Spring 2026
Professor(s):
Qaraman Hasan (RESEARCH PROFESSOR)
Credits: 3
Course Areas: Energy, Natural Resources and Environmental Law
Time: 9:00a-12:00p F Location: 207
Course Outline: Environmental challenges and their legal implications have become central to modern governance, industry, and international relations. As environmental risks increasingly intersect with economic and regulatory frameworks, understanding how law anticipates, manages, and allocates responsibility for such risks is essential for legal practitioners and policymakers alike.
This course examines how international and domestic legal systems address complex environmental risks—including those related to atmospheric emissions, energy production, and resource management—and how they shape obligations and potential liabilities for governments, corporations, and other stakeholders. Students will explore the evolution of environmental regulation, the application of tort and administrative law to emerging environmental issues, and the role of courts, agencies, and treaties in shaping policy outcomes.
We will analyze the development and implementation of major international environmental agreements, the balance between federal and state regulatory authority, and the ongoing adaptation of environmental law to new scientific and technological findings. Case studies will illustrate how legal tools are used to manage environmental risks, resolve disputes, and support sustainable economic development.
The course emphasizes practical, real-world problem-solving in areas such as permitting, compliance, litigation, integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into environmental management, and corporate governance. Through lectures, discussions, in-class exercises, and case studies, students will gain a comprehensive understanding of the legal landscape governing environmental risk. Guest speakers from industry, technology, and policy sectors will provide insights into current challenges and professional applications.
Course Syllabus:
Course Notes: (Face-to-Face) The UH registration system instruction mode for this course is listed in parenthesis. For this instruction mode, instructors and students are expected to normally be physically present in the classroom. If the course has a final examination, it will be in a classroom requiring your physical presence. Other assessment, such as a mid-term exam, may also be in a classroom. Whether this instructor will offer “remote presence” (starting a zoom meeting from the podium computer to enable student remote access on an occasional basis) for part or all of the semester is not known, but students should not rely on an expectation that remote presence will be available.
Prerequisites:
First Day Assignments:
Final Exam Schedule:
This course will have:
Exam:
Paper:
Satisfies Senior Upper Level Writing Requirement: No
Experiential Course Type: No
Bar Course: No
DistanceEd ABA: No
Pass-Fail Student Election: Available
