Mark N. Templeton to Direct New Abrams Environmental Law Clinic
Dean Michael H. Schill is pleased to announce that Mark N. Templeton will join the Law School as an assistant clinical professor to direct the Law School’s new Abrams Environmental Law Clinic. The Abrams Environmental Law Clinic, established with a generous gift from James, ’87, and Wendy Abrams, will offer students sophisticated training in environmental litigation, regulation and policy.
Templeton brings a unique set of environmental experiences to this new post. He currently is the Executive Director of the Office of the Independent Trustees of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Trust, the $20 billion fund BP established to compensate businesses, individuals, and governments for costs and damages associated with the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Immediately prior, Templeton served as the Director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, a cabinet-level office with more than 1700 employees and a $300 million annual budget. He also helped to develop environmental strategies at McKinsey & Company, an international management consulting firm. Templeton also was the Chief Operations Officer and Associate Dean for Finance and Administration at Yale Law School, and he earned his undergraduate degree in Social Studies from Harvard College and his J.D. from Yale Law School.
"Mark Templeton has done high-level work in the environmental field, and his background in business and politics gives him a unique and valuable perspective on how industry and governmental actors approach environmental policymaking and litigation," said Dean Schill. "He brings to the clinic a sophisticated sense of how litigation may be combined seamlessly with policy analysis, media and public advocacy strategies, and negotiation to accomplish the clinic’s goals of improving the environment and protecting natural resources."
With the practice of law in regulatory areas becoming ever more complex and multifaceted, students in the Environmental Law Clinic will benefit from exposure to a diverse array of skill sets and strategies, Schill adds.
Templeton's selection to lead the clinic comes after an exhaustive search that attracted a deep and talented applicant pool, with candidates from academia, environmental NGOs, the private bar, and government. The first students will begin work with Templeton in the Abrams Environmental Law Clinic in January 2012.