Wendy B. Jacobs, the Emmett Clinic’s founder and director since its inception in 2008, passed away on February 1, 2021 after a long illness.  Her death is a huge blow for the clinical program, the law school, and the environmental law community more generally.

Wendy built the Emmett Clinic to be unlike any other environmental law clinic in the country—one that addressed the full range of cutting-edge energy and environmental issues, with a special focus on climate resilience, environmental justice, and the role of science.  She also built relationships with faculty and students across the university and beyond, developing a variety of interdisciplinary projects—a process she took to new lengths with her groundbreaking Climate Solutions Living Lab course.

Her proudest professional achievement, however, was to have helped launch the careers of her students.  Wendy loved to teach and to mentor young lawyers, and she was dedicated to giving her students an enriching and comprehensive academic experience.  She made a lasting impact on the law school's clinical and environmental law programs.  We were all so fortunate to have known Wendy and to have been able to work, teach, and learn with her.

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Please click here to read the Harvard Law Today article Remembering Wendy Jacobs '81.

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Please click here to read the Harvard Crimson's obituary. 

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