Noah D. Hall
Noah D. Hall
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Biography
Noah Hall's expertise is in environmental and water law, and his research focuses on issues of environmental governance, federalism, and transboundary pollution and resource management.
He joined the Wayne Law faculty in 2005. For the 2014-15 academic year, he served as the Law School's associate dean for student affairs. Previously, he taught at the University of Michigan Law School and was an attorney with the National Wildlife Federation, where he managed the Great Lakes Water Resources Program for the nation's largest conservation organization. Hall also worked in private practice for several years, representing a variety of business and public-interest clients in litigated and regulatory matters. He has extensive litigation experience and numerous published decisions in state and federal courts. He continues to represent a variety of clients in significant environmental policy disputes. From 2016-2019, Hall served as special assistant attorney general for Michigan for the Flint water investigation.
Hall is founder of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center, a nonprofit environmental organization that provides legal assistance to community organizations, environmental non-governmental organizations, and local, state and regional governments. He continues to serve as the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center's scholarship director.
He graduated from the University of Michigan Law School and University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment, concentrating in environmental policy. After law school, he clerked for the Hon. Kathleen A. Blatz, chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court.
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Degrees and Certifications
J.D., University of Michigan Law School
B.S., University of Michigan -
Courses Taught
Environmental Law
Administrative Law
Water Law
International Environmental Law -
Blog URL
http://www.greatlakeslaw.org
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Selected publications
Waters of the State, 59 Nat. Resources J. 59 (2019) (with Joseph Regalia)
Modern Water Law: Private Property, Public Rights, and Environmental Protections, Foundation Press (2nd ed., 2018) (with Robert Adler & Robin Kundis Craig)
Interstate Groundwater Law Revisited: Mississippi v. Tennessee, 34 Va. Envtl. L.J 152 (2016) (with Joseph Regalia)
Lines in the Sand: Interstate Groundwater Disputes in the Supreme Court, 31 Natural Resources & Environment 8 (2016) (with Joseph Regalia)
Law and Governance of the Great Lakes, 63 DePaul L. Rev., 723 (2014) (with Ben Houston)
The Great Lakes: A Model of Transboundary Cooperation, in Water Without Borders? Canada, the United States, and Shared Waters, University of Toronto Press (2013) (with Jamie Linton)
Interstate Groundwater Law in the Snake Valley: Equitable Apportionment and a New Model for Transboundary Aquifer Management, 6 Utah L. Rev. 1553 (2013)
Oil and Freshwater Don't Mix: Transnational Regulation of Drilling in the Great Lakes, 38 B.C. Envtl. Aff. L. Rev. 303 (2011)
Interstate Water Compacts and Climate Change Adaptation, 5 Envtl. & Energy L. & Pol’y J. 237 (2010)
Framing Water Policy in a Carbon Affected and Carbon Constrained Environment, 50 Nat. Resources J. 3 (2010) (with Robert H. Abrams)
Protecting Freshwater Resources in the Era of Global Water Markets: Lessons Learned from Bottled Water, 13 U. Denv. Water L. Rev. 1 (2009)
Interstate Environmental Impact Assessment, 39 Envtl. L. Rep. N 10667 (2009)
Political Externalities, Federalism, and a Proposal for an Interstate Environmental Impact Assessment Policy, 32 Harv. Envtl. L. Rev. 49 (2008)
Climate Change and Great Lakes Water Resources: Avoiding Future Conflicts with Conservation, 31 Hamline L. Rev. 641 (2008) (with Bret B. Stuntz)
Climate Change and Freshwater Resources, 22 Natural Resources and Environment 30 (2008) (with Bret B. Stuntz & Robert H. Abrams)
Transboundary Pollution: Harmonizing International and Domestic Law, 40 U. Mich. J.L. Reform 681 (2007)
The Evolving Role of Citizens in United States-Canadian International Environmental Law Compliance, 24 Pace Envtl. L. Rev. 131 (2007)
Toward A New Horizontal Federalism: Interstate Water Management in the Great Lakes Region, 77 U. Colo. L. Rev. 405 (2006)
Bilateral Breakdown: U.S.-Canada Pollution Disputes, 21 Natural Resources and Environment 18 (2006)
- Social Science Research Network
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Books
Modern Water Law: Private Property, Public Rights, and Environmental Protections (2nd ed., Foundation Press 2018)
With Robert W. Adler and Robin Kundis Craig
The second edition begins with entirely new coverage of the human right to water, including a 2017 federal case – Boler v. Earley/Mays. v. Snyder – regarding constitutional rights in the wake of the Flint, Michigan water crisis. (And great timing, as the Supreme Court denied review of the case just this week as our book came out in print.) Other major changes and developments include new cases on water use permitting, “takings” of private water rights, tribal rights to groundwater, interstate water disputes, and U.S.-Mexico water diplomacy. The second edition continues the logical organization that presents the field in appropriate depth for a semester course, with clear explanations and helpful questions and comments.
Water Law: Concepts and Insights (Foundation Press)
With Robert Adler and Robin Craig
Intended for a general audience, Water Law: Concepts & Insights provides both a general overview of basic water law doctrines and an exploration of how water law―the law and policies governing allocation of water―fit into broader ecological and environmental law issues. The book provides an overview of important hydrological principles before discussing the two state-law systems governing use of surface water in the United States and the five doctrines governing use of groundwater. It then explores the federal government's interests in the fresh waters of the United States, ranging from protection of navigability to federal water projects to federal water rights. Putting the law governing water use into a broader context, Water Law: Concepts & Insights then explores the intersections of state water law with energy policy and production, water quality protections, endangered species protections, and broader watershed management. It ends by returning to the concept of water rights as protected private property rights and the complexities of constitutional "takings" litigation when environmental protections interfere with those rights.
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Accomplishments
- Noah Hall presented on environmental inequality at the Northwestern University Law Review Symposium: Reimagining Property in the Era of Inequality.
- Noah Hall spoke about the Flint water crisis in a virtual presentation hosted by the Energy, Environmental, and Natural Resource System Law Program Speaker Series at Texas A&M University School of Law.
- Noah Hall contributed a chapter on the public trust doctrine in "Earth Law: Emerging Ecocentric Law— A Guide for Practitioners." The book is for students and practicing lawyers who seek to preserve a habitable planet and question whether current environmental law is sufficient for the task.
- Noah Hall co-wrote “Waters of the State” with Joseph Regalia for the Natural Resources Journal.
- Noah Hallco-authored with Robert Adler and Robin Kundis Craig the second edition of “Modern Water Law: Private Property, Public Rights, and Environmental Protections.” The book was published by Foundation Press. Learn more here.
- Noah D. Hallwrote Water Law: Concepts and Insights (Foundation Press) with Robert Adler and Robin Craig, both of the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law.
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Recent courses taught
Winter Term 2025 (future)
Fall Term 2024 (current)
Winter Term 2024
- ESG5700 - Environmental Law and Policy
- LEX7231 - Environmental Law
- LEX8071 - Environmental Law: Advanced Topics
Fall Term 2023
Winter Term 2023
Fall Term 2022
