Richard Lazarus (law professor)

For the psychologist, see Richard Lazarus.

Richard J. Lazarus is the Howard J. and Katherine W. Aibel Professor of Law at the Harvard Law School,

Lazarus was previously the Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he focused his teaching and scholarship on environmental law, natural resources law, constitutional law, Supreme Court Advocacy, torts, property, and administrative law. He was Faculty Director of the Supreme Court Institute, which provides moot court sessions for counsel in more than 90 percent of Supreme Court cases. He is also the Stanley Legro Professor of Environmental Law at the University of San Diego, School of Law. He was appointed Executive Director of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling in June 2010.

Lazarus graduated from University High School in Urbana, Illinois. He holds a B.S. in chemistry and a B.A. in economics from the University of Illinois (1976) and a J.D. from Harvard Law School (1979). Prior to his arrival at Georgetown in 1996, Professor Lazarus taught at the Washington University School of Law (1989–1996) and the Indiana University Maurer School of Law (1983–1985) and worked in the Solicitor General’s Office (1986–1989) and the Land and Natural Resources Division of the United States Department of Justice (1979–1983).

Selected works

• Lazarus, Richard; Houck, Oliver (2005). Environmental Law Stories. New York: Foundation Press. ISBN 978-1-58778-728-7.
• Lazarus, Richard (2004). The Making of Environmental Law. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-47037-5.