Professor Sharmila Murthy, an expert on examining legal and policy barriers to achieving environmental justice, improving access to water and addressing climate change, has been named faculty co-director of the law school’s Center for Public Interest Advocacy and Collaboration (CPIAC), which seeks to enhance the role of law and legal practice in achieving social, economic and environmental justice in all dimensions.

“I am delighted to begin working with Sharmila as a faculty co-director,” said Professor Lucy Williams, who has served as faculty director of CPIAC since its launch in 2017 and will continue to serve as faculty co-director. “Sharmila’s expertise will allow us to expand our work in the area of environmental justice, and we welcome her knowledge and acumen in our full slate of social justice projects and programs.”

Murthy joined the faculty in 2023 but immediately went on leave to serve as director for environmental justice at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, where she previously served as senior counsel. In January, she returned to the faculty full time as professor of law and public policy within the School of Law and the College of Social Sciences. She has received many awards and honors; her article “Disrupting Utility Law for Water Justice,” published in the Stanford Law Review in 2024, was recently selected for inclusion in the 17th edition of the prestigious Environmental Law and Policy Annual Review (ELPAR). A joint publication of the Environmental Law Institute’s Environmental Law Reporter and Vanderbilt University Law School, ELPAR identifies the year’s best academic articles that present legal and policy solutions to pressing environmental problems.

“I’m honored and thrilled to serve as a faculty co-director of the Center for Public Interest Advocacy and Collaboration,” said Murthy, who has served on numerous nonprofit boards. “The team does tremendous work bridging the gap between academia and action to advance social justice and create meaningful change.”

 

Sharmila’s expertise will allow us to expand our work in the area of environmental justice, and we welcome her knowledge and acumen in our full slate of social justice projects and programs.

— Professor Lucy Williams