David Adelman

David E. Adelman holds the Harry M. Reasoner Regents Chair in Law at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, Texas.

Professor David Adelman joined Texas Law in 2009 after teaching in Arizona and practicing in Washington, DC. He is an expert in environmental law, administrative law, and climate change and energy policy. His research often involves empirical studies of law in action (litigation, enforcement) or examines the role of science in law and policy. He teaches an interdisciplinary course, with law and business students, that takes students through the stages of legal due diligence and project finance that underpin development of renewable and other energy projects.

From 1998 to 2001, Professor Adelman was a staff attorney and scientist in the nuclear and public health programs of the Natural Resources Defense Council. There, he litigated complex environmental cases, presented congressional testimony, and lobbied, advocating on issues related to regulation of toxic substances and radioactive wastes. He also developed a program on agricultural biotechnology and worked with industry to promote environmentally sound practices. He was appointed to the Department of Energy’s Environmental Management Advisory Board, two National Academy of Sciences committees, and a committee advising the Gerber Products Company on biotechnology issues.

Before joining NRDC, he was an associate at Covington and Burling in Washington, DC, where he focused on intellectual property litigation, environmental regulatory compliance matters, and proposed international regulation under the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. Previously, he clerked for the Honorable Samuel Conti of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

Professor Adelman has authored numerous legal and scientific articles, including “The Challenge of Abrupt Climate Change for U.S. Environmental Regulation,” Emory Law Journal 2008, as well as “Reorienting State Climate Change Policies to Induce Technological Change,” Arizona Law Review 2008, and “Adaptive Federalism: The Case Against Reallocating Environmental Regulatory Authority,” Minnesota Law Review June 2008, both with fellow Member Scholar Kirsten Engel. Together, they also authored a chapter entitled, “Adaptive Environmental Federalism” in Member Scholar William Buzbee’s book, Preemption Choice: The Theory, Law and Reality of Federalism’s Core Question, Cambridge University Press, 2009.

In addition to a law degree from Stanford Law School, he holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Physics from Stanford University.