Professor Rock Pring and Kitty Pring, Authors of Ground-Breaking Study on "Environmental Courts and Tribunals," Speak in Chile and Australia

The ground-breaking book Greening Justice: Creating and Improving Environmental Courts and Tribunals, authored by Professor Rock Pring of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and alternative dispute resolution-expert (and wife) Catherine Pring, continues to generate enormous interest all across the world.

Most recently the Prings were invited to critique the proposed legislation for Chile’s new environmental courts and tribunals (ECT) at the University of Chile Environmental Law Conference in Santiago.

According to Professor Pring, "Chile has just adopted sweeping reforms to their environmental laws and enforcement institutions, of which the new ECT will be a central feature." While there, the Prings advised Chile’s national Environment Minister, the Superintendent of the Environment, and attorneys for the Ministry and Superintendency on the new institution.

In September, they co-presented on “Judicial Challenges with ECTs” at the Australasian Conference of Planning and Environment Courts and Tribunals (ACPECT) in Sydney, Australia, and presented a paper on “Specialized ECTs: The Explosion of New Institutions to Adjudicate Climate Change” at the Conference on Environmental Governance and Democracy co-sponsored by Yale Law School and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) in New Haven, CT.

The Prings co-direct the University of Denver Environmental Courts and Tribunals (ECT) Study – which they began in 2007 – researching, writing, and advising about these specialized environmental adjudication bodies. To learn more about the study, please click here.

Professor Pring says, "The goal of the Prings’ ECT Study and book is to provide needed assistance to governments and civil society around the world on how to establish or reform ECTs, with guidance on best practices, in line with the University of Denver’s motto of 'A private university working in the public interest.'”

Environmental Courts and Tribunals Study Co-authored by DU Law Professor George (Rock) Pring Featured in The New York Times

The first comprehensive global report on the status of environmental courts and tribunals, which was authored by University of Denver Sturm College of Law Professor George (Rock) Pring and his wife Catherine Pring, was featured recently in The New York Times.

The report, "Greening Justice: Creating and Improving Environmental Courts and Tribunals," published by the Access Initiative of the Washington, D.C.-based World Resources Institute, identified 12 essential elements "that go into making environment courts successful," according to Prof. Pring.

According to the Times' article:

"The number of courts and tribunals specializing in environmental issues doubled during the past decade, prompted by increasingly complex regulations and growing concerns about natural resources, according to a new study."

The article, entitled "Study: Last Decade Saw Boom in Environmental Courts, Tribunals" (April 20, 2010), can be accessed by clicking here.

The map at left indicates (in green) the countries in which environmental courts or tribunals exist.

Please click here to visit the Prings' Environmental Courts and Tribunals website.

Students attending the Sturm College of Law have the opportunity of learning directly from world recognized environmental law professors such as Professor Pring. Among the courses he teaches are "Environmental Law," "International Environmental Law," and "International Water Law." He is also the faculty advisor for the University of Denver Water Law Review, the leading water law journal in the U.S.

International Videocast: DU “ECT Study” Team Tele-Presents to Queensland, Australia, Environmental Court Judges

DU Law Professor George (Rock) Pring and research partner Catherine (Kitty) Pring presented a keynote address – via DU’s state-of-the-art video communications system – to the Judges of the Planning and Environment Court (PEC) in Australia’s State of Queensland, on Monday, Aug. 10, at 5:00 pm (9:00 am Tuesday for the Judges, who were 16 hours ahead). There was spirited discussion in both trans-Pacific directions, since each group could see the other in realtime on giant flatscreen tvs.

The Prings outlined the findings of the University of Denver Environmental Courts and Tribunals (ECT) Study – the first global comparative study of these fast-spreading judicial and administrative bodies specializing in resolving disputes involving environment, land use, sustainable development, and related issues. There are now over 250 ECTs in at least 37 different countries.

The invitation to keynote the PEC conference was a particular honor, since that court is a longstanding model ECT with very experienced environmental judges. (For an overview of the PEC's activities in 2007-2008, please see "District Court of Queensland Annual Report 2007-2008," page 29-30.)

PEC Judge Michael Rackemann served as the "host" of the conference session in which the Prings appeared. Judge Rackemann gave an excellent, well-attended presentation earlier this year (to see the video, please click here) to our students and faculty on the Environmental Courts of Queensland during his visit to DU. The presentation was sponsored by five student groups: the Natural Resources and Environmental Law Society, Land Use Law Society, Construction and Real Estate Law Society, Native American Law Students Association, and International Law Society. He was visiting DU as a consequence of an earlier interview the Prings had conducted with him in Australia for the ECT Study.

A unique aspect of the ECT Study is that it is being done by a multidisciplinary husband-wife team. Each brings complementary expertise to the project. Professor Pring is a noted scholar, teacher, and consultant in environmental, international, and constitutional law and a former environmental litigation attorney. Mrs. Pring is an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) expert, professional mediator and facilitator, systems analyst, and former government health and human services administrator.

According to the Prings, "The goal of the study is to produce a practical, capacity-building 'tool kit' – of models, options, issues, and best practices – to guide governments and others in establishing or reforming ECTs. The study finds 12 basic 'design decisions' are involved in creating an effective ECT." The study will be published by The Access Initiative of the World Resources Institute thinktank (TAI-WRI) in Washington, DC, in December, in free print and on-line versions.

The Prings have researched, observed, and interviewed over 150 ECT judges, prosecutors, attorneys, government officials, academics, and advocacy groups at 32 ECTs in 22 countries to provide that knowledge-base to others desiring to create or reform ECTs to improve citizen access to environmental justice. For more, see the ECT Study website.

To view a video interview (conducted in mid-April) about the study with the Prings, please click here.

Ground-Breaking Comparative Global Study on Environmental Courts & Tribunals Undertaken by DU Professor

A fascinating and cutting edge new study, the "DU Environmental Courts & Tribunals Study," which compares environmental courts and tribunals across the world, is being undertaken by Prof. George (Rock) Pring, an expert on U.S. and international environmental law and a professor in the graduate program.

Prof. Pring and his wife Catherine are putting the final touches on their study, which has taken them to nearly 30 countries where they have interviewed more than 125 officials.  The process of undertaking the study and their findings will, no doubt, be shared with Prof. Pring's students at DU.

In the picture, Rock and Kitty Pring are on the right and one of the individuals they interviewed, former Brazilian Federal Court Judge Vladimir Passos de Freitas, a pioneer in the development of environmental courts in Brazil, and his wife Sandra are on the left.

I recently conducted an interview with Rock and Kitty Pring that can be accessed by clicking here.   They have an amazing and thoroughly interesting story to tell about their project, which is sure to have a major impact all across the globe.

Rock Pring is a "star" in the environmental law and policy field, and this innovative and thought provoking new study clearly demonstrates that once again.