Apr 5 • 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Seminar on Leadership, Research, and Innovation

“Energy Reform, Environmental Justice, and Human Rights,” April 5, 2018
Shalanda Baker, Professor of Law, Public Policy, and Urban Affairs
In 2009, Shalanda Baker left her job as a project finance lawyer at a big global law firm and booked a one-way ticket to Latin America. “Witnessing the massive bailout of the financial sector had not only left me disillusioned about the stability of our global economic system,” Baker recalls, “but also intrigued about the ways that law can be used to create sustainable outcomes for the planet.” Her experiences of witnessing surprising conflicts between clean energy development and human rights, including as a Fulbright Scholar in Mexico in 2016, shaped her career path. Professor Baker's expertise is in the interplay among global energy transition, climate change, and indigenous rights. She holds joint appointments in the School of Law and the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and works closely with Northeastern Global Resilience Institute and the law school’s new Center for Law, Innovation, and Creativity. Professor Baker served as an Air Force officer prior to her honorable discharge under the “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy, and became a vocal advocate for repeal of the policy. Baker also clerked for Justice Roderick Ireland of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and worked as a corporate and project finance associate for Bingham McCutchen LLP, initially in Boston and later in Japan.

DINNER AND DISCUSSION RSVP, April 5, 7 PM