Robert Adler
James I. Farr Chair in Law
Professor of Law
As the James I. Farr Chair in Law at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, Robert Adler’s goal is “to stimulate more interdisciplinary work in this increasingly global world … [and] to prepare students for that world in an environment that changes almost continuously, and which demands skills that go far beyond what has been traditionally taught in law schools.” As a scholar, Professor Adler urges a broader, more holistic approach to the restoration and protection of aquatic and other ecosystems than is used in traditional environmental laws alone, which focus on discrete kinds of environmental harm. After completing a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center (cum laude), Professor Adler practiced environmental law for 15 years. He has published dozens of articles and reports in law, policy, and science journals, including Vanderbilt Law Review, Harvard Environmental Law Review, Utah Law Review, and George Washington Law Review. He has published two books with Island Press, one on the history and impact of the Clean Water Act and the other on restoring Colorado River ecosystems. He also published an environmental law casebook with Aspen Publishers, co-authored with David Driesen and Kirsten Engel. Professor Adler regularly teaches courses in environmental law and water law, and recently launched a new environmental clinic in cooperation with Western Resource Advocates. He loves to spend time in Utah’s outdoors, and in 2005 and 2008 completed the Wasatch Front 100-mile trail race through Utah’s beautiful Wasatch Mountains.
Scholarship Highlights
Books
Restoring Colorado River Ecosystems: A Troubled Sense of Immensity (Island Press 2007)
Environmental Law: A Conceptual and Functional Approach (Aspen Publishers 2007)
The Clean Water Act Twenty Years Later (Island Press 1993)
Poison Runoff: a Guide to State and Local Control of Nonpoint Source Water Pollution (Nat. Res. Def. Council 1989)
Book Chapters
Rethinking Water Law in a Changing Climate, in Climate Change: A Reader (William H. Rodgers ed., Carolina Acad. Press, forthcoming 2010)
Legal Framework for the Urban Water Environment, in The Water Environment of Cities (Larry Baker ed., Springer 2009)
Institutions Affecting the Urban Water Environment, in The Water Environment of Cities (Larry Baker ed., Springer 2009)
Freshwater: Sustaining Use by Protecting Ecosystems, in Agenda for a Sustainable America (John Dernbach ed., Envtl. L. Inst. 2009), reprinted in 39 Envtl L. Rep. 10309 (2009)
Overcoming Legal Barriers to Hydrological Sustainability of Urban Systems, in Cities of the Future: Towards Integrated Sustainable Water and Landscape Management (Vladimir Novotny & Paul Brown eds., IWA Publishers 2007)
The Law at the Water's Edge: Limits to "Ownership" of Aquatic Ecosystems, in Wet Growth: Should Water Law Control Land Use? (Tony Arnold ed., Envtl. L. Inst. 2005)
Fresh Water, in Stumbling Toward Sustainability (John C. Dernbach ed., Envtl. L. Inst. 2002)
NEPA and Ecological Management: An Analysis with Reference to Military Base Lands, in Environmental Methods Review: Retooling Impact Assessment for the New Century (Porter & Fittipaldi, eds., AEPI 1998)
Filling the Gaps in Water Quality Standards: Legal Perspectives on Biocriteria, in Biological Assessment and Criteria: Tools for Water Resource Planning and Decision Making (Davis & Simon eds., Lewis Publishers 1995)
How We Use and Abuse Water, in The Mother Earth Handbook 120-34 (Continuum Pub. Co. 1991)
Law Review Articles
Balancing Compassion and Risk in Climate Adaptation: U.S. Water, Drought and Adgricultural Law, Fla. L. Rev. (forthcoming 2011)
Priceline for Pollution: Auctions to Allocate Public Pollution Control Dollars, 34 Wm. & Mary Envtl. L. & Pol'y Rev. 745 (2010)
Resilience, Restoration and Sustainability: Revisiting Some (but not all) of the Fundamental Principles of the Clean Water Act, 32 Wash. U. J.L. & Pol'y 139 (2010)
Climate Change and the Hegemony of State Water Law, 29 Stan. Envtl. L.J. 1 (2010)
Revisiting the Colorado River Compact: Time for a Change?, 28 J. Land Resources & Envtl. L. 19 (2008)
An Ecosystem Perspective on Collaboration for the Colorado River, 8 Nev. L.J. 1031 (2008)
Restoring the Environment and Restoring Democracy: Lessons from the Colorado River, 25 Va. Envtl. L.J. 55 (2007)
In Defense of NEPA: The Case of the Legacy Parkway, 26 J. Land Resources & Envtl. L. 297 (2006)
The Supreme Court and Ecosystems: Environmental Science in Environmental Law, 27 Vt. L. Rev. 249 (2003)
The Two Lost Books in the Water Quality Trilogy: The Elusive Objectives of "Physical and Biological Integrity," 33 Envtl. L. 29 (2003)
Watersheds and the Integration of U.S. Water Law and Policy: Bridging the Great Divides, 25 Wm. & Mary Envtl. L. Rev. 1 (2000)
Integrated Approaches to the Water Quality Problem: Lessons from the Clean Air Act, 23 Harv. Envtl. L. Rev. 203 (1999)
Toward Comprehensive Watershed Restoration and Protection for Great Salt Lake, 1999 Utah L. Rev. 99
Unfunded Federal Mandates and Fiscal Federalism: A Critique, 50 Vand. L. Rev. 1137 (1997)
Addressing Barriers to Watershed Protection, 25 Envtl. L. 973 (1995)
Environmental Crimes: Raising the Stakes, 59 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 781 (1991)
Other Publications
The Clean Water Act, in The Encyclopedia of Science and Technology Communication (Susanna Hornig Priest, ed., SAGE, 2010)
Drought, Sustainability and the Law, 2 Sustainability 2176-2196 (2010)
Changing the law-science paradigm for Colorado River restoration, in Melis, T.S., Hamill, J.F., Coggins, L.C., Jr., Grams, P.E., Kennedy, T.A., Kubly, D.M., and Ralston, B.E., eds., Proceedings of the Colorado River Basin Science and Resource Management Symposium, November 18-20, 2008: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5135, pp.43-49
Lessons from Large Watershed Programs, A Comparison of the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program with the San Francisco Bay Delta (CALFED) Program, Central and South Florida (Everglades) Project, and Chesapeake Bay Program, A Report to the National Academy of Public Administration, Learning from Environmental Innovation Project (1999)
Wetland and Watershed Protection for Great Salt Lake, National Wetlands Newsletter (Envtl. L. Inst., Nov.-Dec. 1999)
New TMDL Litigation Leaves Many Unanswered Questions, Rivers 6:269-274 (1998)
Selected Talks and Presentations
Legal and Ethical Imperatives for a Conservation Pool for Great Salt Lake, Great Salt Lake Issues Forum, University of Utah, April 28, 2010
Climate Change Adaptation and Sustainability: A Risk Perspective, University of Utah Department of Economics, Climate Change Panel: Is There Hope after Copenhagen, Salt Lake City, UT, March 5, 2010
Mitigating Drought in a Warming World, University of Michigan Law School Lecture Series, Ann Arbor, MI, Feb. 2010
The Law and Science of Ecosystem Restoration and Protection in a Changing Climate, National Park Service, Water Resources meeting, Fort Collins, CO, Feb. 2010
Drought, Climate Change and the Law, Utah State University, Watershed Sciences Seminar Series, Logan, UT, Jan. 2010
Resilience, Restoration and Sustainability: Revisiting Some (but not all) of the Fundamental Principles of the Clean Water Act, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, Mar. 2009
Adjusting to Less Water: Climate Change and the Colorado River, Glen Canyon Institute, Salt Lake City, UT, Dec. 2008
Restoration of Colorado River Ecosystems: Law and Policy Perspectives for Scientists, Colorado River Science Symposium, Scottsdale, AZ, Nov. 2008
Expanding Concepts of Environmental Restoration: Perspectives from the Colorado River, American Fisheries Society, Portland, OR, May 6, 2008
The Colorado River Compact: Its History, Significance and Future Challenges, Water in Southern Utah: Issues for the 21st Century, Dixie State College, St. George, UT, Apr. 2008
Prospects for Ecological Restoration in the Colorado River Basin, University of Colorado College of Law, Natural Resources Law Center, Securing Environmental Flows for the Colorado River in an Era of Climate Change, Challenges and Opportunities, Boulder, CO, Mar. 2008
Climate Change and the Hegemony of State Water Law, Marquette University Law School, Faculty Workshop Series, Milwaukee, WI, Nov. 2007
Arizona v. California: The Past, Present and Future of the Colorado River Compact, University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, Snell & Wilmer, and the Constitutional Law Section of the Utah Bar, Salt Lake City, UT, Oct. 2007
An Ecosystem Perspective on Collaboration, University of Nevada, Boyd School of Law and Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution, Collaboration and the Colorado River, Las Vegas, NV, Oct. 2007
A Multidisciplinary Perspective on the Colorado River, Utah State University, Water Resources Program Seminar Series, Logan, UT, Sept. 2007
Implications of Rapanos v. United States for State and Local Government Protection and Restoration of Wetlands, Association of State Wetland Managers, Park City, UT, June 2007
Restoring Colorado River Ecosystems: A Troubled Sense of Immensity, Western Colorado College, Equalizations, Equity and the Environment, Opportunities for the Colorado River Watershed, Gunnison, CO, May 2007
Rethinking the Colorado River Compact: Time for a Change?, University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, 12th Annual Symposium, Wallace Stegner Center for Land, Resources and the Environment, Salt Lake City, UT, Mar. 2007
Overcoming Barriers to Ecological and Hydrological Sustainability of Urban Systems, Cities of the Future-Blue Water in Green Cities, Wingspread Conference Center, Racine, WI, July 2006
How Citizens Can Re-design and Re-define Highway Projects: The Role of Alternatives Analysis Under NEPA and the Clean Water Act, American Planning Association, 2006 National Planning Conference, San Antonio, TX, Apr. 2006
Restoring the Environment and Restoring Democracy, Lessons from the Colorado River, 25th Anniversary Symposium, Virginia Environmental Law Journal, Charlottesville, VA, Mar. 2006
The Legacy Parkway: How We Got to Yes, Natural Resources Law Forum and Wallace Stegner Center for Land, Resources and the Environment Green Bag Series, University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, Salt Lake City, UT, Nov. 8, 2005
Professional Service
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs (2006–2009)
Co-chair, Dean Search Committee (2005-2006)
Interim Director, Wallace Stegner Center for Land, Resources and the Environment (1999-2000, spring semester 2003)
Honors & Awards
University of Utah, S.J. Quinney College of Law, Faculty Service Award, May 2010
Outstanding Service Award (Educator), American Water Resources Association, Utah
Chapter, June 2008
Pfeifferhorn Award, presented by coalition of Utah environmental groups for environmental leadership and volunteer activities, 2002
Peter W. Billings Excellence in Teaching Award, 1999-2000
Co-recipient, National Performance Review "Hammer Award" from Vice President Al Gore as member of EPA Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Negotiating Team (1995)
President's Award, America's Clean Water Foundation, October, 1992 (Twentieth Anniversary Clean Water Act Award)
Professional Affiliations
Friends of Great Salt Lake, Advisory Board (1995-present)
HawkWatch International, Conservation Chair (1999-2002)
League of Conservation Voters, Political Advisory Council (1991 - 1994)
National Clean Water Network, Chair (1990-1994)
Water Quality 2000, Chair (1988-1994)
Anchorage Waterways Council, Founding Board Member (1985-1987)