Director
Stepan Wood (2017-25, 2026-)
Professor Stepan Wood is the Canada Research Chair in Law, Society & Sustainability at the Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia, on unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səlil̓wətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) territories. He is a settler of English, Scottish and Croatian descent. He researches environmental law, sustainability, social justice and settler-Indigenous legal interactions. He has three ongoing research programs. The Green Rights & Warrior Lawyers program, which is hosted at the CLE, explores the role of lawyers and Indigenous legal knowledge holders around the world who seek to advance environmental rights through (or despite) law. The Respect for All Relations program, also hosted at the CLE and co-facilitated with Allard professor Robert Clifford (YELKATŦE), explores how settler-colonial laws can be reformed and First Peoples’ laws revitalized to improve relationships between humans and nature, and between settler and Indigenous societies in BC. Finally, the “Rethinking Reception” project explores the sociolegal history of the reception, consolidation and eventual repeal of general English statute law in (former) British settler colonies, and the role of the Doctrine of Reception in the colonial project.
Professor Wood has an LLB from Osgoode Hall Law School and an SJD from Harvard Law School. He clerked for the late Justice John Sopinka of the Supreme Court of Canada and practised law with White & Case in New York. He is the founding co-chair of the Willms & Shier Environmental Law Moot, Canada’s national environmental law moot court competition. Before joining Allard in 2017, he was Professor and York Research Chair in Environmental Law and Justice at Osgoode Hall Law School, where he was also Editor-in-Chief of the Osgoode Hall Law Journal, coordinator of the JD/Master in Environmental Studies joint program, and founding co-director of the Osgoode Environmental Justice & Sustainability Clinic.
FORMER DIRECTORS
Sara Ghebremusse (Interim Director, 2025-26)
Dr. Sara Ghebremusse is an Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia’s Peter A. Allard School of Law. From 2023–2025, she held the Chair in Mining Law and Finance at the Faculty of Law, University of Western Ontario. She holds degrees from Osgoode Hall Law School, the University of Toronto, the University of Ottawa, Carleton University, and the University of Alberta.
Dr. Ghebremusse’s research and teaching focus on mining law and governance, law and development, transnational law, and business and human rights, with particular attention to the interests of Indigenous peoples and mining-affected communities. She is the current Academic Director of the Future Minerals Initiative, a collaborative research network of mining scholars at UBC. Dr. Ghebremusse is also a Principal Co-Investigator of the Canada Climate Law Initiative, a joint project between the Peter A. Allard School of Law and Osgoode Hall Law School that advances director knowledge on the latest in climate science and fiduciary obligation. She serves as a board member with the Justice and Corporate Accountability Project, a non-profit providing legal support to mining-affected communities in Latin America and Africa, and is a member of the Third World Approaches to International Law Editorial Collective.
Karin Mickelson (2015-17)
Karin Mickelson joined the Faculty as Assistant Professor in 1991 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1998. She has taught in the areas of international law, international environmental law, real property, environmental law and legal theory, and has supervised and co-supervised graduate students in a wide range of areas including international environmental law, international legal theory and international human rights. She has also served as the faculty advisor to UBC teams participating in the Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition.
Professor Mickelson research activities have focused on the South-North dimension of international law; for example, she has explored the possibility of identifying a distinctive Third World approach to international law in "Rhetoric and Rage: Third World Voices in International Legal Discourse" (1998) 16 Wisconsin International Law Journal 353-419, and has analyzed the failure of international environmental law to respond to the concerns of the South in "South, North, International Environmental Law, and International Environmental Lawyers" (2000) 11 Yearbook of International Environmental Law 52-81.
Her current research focuses on the impact of developing countries on the evolution of international environmental law. She is also a contributor to leading Canadian casebooks on international law and environmental law.
COORDINATOR
Rebecca Smith (2025-26, 2026-27)
Rebecca is a JD Candidate (2027) at the Allard School of Law and currently serves as Coordinator for the Centre for Law and the Environment. Before law school, she earned an Honours Bachelor of Arts & Science and Environment & Society, with a minor in Indigenous Studies, from McMaster University in 2024. Rebecca is passionate about environmental, Aboriginal, and Indigenous law. This passion developed during her undergraduate studies through her coursework, her work as a teaching assistant in geography and sustainability courses, and her active involvement in environment-focused and Indigenous student groups. At Allard, she has continued to pursue these interests through the Environmental Law Group, the Indigenous Law Students Association, and her work at the Centre. In the fall semester of 2025, Rebecca participated in ĆELÁṈENEȽ: A Field Course in the Re-emergence of W̱SÁNEĆ Law, an experiential program combining land-based learning and legal research, delivered in collaboration with the W̱SÁNEĆ community on Vancouver Island. Outside her law studies, Rebecca enjoys travelling, discovering new cafes, downhill skiing, and beach walks with her dog.
PAST COORDINATORS
Isabella Schopper (2024-2025)
Isabella is a JD Candidate (2026) at the Allard School of Law. Prior to attending Allard, she obtained a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Victoria.
Isabella is deeply committed to promoting the rights and welfare of animals. She aims to channel this passion for advocacy through her roles at the Centre, striving for both environmental and animal justice.
Kylie Schatz (2023-2024)
Kylie is a JD Candidate (2025) at the Allard School of Law. Prior to attending Allard, she obtained a degree in International Relations from UBC.
Kylie is interested in the role of law in working towards environmental justice and reconciliation.
- Avery Pasternak (2022-2023)
- Ciara Dixon (2021-2022)
- Jianna Faner (Summer 2021)
- Veronica Plihal (2020-2021)
- Sophie Harrison (Summer 2020)
