Scholars to probe water quantity, quality issues at law symposium

LAWRENCE – Leading scholars and thinkers on water law and environmental law will address the critical issues facing water quantity and quality at the 2013 Kansas Law Review Symposium, “Waters of the United States: Adapting Law for Degradation and Drought.”

The symposium will run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1, at the University of Kansas School of Law. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Register and preview the complete schedule online. Attorneys who wish to receive four hours of CLE credit will be charged $25.

Speakers from across the country will discuss topics such as: conflicts between water and endangered species regulation; innovative proposals for decreasing agricultural water pollution; adaptive water law that considers both ecological and social conditions; water quality trading programs, ecosystem services markets providing financial incentives for environmental protection; legal responses to drought in Kansas; citizens’ initiatives; and the results of a federal water project that studied how climate change, population growth, and economic growth will impact water uses and availability.

“The goal of the symposium is to provide a forum for academic discussion of water issues both on national, regional, and local levels, and to enrich the academic experience of students and practitioners interested in the area of water law,” said Kate Marples, symposium editor and third-year KU law student. “We also hope to provide the basis for innovative solutions to water issues in Kansas and nationally.”

Panelists will include:

• Rex Buchanan, interim director, Kansas Geological Survey
• David Brenn and Chris Wilson, Kansas Water Congress representatives
• Mary Jane Angelo, Research Foundation Professor and director, Environmental & Land Use Law Program, University of Florida Levin College of Law​
• John Peck, Connell Teaching Professor of Law, KU
• Adell Amos, associate dean for Academic Affairs, associate professor in the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Program, University of Oregon School of Law
• Robin Craig, William H. Leary Professor of Law, University of Utah S. J. Quinney College of Law
• Amy Hardberger, assistant professor of law, St. Mary's University
• Tony Arnold, associate dean for Research & Faculty Development, Boehl Chair in Property & Land Use, chair of the Center for Land Use & Environmental Responsibility, University of Louisville, Louis D. Brandeis School of Law
• Robert Glicksman, J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of Environmental Law, George Washington University School of Law
• Melissa Scanlan, associate dean of the Environmental Law Program, associate professor of Law, Vermont Law School
• Sandi Zellmer, Robert B. Daugherty Professor of Law, University of Nebraska College of Law
• Aliki Moncrief, Field Director, Florida's Water and Land Legacy

The symposium is co-sponsored by the Kansas Water Congress, KU Environmental Law Society, Stevens & Brand LLP, Coca-Cola and the KU School of Law.

Scholarship associated with the symposium will be published in a spring 2014 issue of the Kansas Law Review. For questions, contact Symposium Editor Kate Marples at kmarples@gmail.com.