ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú

Personal Summary

Sandra Zellmer is a Professor and Director of Natural Resources Clinics at the ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú Alexander Blewett III School of Law, where she teaches public lands, wildlife law, torts, and related courses. Zellmer has published dozens of law review articles as well as several books, including A Century of Unnatural Disasters: Mississippi River Stories (NYU 2014) (with Klein), Water Law in a Nutshell (2015) (with Getches and Amos), Natural Resources Hornbook (2015) (with Laitos), Developing Skills in Environmental Law (2016) (with Glicksman), and Water Law & Policy Casebook (2018) (with Thompson, Abrams, and Leshy). Zellmer was appointed to the American College of Environmental Lawyers in 2020.  She has served as a board member and law school trustee of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, and is a member scholar of the Center for Progressive Reform. She is active with the American Bar Association Section on Environment, Energy, and Resources Committees on Public Lands and on Water Resources.

Prior to ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú, Zellmer served on the faculty and held the Robert B. Daugherty Chair at the University of Nebraska College of Law. Before teaching, she was an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division, litigating public lands issues for the National Park Service, Forest Service, and other federal agencies. She also practiced law in the Environmental Litigation Group at Faegre & Benson in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and clerked for the Honorable William W. Justice, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas.

Education

The George Washington University National Law Center, Washington, DC

• Degree: LL.M.—Environmental Law, with Highest Honors
• Awards: Shaw Fellowship

University of South Dakota School of Law, Vermillion, SD

• Degree: Juris Doctor, Sterling Honor Graduate (1st in class)
• Awards: Joe Robbie Award; Nat’l Order of Barristers; Moot Ct. Board; ABA Moot Ct. Competition (national finals)

Morningside College, Sioux City, IA

• Degree: Bachelor of Science, magna cum laude

Courses Taught

ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú:  Public Lands; Wildlife; Water Law; Torts; Environmental Justice & Practice; Natural Resources Clinic

Nebraska:  Water Law; Environmental Law; Environmental Ethics; Disaster Law; Natural Resources

Previous Positions, Visitorships, and Summer Programs:  Comparative Environmental Law (Auckland and Lewis & Clark); Environmental Law (Tulane); Disaster Law (Pepperdine)

Teaching Experience

Professor, ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú ABIII School of Law, Missoula, MT

• Clyde Martz Distinguished Teaching Award (Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law)
• Thomas and Ann Boone Faculty Award for Excellence in Scholarship

Nebraska College of Law, Lincoln, NE 

• Robert B. Daugherty Chair
• McCollum/Hevelone Research Chair
• Law Alumni Teaching Award

Associate Professor, University of Toledo College of Law

Visitorships and Summer Programs:  

Natural Resources & Wildlife Law (Oregon); Disaster Law (Pepperdine); Comparative Environmental Law at Univ. of Auckland (New Zealand), Tulane (Spetses, Greece), and Lewis & Clark Law School (Portland, OR); Toxic & Environmental Torts and Advanced Environmental Law (Tulane); Environmental Law, Federal Indian Law, and Property (Drake)

Research Interests

Public lands, wildlife, water law, environmental law, disaster law, federalism, takings

Projects

Recent projects include:

Conserving 30 Percent of Lands and Waters by 2030 (30 x 30) for Biodiversity and Climate Resilience: 

Fulbright Specialist Award at Univ. of Calgary Faculty of Law (2022)

, 64 William & Mary L. Rev. (f.2022)

(with Glicksman), 54 Ariz. St. L.J. (f.2023)

       44 Harv. Env. L. Rev. 367 (with Panarella and Wood) (2020)

, in Pioneers of Environmental Law (12 Tables Press 2020)

, 55 Michigan Journal of Law Reform 101 (2020) (a previous version was awarded "Best Paper" at the 2019 ABA Water Law Conference)

l (with Amos) (West 6th ed. 2021)

(with Laitos) (West 2nd ed. 2021)

Recent presentations include:

: ?

Video Lectures, Podcasts, and Recent Blogs:  

Publications

For articles, see 

Books and other publications are listed on my cv.

Affiliations

National Affiliations and Awards include:

• Clyde O, Martz Teaching Award
• National Academy of Sciences National Research Council--Missouri River Recovery Committee
• American College of Environmental Lawyers
• Board of Directors and Trustee, Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation
• Senior Specialist Roster, Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board
• Member Scholar, Center for Progressive Reform
• ABA Section on Environment, Energy, and Resources: Chair, Marine Resources Committee (2002-04); Vice-Chair, Public Lands Committee (2012-present)
• Board of Directors, Society for Wilderness Stewardship
• Board of Directors, Northern Prairies Land Trust

Professional Experience

U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC (1994-97)

• Trial Attorney, Environment & Natural Resources Division General Litigation Section

The Honorable William Wayne Justice, U.S. Dist. Court, E.D. Texas, Tyler, TX (1992-93)

• Law Clerk

Faegre & Benson, Minneapolis, MN (1990-92)

• Attorney—General Litigation & Environmental Law Practice Groups 

International Experience

Canada-US Transboundary Resource Management, Faculty of Law, Univ. of Calgary, AB, Canada

Pipelines & Protests, Univ. of Alberta Law Centre, Edmonton AB, Canada

The Role of Law in Disaster Management, World Water Congress, Edinburgh, Scotland

Legal Issues for Protected Areas, IUCN World Parks Congress, Sydney, Australia

Water Law, Conservation & Climate Adaptation, IUCN Commission on Environmental Law, Jeju, Korea

U.S. Water Law ABC’s, M.S. Swaminathan Foundation, Chennai, India

University of Auckland College of Law Interim Session, Comparative Envtl. Law Class, Auckland, NZ

'Tulane Law School Summer Program, Comparative Envtl. Law Class, Spetses Greece

Book: Comparative Environmental & Natural Resources Law (Carolina Press)

Honors / Awards

Robert B. Daugherty Chair, University of Nebraska (2010-18)

Faculty Scholarship Award, ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú School of Law (2019)

Hobbies

Sandra grew up on a farm in northwest Iowa, where five generations of her family have raised cattle, poultry, and crops for over a century.  She bought her first car, a 1973 VW beetle, with money she made raising hogs and bailing hay.  She attended K-12 in Sergeant-Bluff Luton schools, and stayed close to home for college and law school. Since law school, Zellmer has traveled extensively for career and pleasure, ranging from Minneapolis to Texas to DC and beyond. She has called ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú home since 2017.

In her free time, Zellmer slakes her passion for the outdoors by hiking, trail-running, cross-country skiing, horseback riding, and paddling, often in the National Forests and Parks of the Rocky Mountains in ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú and Colorado. She is an avid knitter, an amateur pianist, and a devoted greyhound servant.