There's a good reason why there are over 800,000 lawyers in the United States. The law can be a very broad subject. When most people think of lawyers, they tend to picture personal injury professionals or family law experts.
However, one often unsung sector of litigation is environmental law. Unfortunately, there seems to be a lot of confusion surrounding this area.
So exactly what is an environmental lawyer? And how do they help with fighting for justice both for Mother Earth and the people living in it?
If you want to learn the answers to these questions, you're in the right place. This guide will briefly give you a crash course for this important job position.
What Is an Environmental Lawyer?
Environmental lawyers are responsible for upholding governmental regulations that industries, companies, and individuals must adhere to. They might also advocate for new policies that are designed to protect our water supply, air, land use, plant life, and animal life.
Environmental lawyers tend to work for either governmental agencies or non-profits. However, in some cases, they might be employed by private companies.
What Are the Different Types of Laws They Deal With?
There are a variety of different areas that environmental lawyers can specialize in. These days, one big one involves climate change. Work in this area might involve pushing new policies that incentivize less carbon output.
It could also involve holding oil companies and other perpetrators of climate change accountable. Wildlife law works to pass laws that restrict the hunting of endangered species.
It's quite similar to conservation, which seeks to protect areas like national parks and similarly diverse outdoor environments (and the animals and plants that reside in them).
Lastly, there's environmental law related to pollution. Again, this can be a fairly wide-encompassing area of the law. It might involve broad policy change related to landfills or recycling programs.
Or it might target individuals and companies guilty of hazardous waste. This would be classified as an environmental contamination lawyer.
What Skills Are Needed to Become an Environmental Lawyer?
You will need to follow a similar route as any other lawyer in terms of going to law school and passing the BAR. However, environmental lawyers who want to be successful should also have additional skills.
First, you need to be good at understanding complex data sets and science topics. What's more, you also need to be able to communicate these complex topics in a way that the average person can understand.
Strong communication skills and a passion for protecting the world against the climate crisis and environmental damage are also a must.
Appreciate Learning About Environmental Law? Keep Exploring
We hope this guide helped you answer the question, What is an environmental lawyer? As you can see, without these lawyers there would be few people standing in the way of environmental justice.
While it might not pay as much as some of the sectors of the law, it comes with the job satisfaction of knowing you're making a tangible difference.
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