Emory Law’s Environmental and Natural Resources Law program has received a gift from the Kazmarek Mowrey Cloud Laseter LLP law firm (KMCL) to establish a new diversity, equity, and inclusion initiative to promote broader diversity in the practice of environmental law. 

The new initiative at Emory will provide annual scholarships and summer stipends to students who will bring diversity to the environmental bar. The program will also provide these students with opportunities to engage with prominent environmental attorneys, community and business leaders, government officials, and scholars through conferences, workshops, or other formal and informal convenings.

KMCL has founded this initiative at Emory to build a pipeline of well-trained and diverse environmental lawyers. Rick Horder, one of the firm’s founding partners, says “KMCL is committed to increasing diversity in the environmental law bar, and we recognize that a key to long-term, concrete results is attracting the best and brightest diverse candidates to the field while they are in law school. We are privileged to make this gift to Emory Law and proud to be a partner with such a leading institution. KMCL will be recognized as the founding partner of this new initiative, and Emory Law will seek to engage additional law firms, corporations, nonprofit organizations, and others eager to help diversify the environmental bar once the program is launched.”

Emory Law Dean Mary Anne Bobinski says, “Emory Law is committed to promoting diversity, pursuing equity, and achieving inclusion for our law students and graduates. KMCL’s gift will help Emory Law’s Environmental and Natural Resources Law program to enhance the diversity of environmental lawyers pursuing careers in nonprofit organizations, law firms, corporations, and government agencies.” 

“The environmental diversity, equity, and inclusion initiative will provide students with the financial support and professional development opportunities they need to translate their interest in environmental law into an impactful career,” said Mindy Goldstein, director of Emory Law’s Environmental and Natural Resources Law Program. “I look forward to watching our scholarship and stipend recipients become successful environmental attorneys, shaping environmental law and policy throughout the country.”

KMCL and its lawyers are focused on the practice of environmental law at the highest level, including representing a wide range of business and industry clients. The firm has among the largest environmental practices in the U.S. KMCL’s excellence have been nationally recognized, and its lawyers are among the preeminent lawyers in the field.

Emory’s Environmental and Natural Resources Law Program is a top-ranked, comprehensive program dedicated to teaching, research, and public service in environmental law and policy. Led by Clinical Professor of Law Mindy Goldstein, who also directs the Turner Environmental Law Clinic, the program offers students extensive classroom, experiential, and extracurricular opportunities in environmental law. Building on Emory’s location in the dynamic business, governmental, and civil rights center of Atlanta, the program boasts more than a dozen course offerings, three full-time faculty members, outstanding adjunct professors from law firms and federal agencies, twenty externships, and the Turner Environmental Law Clinic.