David R. Hodas, Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Law. Professor Hodas received a B.A. cum laude and with departmental honors from Williams College in 1973, a J.D. cum laude from Boston University School of Law in 1976, and an LL.M. in Environmental Law from Pace University School of Law in 1989, where he was the Feldshuh Fellow. Following graduation from law school, Professor Hodas practiced law for 12 years in both government and in private practice.  Professor Hodas is admitted to practice in Delaware.


Professor Hodas joined the faculty at Widener in 1989, when he founded and directed the Law School’s Environmental Law Clinic, now known as the Environmental Law and Natural Resources Clinic. He teaches and writes in the areas of Environmental Law, Climate Change law, sustainable Energy Law, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, International Environmental Law, and Enforcement of Environmental Law. A co-author of Climate Change Law: Mitigation and Adaptation (West 2009), the groundbreaking work Environmental Costs of Electricity (Oceana 2010) as well as over 30 articles and book chapters, Professor Hodas has twice won the Douglas E. Ray Excellence in Scholarship Award. In 2010, one of his articles was named the Best American Bar Association article on environmental, energy and natural resource law.   


Professor Hodas has been active in a number of local, national, and international professional and civic organizations. These include the Governing Board of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law, and the Editorial Board of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law E-Journal. For many years he was an active member of the Editorial Board of Natural Resources and Environment. He was appointed by several presidents of the American Bar Association to serve on its Standing Committee on Environmental Law, and chaired the Climate Change and Sustainable Development Committee for the ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources. Prof. Hodas is a member of the Environmental Law Commission of the IUCN-The World Conservation Union, and its energy law experts group. He chairs the Delaware Governor’s Energy Advisory Council, a statutory body responsible for drafting the State’s energy plan. He has been a speaker at many local, national and international conferences. Professor Hodas was also a Master in the Delaware Valley Environmental American Inns of Court.