The Environmental Law and Policy Annual Review (ELPAR) is published annually as a special issue of the Environmental Law Reporter (ELR) in collaboration with the Vanderbilt University Law School (VULS). Each year, Vanderbilt Law students work with an expert Advisory Committee, senior staff from the Environmental Law Institute (ELI), and Vanderbilt law professors to identify some of the year’s best academic articles that present creative and feasible law and policy solutions to pressing environmental problems. Click here for the Methodology.
Learn more
The result is a one issue, student-edited volume that includes condensed versions of the selected articles, along with commentaries from leading experts from the academy, law firms, business, government and non-governmental organizations.
In conjunction with the publication, ELI and Vanderbilt co-sponsor an annual conference at which the authors of the articles and article commenters present their ideas and views to an audience that includes business, government (federal, state, and local), think tank, and non-profit representatives.
ELPAR 2024-2025
ELPAR 2025-2026
See the Honorable Mentions Selected for 2025-2026
- Matthew Eisenson, Overcoming Unreasonably Burdensome Restrictions on the Use of Farmland for Solar Generation, 75 Case W. Res. L. Rev. 117
- Tracy D. Hester, Spinning Off Carbon: Corporate Restructuring in a Climate Bankrupt World, 32 N.Y.U. Env’t L.J. 339
- Temple Stoellinger, et al. State Trust Land Revenue Diversification Through Conservation, 2025 Utah L. Rev. 1
See the Selected Articles for 2025-2026
- Anthony B. Derron, Unwritten Administrative Law and the Regulatory Last Mile, 173 U. Pa. L. Rev. 1657
- Albert C. Lin, Indoor Air: The Forgotten Frontier of Environmental Law, 85 Ohio St. L.J. 1291
- Dave Owen, The Water District and the State, 134 Yale L.J. 1
- James Salzman and Ana Mackay Peltzer, The Cleanest Water and the Dumbest Kids: Do Small Water Systems Comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act?, 44 Stan. Envtl. L.J. 276
2025 Events
Washington, D.C. Conference
Environmental Law Institute
Friday, March 27, 2026
Each year, Vanderbilt Law School and the Environmental Law Institute invite leading professors, policymakers, and practitioners to discuss the proposals selected from the environmental law and policy academic literature.
Articles for Discussion
- Anthony B. Derron, Unwritten Administrative Law and the Regulatory Last Mile, 173 U. Pa. L. Rev. 1657
- Albert C. Lin, Indoor Air: The Forgotten Frontier of Environmental Law, 85 Ohio St. L.J. 1291
- Dave Owen, The Water District and the State, 134 Yale L.J. 1
Watch the Conference recording.
ELPAR is designed to bring ideas from the academy to policymakers and practitioners, as well as recognize and incentivize scholars to write articles that include creative and feasible law and policy proposals. This is made possible through the support of an expert advisory committee.