Prof. Randall Abate

Prof. Randall Abate

Prof. Randall S. Abate is a Research Associate and Special Advisor for Law and Justice at Ocean Nexus, University of Rhode Island. Prior to this role, he was a Professorial Lecturer in Law at The George Washington University Law School. Before joining GW Law in July 2022, he held full-time law teaching positions for three decades at six U.S. law schools. From 2018 to 2022, he served as the inaugural Rechnitz Family and Urban Coast Institute Endowed Chair in Marine and Environmental Law and Policy, a Professor in the Department of Political Science, and the Director of the Institute for Global Understanding at Monmouth University in New Jersey. With a primary focus on climate change law and justice, Professor Abate has lectured and taught courses in more than 25 countries on six continents and has published six books and more than 40 law journal articles and book chapters. He is the author of Climate Change and the Voiceless: Protecting Future Generations, Wildlife, and Natural Resources (Cambridge University Press, 2019); editor of What Can Animal Law Learn from Environmental Law? (ELI Press, 2d ed., 2020), Climate Justice: Case Studies in Global and Regional Governance Challenges (ELI Press, 2016), and Climate Change Impacts on Ocean and Coastal Law: U.S. and International Perspectives (Oxford University Press, 2015); and co-editor of Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples: The Search for Legal Remedies (Edward Elgar, 2013). Early in his career, Professor Abate handled environmental law matters at two law firms in Manhattan. He holds a B.A. from the University of Rochester and a J.D. and M.S.L. (Environmental Law and Policy) from Vermont Law School.