Amelia Burnette is a visiting assistant professor and Donald Gaines Murray Fellow. She teaches in the first-year Lawyering Program. Her research focuses on environmental law, climate change governance and human rights, and the intersection of these fields.
Most recently, Professor Burnette has pursued her research with the support of a Fulbright award at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, and she taught Human Rights and Environmental Protection during a visiting scholar stay at GW Law.
Professor Burnette previously practiced environmental law for over a decade. As a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, she advocated for protection of water resources, forests, and imperiled species, and advancing climate resilience. Through complex litigation before state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, she has developed expertise in strategic litigation in environmental advocacy and its relationship to changing policy landscapes, including securing victories halting unlawful fossil fuel pipeline projects through protected lands and compelling safe disposal of coal combustion residuals, as part of the largest coal ash clean-up in the United States.
Professor Burnette has presented on protecting forests, biodiversity, freshwater resources, and the link between human rights and a healthy environment. Her publications engage topics such as the role of civic evidence in environmental advocacy and the intersection of Nationally Determined Contributions and domestic litigation. She is currently a director of the Climate Change Legal Initiative (C2LI).
Professor Burnette started her legal career practicing commercial litigation with K&L Gates in Charlotte, North Carolina. She earned her JD from the University of North Carolina, graduating Order of the Coif and with high honors, and received her BA from UNC Asheville in her hometown, graduating cum laude.