Lincoln Davies
Professor of Law
A recognized expert in energy law and policy, Professor Davies joined the faculty in 2007. His research spans a broad array of energy topics, including renewables and alternative energy, carbon capture and sequestration, nuclear power, utility law, and regulatory and technology innovation. He is a leading authority on state renewable portfolio standards (“RPS”) and assured water supply laws (“wet growth”). Additional research interests include environmental law, water law, land use, administrative law, and procedure. In 2012, he was awarded the McCloy Fellowship in Environmental Policy to conduct comparative research on renewable energy policy in the United States and Germany. He also holds positions as principal investigator for the Institute for Clean and Secure Energy and as Chair of the American Bar Association’s Committee on Energy Infrastructure and Siting. Since 2008, he has served on the Utah Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee on the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure.
Prior to joining the faculty, Professor Davies practiced in the Washington, D.C. office of Steptoe & Johnson LLP. In 2001, he served as a clerk to the Honorable Leonard H. Russon, Associate Chief Justice of the Utah Supreme Court. He was educated at Stanford and Michigan.
Professor Davies teaches civil procedure; energy law; administrative law; environmental justice; and law, religion, and environmentalism.
Scholarship Highlights
Law Review Articles
Reconciling Renewable Portfolio Standards and Feed-In Tariffs, 32 Utah Envtl. L. Rev. 311 (2012)
Beyond Fukushima: Disasters, Nuclear Energy, and Energy Law, 2011 B.Y.U. L. Rev. 1937
Incentivizing Renewable Energy Deployment: Renewable Portfolio Standards and Feed-In Tariffs, 1 KLRI J. L. & Legis. 39 (2011)
State Renewable Portfolio Standards: Is There a 'Race' and Is It 'To the Top'?, 3 San Diego J. Climate & Energy L. 3 (2011-12)
Power Forward: The Argument for a National RPS, 42 Conn. L. Rev. 1339 (2010)
Standing, On Appeal, co-authored with Amy J. Wildermuth, 2010 U. Ill. L. Rev. 957 (2010)
Alternate Energy and the Energy-Environment Disconnect, 46 Idaho L. Rev. 473 (2010)
East Going West? The Promise of Assured Supply Laws in Modern Real Estate Development, 43 J. Marshall L. R. 319 (2010)
Assessing Assured Water Supply Laws in the Sustainability Context, 4 Golden Gate U. Envtl. L.J. 167 (2010)
Skull Valley Crossroads: Reconciling Native Sovereignty and the Federal Trust, 68 Md. L. Rev. 290 (2009)
Energy Policy Today and Tomorrow - Toward Sustainability?, 29 J. Land Resources & Envtl. L. 71 (2009)
Just a Big, ‘Hot Fuss'? Assessing the Value of Connecting Suburban Sprawl, Land Use, and Water Rights Through Assured Supply Laws, 34 Ecology L.Q. 1217 (2007)
Lessons for an Endangered Movement: What a Historical Juxtaposition of the Legal Response to Civil Rights and Environmentalism Has to Teach Environmentalists Today, 31 Envtl. L. 229 (2001)
Working Toward a Common Goal? Three Case Studies of Brownfields Redevelopment in Environmental Justice Communities, 18 Stan. Envtl. L.J. 285 (1999)
If You Give the Court a Commerce Clause: An Environmental Justice Critique of Supreme Court Interstate Waste Jurisprudence, 11 Fordham Envtl. L.J. 207 (1999)
Book Reviews
Environmental Law and Policy: Nature, Law, and Society, co-authored with Emily L. Dawson, 19 Stan. Envtl. L.J. 469 (1999)
Antarctic Environmental Protection: A Collection of Australian and International Instruments, 1 J. Int'l Wildlife L. & Pol'y 463 (1998)
Achieving Broad-Based Sustainable Development: Governance, Environment, and Growth with Equity, 17 Stan. Envtl. L.J. 475 (1997)
Other Publications
Finding Security in Climate Change, G8 Summit Magazine (2009)
Making Our Energy Future Through Renewable Portfolio Standards, G8 Summit Magazine: Cool Earth 50, at 104 (2008)
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. v. State Energy Resources Conservation & Development Comm’n, Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court (2008)
If You Give the Court a Commerce Clause: An Environmental Justice Critique of Supreme Court Interstate Waste Jurisprudence, 11 Fordham Envtl. L.J. 207 (1999)
Working Toward a Common Goal? Three Case Studies of Brownfields Redevelopment in Environmental Justice Communities, 18 Stan. Envtl. L.J. 285 (1999)
Selected Talks and Presentations
Why Agencies, Appellate Courts, and Environmental Cases Don't Mix: A Fresh Look at Standing Doctrine, Wallace Stegner Center for Land, Resources & Environmental Green Bag Lecture, Salt Lake City, Utah, Nov. 2010
Alternative Energy's Silent Hurdle: The Energy-Environmental Law Disconnect, The 2010 Idaho Law Review Symposium - Energy Independence: Challenges Facing the West in Adopting Alternative and Renewable Energy Resources, Boise, Idaho, Apr. 2010
Energy Law and Environmental Law: An Introduction, Introduction to Environmental Studies, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, Mar. 2010
Transforming Cultures: An Essential Solution to Address Unsustainable Consumption and Population Patterns, Wallace Stegner Center for Land, Resources and the Environment, Fifteenth Annual Symposium - The Challenge of Sustainability, Salt Lake City, Utah, Mar. 2010
Balancing Good in the Use and Preservation of Natural Resources, 2010 J. Reuben Clark Law Society National Conference - Service for Good Through the Law, Salt Lake City, Utah, Feb. 2010
Utah Energy Forum 2010, co-sponsored by the Wallace Stegner Center for Land, Resources and the Environment and the University of Utah Institute for Clean and Secure Energy, Salt Lake City, Utah, Feb. 2010
Renewing the Renewable Portfolio Standard: A Federal Approach, J. Reuben Clark Law Society, Second Annual Faculty Section Conference, Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, New Orleans, Louisiana, Jan. 2010
East Going West? The Promise of Assured Supply Laws in Modern Real Estate Development, Eleventh Annual Kratovil Conference on Real Estate Law & Practice - Water as a Resource: Impact on Real Estate Ownership, Development, and Land Use Policy, John Marshall Law School, Chicago, Illinois, Nov. 2009
Why Energy and Environmental Law Have Nothing to Do with Each Other. . . And Why That Must Change, Save Our Snow Lecture Series, Swaner EcoCenter, Park City, Utah, Oct. 2009
Power Failure - The Derailed Argument over a National RPS, Rocky Mountain Junior Scholars Forum, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, Sept. 2009
Remaking Our Energy Future: Is a Federal RPS the Answer?, Faculty Scholarship Workshop, S.J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, Sept. 2009
Law, Religion, and Environmentalism, Utah State Appellate Courts Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah, June 2009
An Introduction to Energy and Environmental Law, Introduction to Environmental Studies (undergraduate course), Guest Lecturer, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, Apr. 2009
Nation Building by Going Nuclear? Sovereignty, the Trust, and the Goshute Experience, Washington College of Law, American University, Conference on Indian Nations and Institution Building, Washington, D.C., Feb. 2009
Assured Water Supply Laws: Finding a Place in the East for an Emerging Western Model?, Jacksonville University and Florida Coastal School of Law, Northeast Florida Environmental Summit 2008: Water Wars-Use, Conflict and the Future, Jacksonville, Florida, November 2008
Water, Sprawl, and the New West-The Promise of Assured Supply Laws, 2007-2008 Downtown CLE Series, Salt Lake City, Utah, May 2008
Assured Water Supply Laws-A Western Model for an Eastern Future?, American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, 2008 Easter Water Law Conference, Charlotte, North Carolina, May 2008
Energy Regulation Today . . . and Tomorrow?, Wallace Stegner Center for Land, Resources and the Environment, Thirteenth Annual Symposium-Alternative Energy: Seeking Climate Change Solutions, Salt Lake City, Utah, Mar. 2008
Law and Alternative Energy, Energy Policy Options for Utah (undergraduate/graduate economics course), Guest Lecturer, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, Nov. 2007
Professional Affiliations
Bar Memberships
District of Columbia
Utah
Supreme Court of the United States
United States Court of Appeals for the D.C., 1st, 2d, 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th Circuits