SCHEDULE - March 7th, 2025
8:45 a.m. Welcome and Opening Remarks
Location: Moot Court Room, W&L Law
1 E. Denny Circle, Lexington, VA 24450
Dean Melanie Wilson, W&L Law
Martin Flores, Editor-in-Chief, Washington and Lee Law Review
9:00 a.m. Panel #1: Children, Climate Change, and State Constitutions
Location: Moot Court Room
Moderator: Derek Teaney, Senior Staff Attorney, Appalachian Mountain Advocates & Adjunct Professor of Law, Washington and Lee University School of Law
Speakers:
§ Prof. Jeremiah Chin, University of Washington School of Law
§ Kylie Wagner Cruz, Earthjustice (co-lead counsel in Navahine v. Hawai’i Dept. of Transportation)
§ Andrea Rodgers, Deputy Director, U.S. Strategy, Our Children’s Trust (co-lead counsel in Navahine v. Hawai’i Department of Transportation; counsel in Held v. State of Montana)
§ Kasia Wolfkot, Senior Counsel, Brennan Center for Justice; Managing Editor of State Court Report
10:30 a.m. Break
Peet’s Coffee and Tea provided.
10:45 a.m. Panel #2: The U.S. Constitution and the Meaning of “We the [Young] People”
Location: Moot Court Room
Moderator: Prof. Alan Trammell, Associate Professor of Law, Washington and Lee University School of Law
Speakers:
§ Prof. Norrinda Brown, Associate Dean for Experiential Education and Director of Clinical Programs, Fordham University School of Law
§ Brianna Rosier Kabwika, Staff Attorney, Our Children’s Trust (counsel in Genesis v. EPA)
§ Asha Brundage-Moore, Lasch Clinical Teaching Fellow for the Environmental Law Clinic, University of Denver College of Law
§ Prof. David Thronson, Professor of Law, Michigan State University College of Law
§ Prof. Jeffrey Omari, Assistant Professor, Gonzaga University School of Law
12:30 p.m. Break for Lunch
1:45 p.m. Panel #3: Youth-Powered Litigation and Global Constitutionalism
Location: Moot Court Room
Moderator: Prof. Catherine Smith, Vincent L. Bradford Professor of Law, Washington and Lee University School of Law
Speakers:
§ Prof. Aoife Daly, Professor in Law, University College Cork
§ Prof. James May, Richard S. Righter Distinguished Professor of Law, Washburn University School of Law
§ Dr. Maria Antonia Tigre, Director of Global Climate Change Litigation, Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia University
§ Prof. Mary Wood, Philip H. Knight Professor, Faculty Director, Environmental and Natural Resources Law Center, University of Oregon School of Law
3:15 p.m. Break
Water/Tea/Snacks provided in Moot Court Lobby
3:30 p.m. Keynote Address and Q&A
Speaker: Julia Olson, Co-Executive Director & Chief Legal Counsel of Our Children’s Trust
4:15 p.m. Closing Remarks
Location: Moot Court Room, W&L Law
Martin Flores, Editor-in-Chief, Washington and Lee Law Review
Prof. Catherine Smith, Faculty Sponsor
Overview
Climate change is an existential threat. As our planet heats up and climate change advances, children suffer most. Heat stress, poor air quality, extreme weather events, food-insecurity, forced migration of humans and wildlife, and unpredictable infectious disease patterns will continue to intensify and disproportionately impact young people. In an early landmark case, Juliana v. United States, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit acknowledged that the United States government has known for more than fifty years that the Earth’s climate is changing at a rapid pace and that “fail[ing] to change existing policy may hasten an environmental apocalypse.” Rather than affirming the lower court’s decision to recognize the 21 youth plaintiffs’ right to a sustainable climate and a trial, the Ninth Circuit dismissed their lawsuit. But Juliana lives as a catalyst for other youth-powered cases. As climate chaos mounts, courts worldwide are increasingly pressed to reconceptualize the meaning of liberty, equality, and the public trust from the perspective of the planet’s youngest inhabitants and future generations.
Led by Professor Catherine Smith (W&L), this Symposium will bring together scholars, lawyers, and activists to analyze this youth-powered movement demanding a paradigmatic shift in the adult-centered doctrines that ushered in the Anthropocene era, including climate change’s unique effect on children, especially children who are members of more vulnerable populations (racially oppressed groups, indigenous communities, living at sea level, for example); how youth-focused constitutional litigation differs from adult-focused litigation; how a youth-based (and future generations) lens forces constitutional doctrines across the globe to evolve; and the procedural and substantive hurdles in not-so-youth-friendly jurisdictions.
The Symposium panel topics include:
• Children, Climate Change, and State Constitutions
• The U.S. Constitution and the Meaning of “We the [Young] People”
• Youth-Powered Litigation and Global Constitutionalism
The Lara D. Gass Symposium is named in honor of Lara Gass, a member of the Law Class of 2014 who passed away in an automobile accident in March of 2014. Gass served as Symposium Editor for the Washington and Lee Law Review, organizing the Law Review’s 2014 symposium focused on the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Lara was active within the Women Law Students Organization and also served as a Kirgis Fellow, the law school’s peer mentoring group, during the 2012–21013 academic year. In January 2014, Lara received recognition for her academic achievements, her leadership abilities, her service to the law school and university community, and her character when she was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa, the National Leadership Honor Society.
