New Professor Focuses on Tension Between Property and Environment

 

Professor Keith Hirokawa joined Albany Law this month as an assistant professor of law. This fall he will teach a course in Natural Resources Law and a seminar on Environmental Law, Policy and Ethics.

Before relocating to the Capital Region, Professor Hirokawa 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. 

Professor Hirokawa's recent publications include an analysis of the constructive potential of the green building movement and the design of legal education in both the law school curriculum and teaching methods, encompassed in the pedagogical debate over the perceived divergence between legal education and the practice of law.

During private practice in Oregon and Washington, Professor Hirokawa was involved with community groups and nonprofit organizations, serving in a variety of capacities as counsel, advisor and board member. Prior to joining the faculty at Texas Wesleyan, Professor Hirokawa also taught land use law as an adjunct professor at the University of Oregon School of Law.

He continues his involvement with the American Bar Association's State and Local Government Law Section as member of the Section's Council and as a member of the Advisory Board for The Urban Lawyer. He earned his law degree and Master's from the University of Connecticut, as well as his L.L.M. from Lewis and Clark Law School.

Professor Hirokawa has settled into a home in the hills of Wynantskill with his wife and two boys, Owen and Ethan. He reports that their daily jaunts into the woods have been a welcome change from the hot summers of Texas.