Daniel M. Bodansky

Daniel M. Bodansky, a preeminent authority in international climate change law, joined the College of Law in August as the Lincoln Professor of Law, Ethics, and Sustainability.

Bodansky is also an Affiliated Faculty member in both the College of Law’s Center for Law and Global Affairs, and in the Global Institute of Sustainability’s School of Sustainability at ASU. And he is working with Faculty Director Kristin K. Mayes to develop the Program in Law and Sustainability, housed in the College’s Center for the Study of Law, Science & Innovation.

This year, he has taught courses in international law and law and sustainability.

“The law and sustainability class was a nice mix of law students and students from the School of Sustainability,” said Bodansky, who was the Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Emily and Ernest Woodruff Chair in International Law at the University of Georgia School of Law. “The really great thing about ASU is the range of interdisciplinary people working here.”

Bodansky said he also has enjoyed the great number of interesting speakers brought in by the School of Sustainability, and is working with the school on planning for the future.

ASU President Michael Crow praised Bodansky’s hiring.

“On the law and sustainability front, Dan will bring us global thinking at the highest level,” Crow said.

Bodansky said that establishing the College of Law as an innovative force in solving global challenges and Crow’s visionary leadership in sustainability convinced him to make the move.

“The law school is a very dynamic place with a real focus on international law, and there’s a synergy in the strong group of people who are doing interesting work there. That was particularly appealing to me,” Bodansky said. “And what Michael Crow is doing in sustainability, building it throughout the entire university -- operations, curriculum and research -- is very innovative and makes ASU an exciting place. I'm not sure I know of any other school that has that kind of focus.”

Rob Melnick, Executive Dean of the Global Institute of Sustainability, said Bodansky’s experience as climate change coordinator and attorney-advisor at the U.S. Department of State during the Clinton and Bush administrations brings a new perspective to the Institute and to ASU.

“Dan is a world-class leader in environmental and sustainability law, especially in the international arena,” Melnick said. “He has an understanding of how the law on a global level affects, and is effected by, sustainability, and he has the added advantage of having operated in both federal and international policy spaces. His dual appointment is a tremendous asset for both the College of Law and the School of Sustainability.”

Bodansky began working in the global climate change arena nearly two decades ago, before it was trendy to do so. He has authored numerous papers for the Pew Center for Global Climate Change and is an influential voice in international conversations about the issue.

His book, The Art and Craft of International Environmental Law, explains the role international law plays in addressing global environmental challenges such as climate change, ozone depletion and the loss of biodiversity. It was chosen in March to receive the Harold and Margaret Sprout Award, given for the best book published last year in the field of international environmental politics.

“Law is an important piece of the puzzle, but the problem with international environmental law has been that people either overwrite the importance of it, or they disregard it altogether,” Bodansky said. “One of the points of the book is to try to provide a more realistic picture of the contributions international law can make, but to convey that it’s not the only thing that’s involved.”

Bodansky’s scholarship includes three books, 28 scholarly articles and book chapters, five book reviews and more than 40 papers and presentations. In addition to his work at the State Department, he has consulted for the United Nations in the areas of climate change and tobacco control. He is the recipient of a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship, a Pew Faculty Fellowship in International Affairs and a Jean Monnet Fellowship from the European University Institute in Florence.

He currently serves on the board of editors of the American Journal of International Law and is the U.S.-nominated arbitrator under the Antarctic Environment Protocol. In addition, he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Society of International Law.

Bodansky was at Georgia Law from 2002 until last year, and was named associate dean for faculty development in 2006. Before that, he was a faculty member of the University of Washington School of Law, and taught as an adjunct professor at the George Washington School of Law and the Georgetown University Law Center. He clerked for Judge Irving Goldberg of the 5th U.S. Court of Appeals.

Bodansky earned a Juris Doctor from Yale University, where he was a member of the Yale Law Journal, a master’s in the history and philosophy of science from Cambridge University and a bachelor’s magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1979.

He and his wife, Anne Herbert, have twin daughters, Sarah and Maria.