“Defending the Environment”: A Spotlight on Keith Harley and the Environmental and Energy Law Clinic

“The clinic Harley founded decades ago has since helped hundreds of small community groups, succeeding against Goliathan opponents from coal fire conglomerates to city hall. It has spurred law and policy changes. And it has taught hundreds of Chicago-Kent students the tenants of environmental stewardship.”

Writer/reporter: Tad Vezner

Photos: David Ettinger

GCLC attorney Keith Harley was recently highlighted in Chicago-Kent Magazine for his decades-long fight against environmental discrimination. Harley has worked with GCLC for over 30 years and founded the Environmental and Energy Law Clinic in 1998, in partnership with Chicago-Kent College of Law. The clinic assists local community groups (primarily in Chicago’s South and West side) in legal battles over environmental hazards. Every semester, roughly 12 Chicago-Kent law students volunteer their time at the clinic, gaining on-the-ground legal experiences in Chicago neighborhoods.

Harley and the clinic’s work spearheads the environmental justice movement across Chicagoland. For three decades, they have fought, and won, cases against lead paint in municipal housing, coal-fired plants causing air pollution, and recently, a scrapyard's relocation to the Southeast side. The clinic is currently managing roughly 50 cases.

The article can be found on pages 10-13.