The son of Robert F. Kennedy (1960's US politician), Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has become champion of environmental causes ranging from recycling to sustainability.
He has a law degree from Harvard which has helped his ecological endeavors. [1]
Mr. Kennedy acts as Chief Prosecuting Attorney for Riverkeeper. He also serves as Senior Attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council and as President of the Waterkeeper Alliance. At Pace University School of Law, he is a Clinical Professor and Supervising Attorney at the Environmental Litigation Clinic in White Plains, New York. Earlier in his career Mr. Kennedy served as Assistant District Attorney in New York City.[2]
In 2008 he gave a speech about how Barack Obama's plans would create a Green Gold Rush [3]
Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic[edit | edit source]
The legal mechanisms and service learning for law students RFK Jr. uses to punish polluters and discourage future pollution have been very successful in his watershed and could be used as a model elsewhere.
Mechanism[edit | edit source]
Eight to ten second- and third-year law students are taught over a two-semester period on legal issues developed by the Riverkeeper program of environmental investigation and monitoring.
Through a special practice order from the New York State Supreme Court and the federal courts, the clinic students have permission in New York State to act as practicing attorneys. The students represent Riverkeeper in federal and state courts, federal and state administrative proceedings and occasionally in local proceedings. Their efforts have led to precedent-setting decisions by federal courts under both the Clean Water ActW and the Resource Conservation and Recovery ActW.[4]
The school teaches law students to use their skills to address areas of public concern, including the impact of human activities on the environment. Through the clinic program, the students gain in-depth professional training in environmental law while having a measurable impact on the management of one of the premier natural resources on the East Coast: the Hudson River-Long Island Sound estuarine system.
