Robert L. Fischman

Robert L. Fischman serves as the George P. Smith, II Distinguished Professor of Law at Indiana University Maurer School of Law and holds an adjunct appointment as Professor of Public and Environmental Affairs at IU's O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. With a distinguished career spanning over three decades since joining the IU faculty in 1992, he has established himself as one of America's leading environmental law scholars. His work uniquely bridges the legal and scientific communities, with publications appearing in both top law reviews and high-impact scientific journals.

Dr. Fischman earned his A.B. in Geology summa cum laude from Princeton University (1984), followed by an M.S. in natural resources and a J.D. from the University of Michigan (1987), where he received the Joseph L. Sax Award and was elected to the Order of the Coif. His academic journey included teaching positions at the University of Wyoming College of Law, staff attorney work at the Environmental Law Institute in Washington D.C., and visiting professorships at Vermont Law School and Lewis and Clark School of Law, along with a year as a senior research scholar at Yale Law School.

Fischman's research explores the critical intersection between law and conservation implementation, with particular expertise in public land management, endangered species recovery, federalism, adaptive conservation, and climate change policy. His scholarship is notable for its empirical approach and practical impact on conservation policy. In 2017, he helped lead a team that secured a $55 million Grand Challenge grant to establish an environmental resilience institute at Indiana University.

His publication record reveals a consistent focus on strengthening conservation frameworks through legal innovation, with increasing attention to climate adaptation challenges in recent years. His work demonstrates a progression from analyzing existing legal structures to developing frameworks for adaptive management in the face of ecological uncertainty.

• Indiana University Teaching Excellence Recognition Award (1999)
• Distinguished Environmental Law Lecturer, Florida State University (2005)
• Academic Fellow, Indiana University Institute for Advanced Study (2007)
• Member, American Law Institute (2019-present)

Professor Fischman maintains an active role in conservation practice through his founding board membership with the Conservation Law Center, which operates the law school's conservation law clinic, and as a Member Scholar of the Center for Progressive Reform. His 2017 leadership in securing the $55 million environmental resilience grant demonstrates his capacity to translate scholarly work into significant institutional initiatives that address complex environmental challenges.