Scholars
Hari Osofsky
Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
Based in
United States
North America
Hari M. Osofsky is dean and Myra and James Bradwell Professor of Law at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and Professor of Environmental Policy and Culture (courtesy) at the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences.
As dean, she is deeply committed to building legal education for a changing society through inclusive collaboration. Her leadership focuses on innovating through interdisciplinary, multi-stakeholder, and international partnerships; preparing students to lead in our changing society and profession; and advancing diversity, equity and inclusion and social and racial justice. She also is very involved in mentorship and sponsorship to support greater diversity in law school and university leadership. The American Bar Association’s Legal Technology Resource Center recognized her as one of the 2019 Women of Legal-Tech.
Dean Osofsky’s over 50 publications focus on improving governance and addressing injustice in energy and climate change regulation. Her scholarship includes books with Cambridge University Press on climate change litigation, textbooks on both energy and climate change law, and articles in leading law and geography journals. Dean Osofsky’s Emory Law Journal article, Energy Partisanship, was awarded the 2018 Morrison Prize, which recognizes the most impactful sustainability-related legal academic article published in North America during the previous year. Dean Osofsky has collaborated extensively with business, government, and nonprofit leaders to make bipartisan progress on these issues through her leadership roles and teaching. She is a fellow of the American College of Environmental Lawyers.
Her professional leadership roles have included, among others, serving as president of the Association for Law, Property, and Society and as a member of the Dean’s Steering Committee of the American Association of Law Schools, Executive Council of the American Society of International Law, International Law Association’s Committee on the Legal Principles of Climate Change, Board of Governors of the Society of American Law Teachers, and editorial board of Climate Law. Her leadership and mentorship work was recognized by the Association for Law, Property, and Society’s 2016 Distinguished Service Award and the University of Minnesota 2015 Sara Evans Faculty Woman Scholar/Leader Award.
Dean Osofsky received a PhD in geography from the University of Oregon and a JD from Yale Law School. She clerked for Judge Dorothy W. Nelson of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Prior to joining Northwestern University, Dean Osofsky served as dean of Penn State Law and the Penn State School of International Affairs and on the faculties of University of Minnesota Law School, Washington and Lee University School of Law, the University of Oregon School of Law, and Whittier Law School.
Country(ies) of Specialty
United StatesFocus areas of expertise
Climate policy and politics Climate law and litigation Climate JusticePublications
Books
Lincoln L. Davies, Alexandra B. Klass, Hari M. Osofsky, Joe Tomain & Elizabeth Wilson, Energy Law and Policy (3d Ed., 2022; 2d Ed., 2018; 1st Ed., 2014, West Academic Publishers).
Jacqueline Peel & Hari M. Osofsky, Climate Change Litigation: Regulatory Pathways to Cleaner Energy? (2015, Cambridge University Press).
Hari M. Osofsky & Lesley K. McAllister, Climate Change Law and Policy (Elective Series) (2012, Aspen Publishers).
Adjudicating Climate Change: State, National, and International Approaches (William C.G. Burns & Hari M. Osofsky, eds.) (2009, Cambridge University Press).
Articles and Essays in Law Reviews and Interdisciplinary Peer-Review Journals
Hari M. Osofsky, Litigating Climate Change Infrastructure Impacts, __ Northwestern U. L. Rev. Online. __ (forthcoming 2023).
Hari M. Osofsky & Jacqueline Peel, Revisiting “The Grass is Not Always Greener”: Climate Change Regulation Amid Political Polarization, 39 Yale J. Reg. 814 (2022).
Hari M. Osofsky, Jacqueline Peel, Brett McDonnell & Anita C. Foerster, Green Boardrooms?, 53 Conn. L. Rev. 335 (2021).
Jacqueline Peel & Hari M. Osofsky, Climate Change Litigation, 16 Ann. Rev. L. & Soc. Sci. 21 (2020) (accepted through peer review).
Jacqueline Peel, Anita Foerster, Brett McDonnell & Hari M. Osofsky, Governing the Energy Transition: The Role of Corporate Law Tools, Envt’l & Planning L.J. (2020) (accepted through peer review).
Hari M. Osofsky, The Geography of Emerging Global South Climate Change Litigation, 114 Am. J. Int’l L. Unbound 61 (2020) (Symposium Issue).
Hari M. Osofsky, Jacqueline Peel, Brett McDonnell & Anita C. Foerster, Energy Re-Investment, 94 Indiana L.J. 635 (2019).
Jacqueline Peel, Hari M. Osofsky & Anita C. Foerster, Shaping the ‘Next Generation’ of Climate Change Litigation in Australia, 41 Melbourne Univ. L. Rev. 793 (2018).
Jacqueline Peel & Hari M. Osofsky, Rights Turn in Climate Change Litigation?, Transnational Envtl. L. 1-31 (2017).
Anita C. Foerster, Jacqueline Peel, Hari M. Osofsky & Brett McDonnell, Keeping Good Company in the Transition to a Low Carbon Economy? An Evaluation of Climate Risk Disclosure Practices in Australia, 65 Company & Sec. L.J. 695 (2017).• Hari M. Osofsky & Jacqueline Peel, Energy Partisanship, 65 Emory L.J. 695 (2016) (awarded 2018 Morrison Prize by Arizona State University).
Hari M. Osofsky, Jessica Shadian & Sara L. Fechtelkotter, Arctic Energy Cooperation, 49 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 1431 (2016).
Hannah J. Wiseman & Hari M. Osofsky, Regional Energy Governance and U.S. Carbon Emissions 43 Ecol. L. Q. 143 (2016).
Jacqueline Peel & Hari M. Osofsky, The Grass Is Not Always Greener: Congressional Dysfunction, Executive Action, and Climate Change in Comparative Perspective, 91 Chicago-Kent L. Rev.139 (2016) (Symposium Issue).
Jacqueline Peel & Hari M. Osofsky, Sue to Adapt, 99 Minn. L. Rev. 2133 (2015).• Hari M. Osofsky, Rethinking the Geography of Local Climate Action: Multi-Level Network Participation in Metropolitan Regions, 2015 Utah L. Rev. 173.
Hari M. Osofsky & Hannah J. Wiseman, Hybrid Energy Governance 2014 Ill. L. REV. 1.
Hari M. Osofsky, Complex Value Choices at the Environment-Energy Interface, 3 Mich. J. Envtl. & Admin L. 261 (2014) (Symposium Issue).
Hari M. Osofsky, The Geography of Solving “Global” Environmental Problems: Reflections on Polycentric Efforts to Address Climate Change, 58 N.Y.L. Sch. L. Rev. 777 (2013-14) (Symposium Issue).
Hari M. Osofsky & Jacqueline Peel, Litigation’s Regulatory Pathways and the Administrative State: Lessons from U.S. and Australian Climate Change Governance 25 Georgetown Int’l Envtl L. Rev. 207 (2013).
Jacqueline Peel & Hari M. Osofsky, The Role of Litigation in Multilevel Climate Change Governance: Possibilities for a Lower Carbon Future?, 30 Envt’l & Planning L.J. 303 (2013) (accepted through peer review).
Jacqueline Peel & Hari M. Osofsky, Climate Change Litigation’s Regulatory Pathways: A Comparative Analysis of the United States and Australia, 35 L. & Pol’y 150 (2013) (accepted through peer review).
Hari M. Osofsky & Hannah J. Wiseman, Dynamic Energy Federalism, 72 MARYLAND L. REV. 773 (2013).
Hari M. Osofsky, Suburban Climate Change Efforts: Possibilities for Small and Nimble Cities Participating in State, Regional, National, and International Networks, 22 Cornell J. L. & Pub. Pol’y 35 (2012).
Hari M. Osofsky, Kate Baxter-Kauf, Bradley Hammer, Ann Mailander, Brett Mares, Amy Pikovsky, Andrew Whitney & Laura Wilson, Environmental Justice and the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, 20 N.Y.U. Envt’l L.J. 99 (2012).
Hari M. Osofsky, Mapping International Environmental Law: A Review of The Oxford Handbook of International Environmental Law (Daniel Bodansky, Jutta Brunée & Ellen Hey, eds., 2007), 106 Am. J. Int’l L. 715 (2012).
Hari M. Osofsky, Keith Aoki–Darth Remainder, Duck, and Ninja for Social Justice: A Model of Being There for People in Moments of Vulnerability, 45 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 1699 (2012).
Hari M. Osofsky, The Geography of Moo Ha Ha: Keith Aoki’s Contributions to Critical Geography, 90 Or. L. Rev. 1233 (2012).
Hari M. Osofsky, Litigation’s Role in the Path of U.S. Federal Climate Change Regulation: Implications of AEP v. Connecticut, 46 Valparaiso U. L. Rev. 447 (2012).
Hari M. Osofsky, Multidimensional Governance and the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, 63 Florida L. Rev 1077 (2011) (selected for Land Use and Environment Law Review’s compilation of the top land use and environmental law articles).
Hari M. Osofsky, The Role of Climate Change Litigation in Establishing the Scale of Energy Regulation, 101 Annals Assoc. Am. Geographers 775 (2011) (accepted through peer review process for special issue on Energy).
Hari M. Osofsky, Diagonal Federalism and Climate Change: Implications for the Obama Administration, 62 Alabama L. Rev. 237 (2011) (winner of the Association of American Geographers’ Climate Specialty Group’s Student Paper Competition).
Hari M. Osofsky, Climate Change and Crises of International Law: Possibilities for Geographic Reenvisioning, 44 Case W. Res. J. Int’l L. 423 (2011).
Hari M. Osofsky, AEP v. Connecticut’s Implications for the Future of Climate Change Litigation, Yale L.J. Online (2011).
Hari M. Osofsky, Climate Change and Environmental Justice: Reflections on Litigation over Oil Extraction and Rights Violations in Nigeria, 1 Journal of Human Rights and the Environment 189 (2010) (solicited; accepted through peer review process).
Hari M. Osofsky, The Continuing Importance of Climate Change Litigation, 1 Climate Law 3 (2010) (solicited; accepted through peer review process as lead article of inaugural journal issue).
Hari M. Osofsky, Multiscalar Governance and Climate Change: Reflections on the Role of States and Cities at Copenhagen, 25 Maryland J. Int’l L. 64 (2010).
Hari M. Osofsky, The Future of Environmental Law and Complexities of Scale: Federalism Experiments with Climate Change under the Clean Air Act, 32 Wash. U. J.L. & Pol’y 79 (2010).
Hari M. Osofsky, Is Climate Change “International”?: Litigation’s Diagonal Regulatory Role, 49 Va. J. Int’l L. 585 (2009).
Hari M. Osofsky, Scaling “Local”: The Implications of Greenhouse Gas Regulation in San Bernardino County, 30 Mich. J. Int’l L. 689 (2009).
Hari M. Osofsky, The Geography of Justice Wormholes: Dilemmas from Property and Criminal Law, 53 Villanova L. Rev. 117 (2008).
Hari M Osofsky, The Geography of Climate Change Litigation Part II: Narratives of Massachusetts v. EPA, 8 Chicago J. Int’l L. 573 (2008) (awarded the Daniel B. Luten Award for the best paper by a professional geographer by the Energy and Environment Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers).
Hari M. Osofsky & Janet Koven Levit, The Scale of Networks: Local Climate Change Coalitions, 8 Chicago J. Int’l L. 409 (2008).
Hari M. Osofsky, Climate Change Legislation in Context, 102 Nw. U. L. Rev. Colloquy 245 (2008).
Hari M. Osofsky, Climate Change Litigation as Pluralist Legal Dialogue?, 26 Stanford Envtl. L.J. & 43 Stanford J. Int’l L. 181 (2007) (Joint Issue) (runner-up for Land Use and Environment Law Review’s compilation of the top land use and environmental law articles).• Hari M. Osofsky, A Law and Geography Perspective on the New Haven School, 32 Yale J. Int’l L. 421 (2007) (selected for Yale Journal of International Law Young Scholars Conference).
Hari M. Osofsky, Local Approaches to Transnational Corporate Responsibility: Mapping the Role of Sub-National Climate Change Litigation, 20 Pac. McGeorge Global Bus. & Dev. L.J. 143 (2007) (Symposium Issue).
Hari M. Osofsky, The Geography of the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation’s Citizen Submissions Process: Mapping the State-Corporate Regulatory Dynamic, 14 Mich. St. J. Int’l L. 463 (2006).
Hari M. Osofsky, The Geography of Climate Change Litigation: Implications for Transnational Regulatory Governance, 83 Wash. U. L.Q. 1789 (2005) (runner-up for Land Use and Environment Law Review’s compilation of the top land use and environmental law articles).
Hari M. Osofsky, Learning from Environmental Justice: A New Model for International Environmental Rights, 24 Stanford Envtl. L.J. 71 (2005).
Hari M. Osofsky, Defining Sustainable Development After Earth Summit 2002, 26 Loyola L.A. Int’l & Comp. 111 (2003).
Hari M. Osofsky, Domesticating International Criminal Law: Providing Justice Against Severe Human Rights Violators, 107 Yale L.J. 191 (1997) (Student Note) (reprinted in Library of Essays in International Law: Jurisdiction in International Law (1999)).
Hari M. Osofsky, Environmental Human Rights Under the Alien Tort Claims Act: Redress for Indigenous Victims of Multinational Corporations, 20 Suffolk Transnat’l L. Rev. 335 (1997).
Hari M. Osofsky, Foreign Sovereign Immunity from Severe Human Rights Violations: New Directions for Common Law Based Approaches, 11 New York Int’l L. Rev. 35 (1997).
Book Chapters
Hari M. Osofsky, Subnational Actors & International Environmental Law, in Oxford Handbook of International Environmental Law (Lavanya Rajamani and Jacqueline Peel eds., 2021, forthcoming).
Jacqueline Peel, Hari M. Osofsky & Anita C. Foerster, ‘Next Generation’ Climate Change Litigation in Australia, in Climate Change Litigation in the Asia Pacific (Jolene Lin & Douglas A. Kysar eds., 2020).
Jacqueline Peel & Hari M. Osofsky, Litigation as a Climate Regulatory Tool in International Judicial Practice on the Environment: Questions of Legitimacy (Christina Voight, ed.) (2019, Cambridge University Press).
Jacqueline Peel & Hari M. Osofsky, Polycentrism and Climate Change in Encyclopedia of Environmental Law (Daniel Farber & Marjan Peeters, eds.) (2016, Edward Elgar Publishing).
Hari M. Osofsky, Jessica Shadian & Sara L. Fechtelkotter, Preventing and Responding to Arctic Offshore Drilling Disasters: The Role of Hybrid Cooperation, in Role of International Environmental Law in Disaster Risk Reduction (Jacqueline Peel & David Fisher, eds) (2016, Brill Publishers).
Hari M. Osofsky & Hannah J. Wiseman, Federalism, Institutional Design, and Environmental Compliance Possibilities for Hybrid Mechanisms, in Next Generation Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (2014, Environmental Law Institute).
Hari M. Osofsky, Complexities of Addressing the Impacts of Climate Change on Indigenous Peoples through International Law Petitions: A Case Study of the Inuit Petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Climate Change, Indigenous Peoples and the Search for Legal Remedies (Randall S. Abate and Elizabeth Kronk, eds.) (2012, Edward Elgar Publishing).
Hari M. Osofsky, Suburban Climate Change Efforts in Minnesota: Implications for Multi-Level Strategies, in Local Climate Change Law: Environmental Regulation in Cities and Other Localities (Benjamin R. Richardson, ed.) (2012, Edward Elgar Publishing).
Hari M. Osofsky, Dispute Resolution Processes, in International Law in the Era of Climate Change (Rosemary Rayfuse & Shirley V. Scott, eds.) (2012, Edward Elgar Publishing).
Hari M. Osofsky, The Creation of the International Law of Climate Change Complexities of Sub-State Actors, in Non State Actors, Soft Law and Protective Regimes 355 (Cecilia M. Bailliet, ed.) (2012, Cambridge University Press).
Hari M. Osofsky, Technology Transfer and Climate Change, in Sustainable Technology Transfer: A Guide to Global Development (Hans Henrik Lidgard, Jeffery Atik & Tu Thanh Nguyen, eds.) (2011, Edward Elgar Publishing).
Hari M. Osofsky, The Intersection of Scale, Science, and Law in Massachusetts v. EPA, 9 Oregon R. Int’l L. 233 (2007) (actual publication 2008) (Symposium Issue) (reprinted in Adjudicating Climate Change: State, National, and International Approaches (William C.G. Burns & Hari M. Osofsky, eds.) (2009, Cambridge University Press)).
Hari M. Osofsky, The Right to Frozen Water: The Institutional Spaces for Supranational Climate Change Petitions, in Progress in International Institutions: Confronting the 21st Century (Rebecca Bratspies and Russell Miller, eds.) (2008, Martinus Nijhoff).
Hari M. Osofsky, The Inuit Petition as a Bridge?: Beyond Dialectics of Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples’ Rights, 31 Am. Indian L. Rev. 675 (2007) (Symposium Issue) (reprinted in Adjudicating Climate Change: State, National, and International Approaches (William C.G. Burns & Hari M. Osofsky, eds.) (2009, Cambridge University Press)).
Other Writing
Virtual Symposium Contributor, Futures of Legal Education, PrawfsBlawg, http://prawfsblawg.blogs.com/prawfsblawg/2018-symposium-future-of-legal-ed/ (Mar. 2018).
Hari Osofsky & Hannah Wiseman, The Pull of Energy Markets – and Legal Challenges – Will Blunt Plan to Roll Back EPA Carbon Rule, The Conversation, Oct. 13, 2017, http://theconversation.com/the-pull-of-energy-markets-and-legal-challenges-will-blunt-plans-to-roll-back-epa-carbon-rules-85561.
Hari Osofsky, Environment: Law for a Health Planet, Book Review of Client Earth by James Thornton & Martin Goodman, Nature, May 17, 2017, https://www.nature.com/articles/545288a.
Guest Blogger, Opinio Juris, http://opiniojuris.org/ (2015) (on Paris climate change negotiations).• Blogger, IntLawGrrls, http://intlawgrrls.blogspot.com/ (2007–2013).• Blogger, SALTLaw Blog, http://www.saltlaw.org/blog/ (2010–2013).
Blogger, Environmental Law Prof Blog, http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/environmental_law/ (2011–2013).
Hari M. Osofsky, A Win for Oregon As Well As the Law, The Oregonian, April 5, 2007 (Opinion-Editorial).
Hari M. Osofsky, Transporting Climate Change: The Local Dimensions of a Global Environmental Problem, The Next American City (2006).
Hari M. Osofsky, Katrina Disaster Exposes Environmental Injustice, The Register-Guard, Sept. 7, 2005 (Opinion-Editorial).
Hari M. Osofsky, Commentary on How to Harmonize Community Autonomy and Administrative Responsibility in Environmental Decision-Making: Environmental Hearing Institutions in Wuhan, 24 Temple Env. L. & Tech. J. 225 (2005).
2 Human Rights Dialogue 11 (Joanne Bauer & Hari M. Osofsky, eds.) (Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs, 2004).
Hari M. Osofsky, Environmental Rights Enforcement in U.S. Courts, Human Rights Dialogue (2004).
Hari M. Osofsky, Understanding “Hostage Diplomacy”: The Release of Wei Jingsheng and Wang Dan, Yale Hum. Rts. & Devel. L.J. (1998) (New Development).
Hari M. Osofsky, On-Site Reflections of China’s Hong Kong Takeover, The Times-Picayune, at B-7, July 17, 1997 (Opinion-Editorial). Podcast, Radio, and Television Appearances
ABA Asked and Answered Podcast, Saying Yes Has Been Part of This Law School Dean’s Strategy During the COVID-19 Pandemic, https://www.americanbar.org/groups/journal/podcast/saying-yes-has-been-part-of-this-law-school-deans-strategy-durin/ (June 28, 2021).
Legal Talk Network, Legal Talk Today: Penn State Law: The Journey from Pandemic to ReOpen, https://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/special-reports/2019/02/inspire-legal-2019-how-will-technology-impact-the-makeup-of-law-firms/ (June 12, 2020).
Legal Talk Network, Inspire Legal 2019: How Will Technology Impact The Makeup Of Law Firms https://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/legal-talk-today/2020/06/penn-state-law-the-journey-from-pandemic-to-reopen/ (Feb. 7, 2019).
Live with Kellye and Ken, Law and Technology, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o8Hx4FpkBI (Jan. 3., 2019).
Legal Talk Network, ABA Annual Meeting 2018: Climate Resilience and Legal Adaptation https://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/special-reports/2018/08/aba-annual-meeting-2018-climate-resilience-and-legal-adaptation/ (Aug. 3, 2018).
Texas Standard, Commentator on Trump Administration Proposes Rollback of Obama’s Oil Rig Safety Regulation, Jan. 2, 2016, http://www.texasstandard.org/stories/trump-administration-proposes-rollback-of-obamas-oil-rig-safety-regulation/.
Access Minnesota, Commentator on Climate Change Initiatives and the Supreme Court, Mar. 16, 2016, http://www.accessminnesotaonline.com/2016/03/16/climate-change-initiatives-and-the-supreme-court/.
Access Minnesota, Commentator on The Role of Litigation in Fighting Climate Change, Mar. 4, 2015, http://www.accessminnesotaonline.com/2015/03/04/the-role-of-litigation-in-fighting-climate-change/.
Daily Circuit, Minnesota Public Radio, Jan. 22, 2015, Guest Commentator on Will BP oil spill change how companies drill?, http://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/01/22/daily-circuit-bp-oil.
The Obama Presidency and Federalism, CSPAN, Jan. 5. 2015, Presentation on President Obama’s Use of Executive Authority to Address Climate Change and Energy Transition, http://www.c-span.org/video/?323544-2/discussion-executive-action-federalism.
WTIP, Grand Marais, Guest Commentator on Energy Transition Lab Focuses on Renewable Energy, Dec. 23, 2014, https://beta.prx.org/stories/139149.
Breakfast with Nancy, KOPT 1600, Monthly Program on Global Justice (2005–2006) (with Ibrahim Gassama).
Odyssey, WBEZ/Chicago Public Radio, Guest Commentator on Human Rights and the Environmental Movement (2004).