David Adelman

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

Professor Adelman is an expert in the area of environmental law and policy. In addition to a law degree from Stanford Law School, he holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Physics from Stanford University.

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 (e.g., pesticides) and radioactive wastes, developing a program on agricultural biotechnology, and working 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 US 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 CPR Member Scholar Kirsten Engel. Together, they also authored a chapter entitled, “Adaptive Environmental Federalism,” in CPR Member Scholar William Buzbee’s book, Preemption Choice: The Theory, Law and Reality of Federalism’s Core Question, Cambridge University Press, 2009.