Professor Keith Hirokawa was recently interviewed by the Hon. Ellen F. Rosenblum, a judge on the Oregon Court of Appeals in Salem, Oregon, for the American Bar Association Section of State and Local Government Law's newsletter.

In the interview, which is available here, Professor Hirokawa explains that he decided to focus on natural resources law and land use because "I was initially intrigued by the difficult philosophical choices we make in our interactions with nature. I came to enjoy the legal process by which we make these choices."

He also discusses evolving trends in land use and environmental law, green building as a model for sustainability, and improving the ways in which law schools prepare students for a legal career.

Professor Hirokawa, who joined Albany Law in July, is currently teaching a course in Natural Resources Law and a seminar on Environmental Law, Policy and Ethics. Before relocating to the Capital Region, he was an associate professor at Texas Wesleyan University School of Law, where he focused on environmental and natural resources law, land use, property law and jurisprudence.

His scholarship focuses on the tension between property and the treatment of natural resources, particularly the manner in which perspectives on nature and property are constructed through law. His research reflects his interests in the emerging and ongoing controversies in land use, sustainability, environmental law, and legal theory, and on bridging the gap between environmental ethics and environmental law.