A process-oriented introduction to the law and its use in environmental policy and decision-making. The ecologic and ethical bases of environmental law and the origins and structure of the U.S. legal system. The role of cost-benefit analysis and risk management in environmental law. Emphasis on the litigation process and specific cases that elucidate the common law and environmental and toxic torts, environmental administrative law, and environmental regulation through the application and testing of statutory law in the courts. Emphasis also on the development of legal literacy, legal research skills through the use of the Columbia Law Library, and legal writing through the creation of briefs and a memorandum of law.