Claudia Polsky

Claudia Polsky is a Clinical Professor of Law and founding Director of the Environmental Law Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Her expertise spans Environmental Law, Natural Resources Law, Energy Law, Health Law and Policy, Indigenous Peoples Law, Racial and Social Justice, and State and Local Government Law.

Her educational background includes:

• B.A. from Harvard University (1987)
• M. Appl. Sci. from Lincoln University, New Zealand (1989)
• J.D. from Berkeley Law (1996)

Polsky's research and practice focus on reducing toxic chemical exposure across supply chains, environmental health, and environmental justice—including climate justice and safe drinking water access. With eighteen years as a public sector environmental litigator, she has argued U.S. Supreme Court cases, testified before Congress and California legislature, and drafted environmental regulations. Her work at California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control centered on pollution prevention and green technology.

As Clinic Director, she supervises student legal teams handling toxics-reduction cases, pesticide exposure litigation, and consumer product regulation. Her advocacy history includes conservation easements with The Nature Conservancy, Pacific salmon habitat protection through dam removal, and a landmark injunction preserving 50 million national forest acres from logging.