Baylen J. Linnekin, Susan A. Schneider, Emily Broad Leib, Margaret Sova McCabe, Laurie Ristino & Michael Roberts, The Future of Food Law & Policy: The Responsibility of Lawyers in the Academy and Beyond (Univ. Ark. Res. Paper No. 14-22, Oct. 19, 2013).
Abstract: Food Law & Policy is a flourishing legal field that is fast approaching the tenth anniversary of its inception. The field boasts several key milestones. The first Food Law & Policy course was taught in 2004. The first scholarly journal devoted to the field was created in 2005. And, the first Food Law & Policy legal clinic was established in 2010. Today, interest in the field among legal scholars and law students alike is so widespread that a 2013 news article reported “there may be no hotter topic in law schools right now than food law and policy.” Food Law & Policy incorporates elements from the study of traditional food and drug law as well as elements from the study of traditional agricultural law. It intersects with a new approach to agricultural law studies that involves a more holistic approach including sustainability and a food systems analysis. This article was prepared for the Yale University Food Systems Symposium. It was written by faculty members at several law schools that have made commitments to Food Law & Policy, and it describes their programs and their approach.