Maryland Senator Takes New Approach against Maryland Law's Environmental Law Clinic
From the National Law Journal:
The political wrangling over a University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law clinic’s involvement in environmental litigation against a local chicken farm does not appear to be settling down.
State Sen. Richard Colburn has proposed a budget amendment that would pit the state’s two public law schools against each other, transferring $500,000 from the University of Maryland, which houses an environmental law clinic that has angered some Republican lawmakers, to the University of Baltimore School of Law, to start a law clinic that would represent farmers.
Colburn and state leaders including Gov. Martin O’Malley have spoken out against the environmental law clinic for representing plaintiffs in a pollution lawsuit against a local chicken farm that supplies Perdue Farms Inc. They contend that publicly funded law clinics should not file suits that hurt state businesses.
The agricultural law clinic at Baltimore would be “dedicated to assisting farmers in the state with estates and trusts issues, compliance with environmental laws and other matters necessary to preserve family farms,” the proposed amendment reads.
If the University of Baltimore chose not to establish the clinic, the $500,000 would not revert to the University of Maryland. Instead, it would go to the state’s general fund.
Read more here.
Thoughts?