UNM School of Law Professor elected fellow of the American College of Environmental Lawyers

The American College of Environmental Lawyers (ACOEL) announced UNM School of Law Professor Cliff Villa was recently elected as a fellow of this prestigious organization. This distinction recognizes prominent practitioners from private practice, academia, not-for-profit organizations and government. Professor Villa was one of two professors of environmental law nationwide included in the 2026 class of elected fellows.

The American College of Environmental Lawyers is an invitation-only association of distinguished attorneys dedicated to maintaining and improving the ethical practice of environmental law through outreach, education and advocacy. The last School of Law faculty member elected to the association was Jeannette Wolfley in 2017.

Professor Villa focuses his teaching and scholarship on constitutional and environmental law, with an emphasis on environmental justice and disaster response. He previously served in the Biden administration at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and spent more than two decades as an EPA attorney, in addition to holding teaching roles at Columbia Law School and Seattle University. With local roots, Professor Villa's lifelong connection to New Mexico informs both his scholarship and his commitment to environmental justice.

He is also the lead author of the newly released fourth edition of Environmental Justice: Law, Policy, and Regulation, a national textbook examining current theory and practice in environmental justice, published this year by Carolina Academic Press. In addition to this work, he has authored numerous publications, including Law and Lawyers in the Incident Command System (2013), Remaking Environmental Justice (2020), Don't Blame the Flint River (2022), and Environmental Justice Beyond 2° C (2024).

Villa is a dedicated advocate for environmental justice and a highly respected scholar and educator at UNM School of Law. To learn more about his work, visit his faculty profile webpage.