Turner Environmental Law Clinic


The Turner Environmental Law Clinic provides free legal assistance to individuals, community groups and nonprofit organizations seeking to protect and restore the natural environment for the benefit of the public. Through its work, the clinic offers students an intense, hands-on introduction to environmental law and regulatory practice.

The Turner Clinic features live-client representation in complex civil litigation settings, while also providing transactional and advocacy opportunities. Student attorneys work closely with co-counsel, expert witnesses, municipal leaders and some of the region’s and nation’s most prominent environmental organizations to protect the environment. Students litigate before state and federal administrative and judicial tribunals, draft legislation, and prepare and critique land-use documents, natural resource protection plans and environmental reports.

Under supervision from the clinic faculty, Turner Clinic students manage each matter from the initial prospective client meeting to completion.

Representative Matters

The clinic’s work touches upon some of the most difficult and cutting-edge environmental issues of the day: energy and climate change, endangered species protection, water and coastal resource protection, natural resource allocation, environmental justice, urban agriculture and sustainability. Each year, the clinic provides more than 2,500 hours of pro bono representation on these important matters.

What Our Students Have to Say

"The Turner Clinic has been the most practical legal experience I’ve had during law school. We are able to take the information learned in the classroom, apply it to real cases and draft documents that are filed in court or presented to the clinic’s clients. While in the clinic, I was part of a team that produced a 90-page report on urban agriculture practices across the country. Once the report had been published, we had the opportunity to attend meetings with the city of Atlanta, present our findings and make recommendations on how to revise Atlanta’s zoning ordinances to incorporate the best practices of the cities we surveyed."
—Sarah Morse 11L, Public Interest Fellow for Turner Clinic

"I can’t stress how invaluable it was for me to get such hands-on mentoring and insight at the clinic yet be given the freedom to craft my arguments and implement them in a real case. Working with, and against, licensed attorneys gave me not just the motivation to learn and develop my legal skill set, it gave me the confidence to know that I can be a successful advocate."
—Matt Shechtman 11L,
2011-2012 clerk for 5th Circuit Court Judge Catharina Haynes 86L