The University of Chicago Law School will launch its new Abrams Environmental Law Clinic in January.

It will be led by the former director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Mark Templeton, 42, said dean Michael H. Schill of the law school.

The clinic will begin with a survey of the key environmental issues in the Chicago area, in Illinois and in the Great Lakes region, Templeton said.

It will try "to identify the most important issues and the ones that may not be receiving the most attention."

He said he wants to "complement the efforts of other organizations" that work on the environment.

"We intend to sue enterprises that are polluting illegally, to challenge permits that may be insufficient to protect the environment, to push for stronger rules and regulations … to improve environmental protection," Templeton said, "and to leverage some of the best ideas at the University of Chicago" on the environment.

Read more at Chicago Daily Law Bulletin