Felix Mormann, Associate Professor of Law, Texas A&M University School of Law and Faculty Fellow, Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance, Stanford University, will join the Stegner Center as the Thirteenth Annual Stegner Center Young Scholar on November 1, 2017. He will deliver a Young Scholar Lecture entitled “Clean Energy Equity” at the College of Law. His Young Scholar Lecture will be published in an upcoming environmental and natural resources law issue of the student-edited Utah Law Review.
“Professor Mormann’s scholarship is helping to enlighten policy makers around the world on viable strategies to achieve clean energy in today’s economy,” observed Bob Keiter, Director of the Stegner Center. “I look forward to learning more about his interdisciplinary approach to clean energy options.” In commenting on his upcoming visit, Professor Mormann said, “I feel extremely honored to be selected as the 2017 Stegner Center’s Young Scholar. The multi-faceted scholarship published by the Center and its world-class faculty has long been a staple of my academic reading. So I look forward to adding my own voice to the chorus. On a more personal level, Wallace Stegner’s “Angle of Repose” is one of my all-time favorite books making it even more special to be giving a lecture in his honor.”
Professor Mormann’s research interests lie at the intersection of law and innovation in the context of environmental and energy law and policy. Drawing on his background as an internationally trained corporate and energy lawyer, Mormann currently investigates domestic and international regulation and policy related to clean-energy technologies. His often–comparative research starts from the premise that environmentally sustainable energy solutions require an economically sustainable policy landscape to leverage necessary investment.
Professor Mormann’s recent publications include Constitutional Challenges and Regulatory Opportunities for State Climate Policy Innovation, 41 Harvard Envtl. L. Rev. 189 (2017), Clean Energy Federalism, 67 Fla. L. Rev. 1621 (2015), Beyond Tax Credits – Smarter Tax Policy for a Cleaner, More Democratic Energy Future, 31 Yale J. Reg. 303 (2014), and Enhancing the Investor Appeal of Renewable Energy, 42 Envtl. L. 681 (2012). Professor Mormann’s work has been widely cited, including before the U.S. Senate. He advises federal policymakers on clean energy and energy efficiency.
Previously, Mormann was a research fellow and lecturer-in-law at Stanford Law School and a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall), where he conducted research for his doctoral dissertation. Mormann worked as a corporate and energy lawyer for some of Germany’s premiere law firms. As a management consultant for McKinsey & Company, he advised international clients from the high-tech sector. Professor Mormann holds a German JD and a JSD from the University of Passau School of Law as well as an LLM from UC Berkeley School of Law.
The Young Scholars Program, which is made possible by the generous support of the Cultural Vision Fund, is designed to recognize and establish a relationship with promising scholars early in their academic careers. Recipients are selected based on their accomplishments, the quality of their academic work, and their promise in the field of environmental and natural resources law and policy.
Past Stegner Center Young Scholars include: Professor Sanne Knudsen, University of Washington School of Law; Professor Dave Owen, UC Hastings College of Law; Professor Emily Hammond, George Washington University Law School; Professor Katrina Kuh, Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University; Professor Noah Hall, Wayne State University of Law; the late Professor Lesley McAllister, then at the University of San Diego School of Law; Professor Jason Czarnezki, Vermont Law School (now at Pace); Professor Barbara Cosens, University of Idaho School of Law; Professor Kim Connolly, University of South Carolina School of Law (now at SUNY Buffalo); Professor Jamison Colburn, Western New England College School of Law (now at Penn State); Professor Amy Sinden, Temple University Beasley School of Law; and Professor Reed Benson, University of Wyoming College of Law (now at New Mexico).