Albert C. Lin

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Position Title
Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law

2109 King Hall
Bio

Albert Lin specializes in environmental and natural resources law and also teaches evidence. He has written about public nuisance, environmental regulation, and the relationship between technology, the environment, and law. Professor Lin was previously a trial attorney for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and served as a law clerk to the Honorable Merrick Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and to the Honorable James Browning of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He is the author of (Univ. of Michigan Press 2013) and the co-author of a widely used environmental law casebook, and his scholarship has appeared in the Harvard Environmental Law Review, Minnesota Law Review, Southern California Law Review, and UCLA Law Review.

Education and Degree(s)
  • J.D. University of California, Berkeley, 1996
  • M.P.P. Harvard University, 1995
  • B.S. Biology, Emory University, 1992
Honors and Awards
  • Law Clerk to Hon. James R. Browning, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 1996-97
  • Law Clerk to Hon. Merrick B. Garland, U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, 1997-98
  • Trial Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice, Environment & Natural Resources Division, 1998-2003
Courses
  • Environmental Law
  • Evidence
  • International Environmental Law
  • Public Land Law
  • Emerging Technologies & the Environment
Research Interests & Expertise
  • Environmental Law
  • Natural Resources
  • Evidence

Publications

Climate Policy Buffers, Yale J. Reg. (2022) (symposium).

Making Net Zero Matter, 79 WASH. & LEE L. REV. 679 (2022).

Further Reflections on the National Academies Report on Solar Geoengineering: A Response to Stephens et al., Environmental Politics (with Marion Hourdequin) (2022).

Fig Leaves, Pipe Dreams, and Myopia: Too-Easy Solutions in Environmental Law, 93 U. Colo. L. Rev. 727 (2022).

Dodging Public Nuisance, 11 UC Irvine L. Rev. 489 (2020).

Uncooperative Environmental Federalism: State Suits Against the Federal Government in an Age of Political Polarization, 88 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 890 (2020).

Chapter 27: Geoengineering: Imperfect Yet Perhaps Important Options for Addressing Climate Change, in Handbook on U.S. Environmental Policy (David Konisky, ed., Edward Elgar Publishing 2020).

Avoiding Lock-In of Solar Geoengineering, 47 N. Ky. L. Rev. 139 (2020) (symposium).

President Trump’s War on Regulatory Science43 Harv. Envtl. L. Rev. 247 (2019) 

The Relevance of the Climate Change Regime to Governance of Solar Geoengineering, in Harvard Project on Climate Agreements, Governance of the Deployment of Solar Geoengineering (Robert N. Stavins & Robert C. Stowe, eds. Feb. 2019) (policy brief).

State Public Nuisance Claims and Climate Change Adaptation  (symposium article), 36 PACE ENVTL. L. REV. 49 (2018) (with Michael Burger).

Carbon Dioxide Removal After Paris, 45 ECOL. L.Q. 533 (2018).

Pope Francis’ Encyclical on the Environment as Private Environmental Governance (symposium article), 9 GWU J. ENERGY & ENVTL. L. 33 (2018).

Herding Cats: Governing Distributed Innovation, 96 N.C. L. REV. 945 (2018). 

U.S. Law on Geoengineering, in CLIMATE ENGINEERING AND THE LAW: REGULATION AND LIABILITY FOR SOLAR RADIATION MANAGEMENT AND CARBON DIOXIDE REMOVAL (Michael B. Gerrard & Tracy Hester eds., Cambridge Univ. Press 2018).

Mismatched Regulation: Genetically Modified Mosquitoes and the Coordinated Framework for Biotechnology (symposium article), 51 U.C. DAVIS L. REV. 205 (2017).

Community Levers for Benefit Sharing (symposium article), 21 LEWIS & CLARK L. REV. 357 (2017).

Preliminary Injunctive Regulation, 58 ARIZ. L. REV. 1027 (2016).

The Missing Pieces of Geoengineering Research Governance, 100 MINN. L. REV. 2509 (2016).

Chapter 13: What Is Responsible Development of Nanotechnology?,  in NANOTECHNOLOGY: DELIVERING ON THE PROMISE VOL. 1 (H.N. Cheng et al. eds., American Chemical Society, 2016).

Myths of Environmental Law, Utah L. Rev. (2015)

Lessons from the Past for Assessing Energy Technologies for the Future, (symposium article), 61 UCLA L. Rev. 1814 (2014)

Geoengineering, in Global Climate Change and U.S. Law (Michael B. Gerrard & Jody Freeman eds., American Bar Association, 2d ed. 2014).

A Sustainability Critique of the Obama “All of the Above” Energy Approach, (symposium article), 4 GW J. Energy & Envtl. L. 17 (2014)

Does Geoengineering Present a Moral Hazard?, 40 Ecol. L. Q. 673 (2013)

Power to the People: Restoring the Public Voice in Environmental Law, (symposium article), 46 U. Akron L. Rev. 1017 (2013).

Prometheus Reimagined: Technology, Environment, and Law in the 21st Century, (U. Mich. Press, 2013).

Environmental Policy Law: Problems, Cases and Readings (with Holly Doremus & Ronald H. Rosenberg), Foundation Press, 6th edition (2012)

Geoengineering’s Thermostat Dilemma, The Law of the Future and the Future of Law, Vol. 2 (Sam Muller ed., Hague Institute for the Internationalisation of Law, 2012).

Public Trust and Public Nuisance: Common Law Peas in a Pod?, (symposium article), 45 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 1075 (2012)

International Legal Regimes and Principles Relevant to Geoengineering, Geoengineering the Climate: Law, Ethics and Policy Considerations (William C.G. Burns & Andrew Strauss eds., Cambridge Univ. Press, 2013)

Technology Assessment 2.0: Revamping Our Approach to Emerging Technologies, 76 BROOKLYN L. REV. 1309 (2011)

Public Nuisance: A Potential Common Law Response to Nanotechnology’s Uncertain Harms, in The Nanotechnology Challenge: Creating Legal Institutions for Uncertain Risks (David Dana ed., Cambridge University Press, 2011).

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY LAW: PROBLEMS, CASES AND READINGS, (5th ed.) (with Holly Doremus, Ronald H. Rosenberg, and Thomas J. Schoenbaum) (Foundation Press 2008)

Deciphering the Chemical Soup: Using Public Nuisance to Compel Chemical Testing, 85 NOTRE DAME LAW REVIEW 995 (2010)

Geoengineering Governance, ISSUES IN LEGAL SCHOLARSHIP, Vol. 8, Issue 3 (Symposium: Balancing the Risks: Managing Technology and Dangerous Climate Change), Article 2 (2009)

Evangelizing Climate Change, 17 NEW YORK UNIVERSITY ENVIRONMENTAL LAW JOURNAL 1135 (2009)

Virtual Consumption: A Second Life for Earth?, 2008 BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 47

Size Matters: Regulating Nanotechnology, 31 HARVARD ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REVIEW 349 (2007)

The Unifying Role of Harm in Environmental Law, 2006 WISCONSIN LAW REVIEW 897

Beyond Tort: Compensating Victims of Environmental Toxic Injury, 78 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA LAW REVIEW 1439 (2005)

Erosive Interpretation of Environmental Law in the Supreme Court's 2003-04 Term, 42 HOUSTON LAW REVIEW 565 (2005)

Refining Fair Notice Doctrine: What Notice Is Required of Civil Regulations?, 55 BAYLOR LAW REVIEW 991 (2003)

Clinton's National Monuments: A Democrat's Undemocratic Acts?, 29 ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY 707 (2002)

Comment, Application of the Continuing Violations Doctrine to Environmental Law, 23 ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY 723 (1996)

Comment, Participants' Experiences With Habitat Conservation Plans and Suggestions for Streamlining the Process, 23 ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY 369 (1996)

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