About Richard Lazarus

Richard Lazarus


Richard Lazarus is the Charles Stebbins Fairchild Professor of Law at Harvard University, where he teaches Environmental Law, Natural Resources Law, Supreme Court Advocacy, and Torts.  He also recently served as the Executive Director of the President’s Commission responsible for investigating the root causes of the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1979 and he has a B.S. in Chemistry and a B.A. in economics from the University of Illinois, where he focused on environmental issues.

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Books and Reports

Book cover of The Making of Environmental Law
Book cover of Deep Water
Book cover of The Rule of Five
Book cover of The Making of Environmental Law
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Law Review Articles

The Rise of Constitutional Alarmists on the Supreme Court and Its Portent for the Future of Environmental Law, 85(4) Ohio St. L. J. 983 (2025)

In Memoriam: Professor Charles Fried, 138 Harv. L. Rev. 1169 (2025)

Sackett v. EPA: The Judicial Destruction of the Clean Water Act, U. Chi. L. Rev. Online 1 (August 11, 2023)

Stewart’s Paradoxes of Liberty, Integrity, and Fraternity: Sobering Lessons from COVID-19 for Environmental Law, 29 N.Y.U. Envtl. L.J. 543 (2021)

Justice Gorsuch and the Future of Environmental Law, 43 Stan. Envtl. L. J. 1 (2024)

The Scalia Court: Environmental Law’s Wrecking Crew Within the Supreme Court, 47 Harv. Envtl. L. Rev. 407 (2023)

Advocacy History in the Supreme Court, 2020 Sup. Ct. Rev. 423.

Reflections on Farber’s Inequality and Regulation, 3 Am. J. L. & Equality 414 (2023)

Justice Breyer’s Friendly Legacy for Environmental Law, 95 S. Cal. L. Rev. 1395 (2023)

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Supreme Court Advocacy

Counsel of Record for Respondent St. Croix County, Joseph P. Murr, et al., v. State of Wisconsin and St. Croix County, 137 S. Ct 1993 (2017)

Counsel of Record for Environmental Respondent Riverkeeper, Entergy Corp. v. Riverkeeper, 556 U.S. 208 (2009)

Co-Counsel, Los Angeles County Flood Control Dist. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 568 U.S. 78 (2013)

Co-Counsel for Petitioners, Massachusetts v. U.S. Envt’l Prot. Agency, 549 U.S. 497 (2007) (jurisdictional stage only)

Co-Counsel for Respondents, Monsanto v. Geertson Seed Farms, 561 U.S. 139 (2010)

Counsel of Record for Respondents American River and Friends of the Presumpscot River, S.D. Warren v. Maine Department of Environmental Protection, 547 U.S. 370 (2006)

More Advocacy

Recent Presentations

  • The Making of Environmental Law in the United States, Hubbell Environmental Law Initiative, University of Iowa College of Law (April 17, 2025)
  • Harvard Voices on Climate Change: EPA Rollbacks & the Future of Environmental Protection, Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability, Harvard University (April 9, 2025)
  • The Rise of Constitutional Alarmism on the Supreme Court and its Portent for the Future of Environmental Law, Faculty Colloquium, University of Denver Sturm College of Law (April 3, 2025)
  • The Making of Environmental Law and the Challenges Presented by Trump 2.0, The University of Denver College of Law (April 3, 2025)
  • Environmental Law Under Siege: The First 66 Days of Trump 2.0, Keynote Address, 54th Spring Conference on Environmental Law, American Bar Association (March 27, 2025)
  • The Challenges of Constitutional Law in the United States for Climate Lawmaking, The Cambridge Series on Law and the Climate Crisis, University of Cambridge (November 4, 2024)
  • The Challenge of Climate Lawmaking, CEENRG Thursday Seminars, Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge (October 31, 2024)
  • Morning Prayers, Harvard Memorial Church (September 6, 2024)
  • The Challenge of U.S. Climate Law in the Next Five Years, Harvard Climate Action Week, Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability, Harvard University (June 10, 2024)
  • Do you trust our court system?, The Middle with Jeremy Hobson (May 3, 2024)
  • The Portent of the Current Supreme Court for Environmental Law’s Future, Harvard Law School (April 16, 2024)

In The News

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