican City, Malta, Israel, China, Taiwan, India, Japan, Chile, Brazil, The Marshall Islands, Canada, and the U.S.