Titles

Robert F. Stanton Professor of Law

Director, Environmental Law Program

School Affiliation

Carey School of Law

Specialties

• Environmental Law
• Environmental Policy

About

(410) 706-8030 rpercival@law.umaryland.edu

Professor Robert Percival joined the faculty in 1987 after serving as senior attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund. While in law school, he served as managing editor of the Stanford Law Review and was named the Nathan Abbott Scholar for graduating first in his class. Professor Percival served as a law clerk for Judge Shirley M. Hufstedler of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White. He also served as a special assistant to the first U.S. Secretary of Education. Professor Percival is internationally recognized as a leading scholar and teacher in environmental law. Since 1992 he has been the principal author of the most widely used casebook in environmental law in the U.S., Environmental Regulation: Law, Science & Policy, now in its ninth edition (http://www.erlsp.com). He is the author of more than 100 publications on topics that include environmental law, federalism, presidential powers, regulatory policy, and legal history. Professor Percival taught as a visiting professor of law at Harvard Law School in 2000 and 2009 and at Georgetown University Law Center in 2005 and 2011. He received the University System of Maryland Board of Regents’ Faculty Award for Collaborative Teaching in 2005, and in 2007 he was named the University of Maryland, Baltimore Teacher of the Year. In 2014, he received the Senior Distinguished Environmental Law Education Award from the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law in recognition of his outstanding teaching and contributions to the field of environmental law (http://www.iucnael.org/en/academy-awards/environmental-law-education-awards/218-2014-environmental-law-education-awards). In 2019, he received the award for Distinguished Achievement in Environmental Law and Policy from the American Bar Association’s Section on Environment, Energy and Resources Law. Professor Percival has taught Environmental Law, Global Environmental Law, Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Torts and Toxic Torts. In 2022 the University of Maryland named him a Distinguished University Professor, the highest appointment bestowed on a tenured university professor. Professor Percival is a member of the board of regents of the American College of Environmental Lawyers. He has served on the board of directors of the Environmental Law Institute and as co-chair of the steering committee of the D.C. Bar's Section on Environmental, Energy and Natural Resources Law. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute, and the American College of Environmental Lawyers, and the National Committee on U.S./China Relations. He has served as the contributing editor for Environment and Natural Resources for the Federal Circuit Bar Journal, as a special master for the U.S. District Court of Maryland, and as a member of the state of Maryland's Environmental Restoration and Development Task Force.

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Tagged: Caring for the Human Condition  

This information was last updated January 2, 2025.