Professor David M. Driesen, University Professor at the College of Law, researches and has taught environmental law, law and economics, and constitutional law. Professor Driesen’s first book, The Economic Dynamics of Environmental Law, won the Lynton Keith Caldwell Award, a prize offered by The American Political Science Association annually for the best book published in science, technology and environmental studies. He also wrote the text book Environmental Law: A Conceptual and Pragmatic Approach, withco-authors Robert Adler and Kirsten Engel. He has also published two edited volumes, Beyond Environmental Law: Policy Proposals for a Better Future (with Alyson Flournoy) and Economic Thought and U.S. Climate Change Policy. He has published numerous articles with leading journals, such Cornell Law Review, Fordham Law Review, Ecology Law Quarterly, Harvard Environmental Law Review, and the Virginia Journal of International Law, and several book chapters. Professor Driesen engages in public service mostly focused on defending environmental law’s constitutionality, supporting efforts to address global climate disruption, and reconceptualizing environmental law. He has written numerous amicus briefs in Supreme Court cases and has represented then-Senators Barak Obama, Hilary Clinton, Joseph Biden, and others in Clean Air Act litigation in the D.C. Circuit. He is a member scholar with the Center for Progressive Reform, and blogs often on its website on climate disruption issues. He has worked as a consultant for American rivers and other environmental groups on Clean Water Act issues and has testified before Congress on issues arising form the implementation of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. Professor Driesen earned both a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin Conservatory and a master's degree from the Yale School of Music. He earned his juris doctor from Yale Law School, where he was an Olin Fellow and Editor of the International Law Journal. He clerked for Justice Robert Utter of the Washington State Supreme Court and worked in the Special Litigation Division of the Washington State Attorney General’s Office. He was Senior Project Attorney for The Natural Resources Defense Council, Air and Energy Program. Professor Driesen joined the College of Law faculty in 1995. He was the Distinguished Summer Scholar in 2008 at Vermont Law School and a Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan Law School in 2006. Professor Driesen plays trumpet with the Excelsior Cornet Band and the Syracuse University Brass Ensemble. Prior to attending law school, he performed in symphony orchestras in the United States and abroad.
Administrative Law
Capping Carbon, ExpressO (2009)
This article addresses the problem of how to set caps for a cap-and-trade program, a...
Environmental Law
Job Loss and the Incohernet Expansion of Cost-Benefit Analysis, ExpressO (2012)
This piece discusses the question of whether regulatory agencies should quantify job loss stemming from...
Two Cheers for Feasible Regulation: A Modest Response to Masur and Posner, ExpressO (2010)
This response to Masur and Posner's "Against Feasibility" argues that the feasibility principle has normative...
Capping Carbon, ExpressO (2009)
This article addresses the problem of how to set caps for a cap-and-trade program, a...
Law and Economics
Job Loss and the Incohernet Expansion of Cost-Benefit Analysis, ExpressO (2012)
This piece discusses the question of whether regulatory agencies should quantify job loss stemming from...
Contract Law's Inefficiency, ExpressO (2011)
Neoclassical economic theory seems to aptly characterize contract law’s essence. Contracts enable two parties to...
Two Cheers for Feasible Regulation: A Modest Response to Masur and Posner, ExpressO (2010)
This response to Masur and Posner's "Against Feasibility" argues that the feasibility principle has normative...
Contracts
Contract Law's Inefficiency, ExpressO (2011)
Neoclassical economic theory seems to aptly characterize contract law’s essence. Contracts enable two parties to...