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Marine Affairs Institute & Rhode Island Sea Grant Legal Program
RWU Law’s Marine Affairs Institute (MAI) is a partnership between Roger Williams University School of Law, The University of Rhode Island, and Rhode Island Sea Grant.
OUR PRIMARY GOALS
• Educating the next generation of marine and coastal law and policy leaders • Serving as a resource for ocean and coastal stakeholders on law and policy research
A RIGOROUS CURRICULUM
One of the ways that the MAI educates the next generation of marine and coastal law and policy leaders is through a rigorous academic curriculum.
In the Classroom. RWU Law offers a variety of courses in both Environmental/Natural Resources Law and Admiralty/Maritime Law.
Juris Doctor/Master of Marine Affairs. Students in this program earn their juris doctor degree at the law school and their master’s degree at URI. Students examine complex marine and environmental issues beyond the legal context, holistically incorporating science, social science, economics, and policy. This 3½-year joint-degree program prepares students for a wide variety of jobs after graduation. In the past three years, seven students have taken advantage of this program.
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
Another way that the MAI educates students is through experiential learning. This is primarily done through two programs:
The Environmental and Land Use Externship Program
(ELUE). Students gain experience in environmental litigation and advocacy while externing with organizations such as: • The Rhode Island Department of
Environmental Management • The Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office
Environmental Unit • The Conservation Law Foundation
The Rhode Island Sea Grant Law Fellow Program.
Participating 2Ls and 3Ls research and analyze a full range of ocean, coastal, and maritime topics for outside organizations. In 2020, the MAI worked on 14 Law Fellow projects with 13 Law Fellows. Projects completed over the last three years covered a wide variety of topics, some looking at laws and policies related to coastal resilience in Rhode Island, and others examining regulatory restrictions to siting new aquaculture farms in the state. The projects involved a variety of different organizations, including: • Save the Bay • The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation • Rhode Island Housing • Connecticut Sea Grant • Woods Hole Sea Grant • The Coastal Resources Management Council • Rhode Island Sea Grant (involved in all projects)
RWU LAW ACQUIRES TOP MARINE LAW JOURNAL
The biggest news of the year for the MAI was its acquisition of the Journal of Maritime Law and Commerce (JMLC), the premier periodical in the field of maritime law in the United States.
Founded in 1969, the JMLC is a scholarly and practice-oriented periodical devoted to all aspects of admiralty and maritime law, including the law of the sea. Since its inception 50 years ago, courts and arbitrators—including the Supreme Court of the United States and foreign courts—have cited the JMLC hundreds of times.
“RWU Law is a fitting home for this leading publication,” said Dean Bowman. “We are a nationally known maritime law school that provides strong training in this field to the next generation of lawyers and leaders through our excellent faculty, the Marine Affairs Institute, and our partnerships with the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island Sea Grant.”
RWU Law faculty and students will administer, edit, and publish the JMLC in both online (law.rwu.edu/go/jmlc) and print editions twice a year, coinciding roughly with the Fall and Spring academic semesters.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for the law school and the Marine Affairs Institute,” said Julia Wyman, Director of the MAI and the Rhode Island Sea Grant Legal Program at RWU Law. “The JMLC is an internationally respected, professionally published journal that experts in the maritime field rely on for important analysis of current issues.” RWU Law’s JMLC editorial team at the Port of Providence: Julia Wyman, Director of RWU Law’s Marine Affairs Institute and the Rhode Island Sea Grant Legal Program; Professor Justin Kishbaugh; and Professor Jonathan Gutoff.
During 2020-21, the MAI hosted its second postgraduate, grant-funded position: a Research Attorney, Catherine Schluter. Her work focused on aquaculture issues in New England. Schluter also examined law and policy issues related to coastal resilience in New England.
