Legal Ties That Bind: Calgary and Houston Law Announce Joint J.D. Program Starting Fall 2012

by Keith Edmund White
Editor-in-Chief

Calgary-Houston Launch Energy & Environmental Joint Law Degree Program

A quick glance at the price at the pump tells you the energy—and from that, environmental— relationship between Canada and the United States is only becoming more important. In fact, CUSLI just last year dedicated our annual conference to energy security and climate change. And the 2011 Niagara International competition was dedicated to the legal status of the emerging Northwest Passage. And now two of the leading energy and environmental law schools in Canada and the United States have just launched The International Energy Lawyers Program.

From The National Jurist:

The University of Houston Law Center and The University of Calgary announced the formation of the International Energy Lawyers Program, an initiative that will allow students to earn both Canadian and American law degrees in four years.

Starting this fall, students can spend two years at each school and take courses that will enable them to apply for admission to bars in the United States and Canada.

“Our two countries’ futures are intertwined economically, and one of the most important issues facing both countries is energy security,” said Ian Holloway, dean of The University of Calgary Law School. “Training the next generation of lawyers who are leaders in energy and natural resources law will help us in our quest for sustainable, rational, continental energy policy.”

And from Law.com which gives some more details on the program:

The International Energy Lawyers Program, as the initiative is called, will focus on preparing students to practice natural resources, energy and environmental law. Students will not have to study energy law specifically, but administrators expect that many participants will want to, given that Houston and Calgary are hubs of the energy industry. Intellectual property is another area that might appeal to students considering a cross-border practice, said Houston Dean Raymond Nimmer.

Students will spend two years at each law school and will be eligible to receive American and Canadian juris doctor degrees. They then will be eligible to sit for bar examinations in both countries. The program will shave two years off the time it typically would take to obtain separate law degrees in the United States and Canada. The program will kick off in the fall.

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To participate, students will have to win admission to both law schools separately, Nimmer said. They may choose to split their time between the campuses however they choose. He expects to enroll between five and 10 students per year; they will pay the same annual tuition as their counterparts in the schools' regular J.D. programs.

Calgary-Houston Become 5th Joint Canada-U.S. Law Program

The joint law program between Calgary and Houston will—according to my research—become the fifth joint- JD program.

As someone who didn’t plan to have a large part of his law school career devoted to the Canada-U.S. law and foreign policy relationship, I have always envied those students who in four years can earn a J.D. from both a Canadian and American law school. As such, for anyone who wishes to learn more about these program, check out the list before:

The University of Alberta Faculty of Law and the University of Colorado at Boulder (find more info. here)

York University and New York University (find more info. here)

The University of Windsor and the University of Detroit Mercy (find more info. here)

University of Ottawa and Michigan State University (find more info. here)

Note: I have to give kudos to the Michigan State University website for having both the easiest to find and most detailed on-line resource. In the coming weeks, I hope to contact the point-persons for each joint program and get their input on their programs; discuss the value of a joint degree both for employment and as a reflection of the evolving US-Canada relationship; and, perhaps most importantly for potential law students, what some of their graduates are up to now (of course, besides sending articles to the Canada-United States Law Journal here at CUSLI).

Just Why This Program Has Some Much Potential

Why should potential U.S. or Canadian law students interested in environmental law or energy law be so excited about this program? Well check out what each of these institutions offer:

University of Calgary Law

Canadian Institute of Natural Resources Law (learn more here)

University Research Group on Natural Resources, Energy & Environmental Law (learn more here)

Just check out the institution’s latest research (things that caught my eye right off the bat: (1) Breda Kenny, Harrie Vredenburg and Alastair Lucas’ article The New Role of Law in Stimulating Industrial Innovation and Regional Development: the Canadian Experience with Reflexive Law in Reconciling Economic Development, Environmental Protection and Entrepreneurship, (2) Nickie Vlavianos’ project A Single Regulator for Energy Project Approvals? The Pros, the Cons, and Recommendations for Legislative Reform”, and (3) Professor Allan Ingelson and LLM graduate Lincoln Mitchell’s article NAFTA, the Mining Law of 1872, and Environmental Protection (note: for this, the link gives you access to the full article).

University of Houston Law

The Environment, Energy & Natural Resource Center (which includes courses in the Clean Air and Water Acts, International Arbitration, and Petroleum Transactions, among others; for more, just check out their newsletter here)

The biannual Environmental & Energy Law & Policy Journal (check out their latest edition’s TOC here)

I wish this new joint-degree program success. And urge them to share developments and their research into the energy and environmental relationship between Canada and the United States with CUSLI and other similar organizations.