| Type: | 501(c)(3) |
| Leader Title: | President |
| Leader Name: | Jordan Diamond |
| Environmental Law Institute | |
| Founded Date: | 1969 |
| Focus: | Environmental law |
| Location: | Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Homepage: | www.eli.org |
The Environmental Law Institute (ELI) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., that seeks to "make law work for people, places, and the planet" through its work as an environmental law educator, convener, publisher, and research engine. ELI's primary audience includes legal practitioners, business leaders, land managers, land use planners, environmentalists, journalists, and lawmakers. The Institute also convenes conferences to promote the exchange of ideas; holds seminars to educate legal practitioners and business leaders; and publishes original research, both as monographs and in its periodicals, the Environmental Law Reporter and The Environmental Forum.
A portion of ELI’s researchers are attorneys with specialties in various aspects of environmental law. Other researchers include scientists, policy analysts, and visiting scholars from outside the United States.
The ELI Associates Program offers networking and education opportunities for current and future leaders in the environmental law and policy profession. Members from all sectors gain access to basic training through ELI’s "boot camps", analysis of issues in ELI’s policy and law journals and its website, seminars with experts debating pressing topics from diverse perspectives, and opportunities to connect with public officials, colleagues, and peers at events such as the annual ELI Award Dinner. The program offers members benefits and contacts.
ELI associates pay an annual subscription fee. Unlike other member-based organizations, ELI does not represent its associates or try to promote their activities. Associates receive ELI’s major publications at free or discounted prices, and their employees attend ELI’s educational seminars, such as its boot camps on environmental law, free of charge.
A board of directors provides oversight to the Institute. The board members are leaders from federal and state government, industry, the private bar, citizen organizations, and academia.
Most of ELI’s funding comes from project-specific grants from major organizations, foundations, and government agencies.
ELI’s research is organized into six major areas: climate and energy; international programs; environmental governance; environmental health; land and biodiversity; and freshwater and ocean resources. Under each of these six umbrellas are the research programs, most of which are managed independently of other programs. For example, under Water Resources there are programs addressing oceans, wetlands, international waters, and water quality. Within the Oceans Program are publications on sustainable fisheries; conferences to develop laws that foster ecosystem-based management; and continuing legal education seminars on issues ranging from ocean-based shipping to the potential for wave-generated electricity. Each of the six major program areas is this diverse, and most of the research done by ELI has such a focus on single issues. ELI typically publishes the results of its research in research reports.
Most of the work done by the ELI research and policy staff becomes reports that are produced in-house and published electronically. ELI makes these reports available, usually free of charge, on their website.
Other periodicals by ELI are available via subscription (The Environmental Law Reporter[1]) or membership (The Environmental Forum).
ELI Press publishes books by outside authors. Over the years, some of the most popular publications have been The Practical Guide to Environmental Management, now in its 11th edition, and The Environmental Law Deskbook, now in its eighth edition. The latter is one of dozens of types of Deskbooks that ELI has produced.