Richard Lazarus (law professor)

Lazarus graduated from University High School in Urbana, Illinois. He holds a B.S. in chemistry and a B.A. in economics from the University of Illinois (1976) and a J.D. from Harvard Law School (1979). Prior to his arrival at Georgetown in 1996, Professor Lazarus taught at the Washington University School of Law (1989–1996) and the Indiana University Maurer School of Law (1983–1985) and worked in the Solicitor General's Office (1986–1989) and the Land and Natural Resources Division of the United States Department of Justice (1979–1983).

Lazarus was previously the Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center,[2][3] where he focused his teaching and scholarship on environmental law, natural resources law, constitutional law, Supreme Court Advocacy, torts, property, and administrative law. He was Faculty Director of the Supreme Court Institute, which provides moot court sessions for counsel in more than 90 percent of Supreme Court cases.[4] He is also the Stanley Legro Professor of Environmental Law at the University of San Diego, School of Law.[5] He was appointed Executive Director of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling in June 2010.[6]

In November 2020, Lazarus was named a volunteer member of the Joe Biden presidential transition Agency Review Team to support transition efforts related to the United States Department of Justice.[7]

Lazarus has been criticized for his role in suppressing student free speech and racial justice organizing. As a member of the Administrative Board at Harvard Law, he participated in the Administrative Board's 2019-2020 investigation into students who participated in a silent protest calling for Harvard to divest its endowment from companies tied to the prison industry.[8] In a petition addressed to Lazarus which garnered over a 1000 signatures, the investigation was criticized as being opaque and arbitrary, disproportionate to the student acts of distributing flyers and silently holding up signs, and racially targeted at student protestors of color.[9][10] The incident garnered media coverage and attention in the Harvard community and the legal community.[11][12][13] The incident has been examined as an example of Harvard Law School's pattern of suppression of student speech for racial justice, during Lazarus's tenure on the Administrative Board.[14]

Lazarus has not made public comment on his views of Harvard's financial holdings in the prison industries.

• Lazarus, Richard; Houck, Oliver (2005). Environmental Law Stories. New York: Foundation Press. ISBN 978-1-58778-728-7.
• Lazarus, Richard (2004). The Making of Environmental Law. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-47037-5.

• Appearances on C-SPAN