UNC School of Law overproduces 'fossil fuel lawyers,' according to climate report

In March 2023, Law Students for Climate Accountability, a student-led organization for climate justice, said that top law schools, in comparison to average law schools in the United States, produced "anti-climate" lawyers at higher rates, in an annual report.

Haley Czarnek, the national director of LSCA, wrote in an email to The Daily Tar Heel that in the organization's next report, the UNC School of Law will rank in the top 20 for producing "fossil fuel lawyers." The LSCA's March report defines this label as lawyers who "help climate polluters avoid accountability, write the contracts for climate-destroying fossil fuel projects, and lobby against environmental regulations."

“T-20 schools have produced nearly half of all US fossil fuel lawyers in our dataset,” the report said, adding that the top 20 national law schools produced fossil fuel lawyers at a rate of more than three times of the average U.S. law school.

Czarnek said that law firms categorize lawyers into different practice groups, with some not participating in work relating to fossil fuels, while others include lawyers who defend "climate polluters." She said that only lawyers who work in fossil fuel practices are considered fossil fuel lawyers and that the number of lawyers in a firm decides how the firm is graded on the LSCA scorecard.

Czarnek said that law firms have contributed to the climate crisis through lobbying, litigation and transactions.

“Law firms are actually pretty involved to the tune of tens of millions of dollars in fossil fuels lobbying. And so, it’s not only protecting them, it’s also trying to ensure that they never have to face liability because there just aren’t any laws on the books that would hold them accountable,” Czarnek said. 

An LSCA dataset from 2022 — ranking 195 U.S. law schools based on the number of fossil fuel lawyers they produce — ranks UNC 19th, Czarnek wrote in an email to The DTH.

Maya Powell, a doctoral candidate in UNC's environment, ecology and energy program and co-chair of the Climate Crisis Committee — an organization within the graduate and professional student government — expressed concerns regarding UNC’s role in the climate crisis.

Powell spoke about UNC's cogeneration facility, saying that it has two cylinders, with one powered by coal and one powered by natural gas. She said that most students are unaware of the health and environmental consequences.

“I think that it’s really interesting that we are one of the largest public universities in the South, and one of the top public universities in the nation and we are really highly invested in fossil fuels,” Powell said.

Sustainable Carolina, UNC's sustainability hub, contains UNC's Climate Action Plan, which the website describes as a living document. The website said that UNC uses boilers to generate steam that is used for campus customers, saying that they currently operate with a mix of natural gas and coal, slowly replacing coal used with natural gas each year as it emits fewer greenhouse gases into the environment.

The project is also described under Climate Action Plan Tracking on the website, describing it as ongoing and with a high emission impact. Based on the website's key, the project has a time horizon of five to 10 years.

The DTH reached out to members of UNC Energy Services concerning details around the cogeneration facility but was unable to obtain comment.

Donald Thomas Hornstein, a Thomas F. Taft distinguished professor at the UNC School of Law, previously worked in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environmental Division to enforce environmental laws before living in North Carolina. Hornstein also submitted a Supreme Court amicus curiae brief with a group of UNC law students. He wrote in an email to The DTH that this supported an N.C. lawsuit that led to the retiring of more coal-fired coal plants at one time than ever in U.S. history. 

Hornstein practiced law at Arnold & Porter, which received an “F” on the abbreviated LSCA’s Law Firm Climate Change Scorecard for their litigation, lobbying and fossil fuels transactions grades. According to the LSCA, along with Paul Weiss and Gibson Dunn, Arnold & Porter has accounted for almost 20% of the total exacerbating representation in their dataset.

Hornstein wrote in the email that the UNC law school is not overproducing fossil fuel lawyers. He wrote that in 2023, 37 students went to very large firms and 15 went to large firms, while 57 went to "non-corporate" employers, including government, public interest and working directly with judges. 

Hornstein also wrote that he guarantees that all of the graduating students do not work on fossil fuel matters and that he does not guide his students to reject jobs representing big oil corporations. 

“Our graduates who take big law jobs are among some of our best students and I am proud of them for their hard work and accomplishments,” Hornstein wrote in the email.

Powell and Czarnek said they believe in combating this issue, with Powell saying that the curriculum and professors should educate students more on environmental law and fossil fuels practices. Czarnek said law students should also advocate for climate action. 

“I think we really need law students to realize their own power,” Czarnek said. “And that's something that firms really don’t want them to do.” 

Czarnek said that students shouldn’t fear asking law firms about their fossil fuels work, as the firms want employees who care about climate, reflecting the concerns of many of their clients. She said that asking those questions won’t keep students from getting a job. 

The LSCA launched its full report on Vault 100 firms’ fossil fuel work over the past year during London Climate Action Week.

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