David Uhlmann

David M. Uhlmann is the Jeffrey F. Liss Professor from Practice, the director of the Environmental Law and Policy Program, and a Distinguished Faculty Fellow in Sustainability. His research and advocacy interests include corporate crime, criminal and civil enforcement of environmental laws, and climate change and sustainability. Since joining the Michigan Law faculty in 2007, Professor Uhlmann has published in the Michigan Law Review, the Harvard Environmental Law Review, the Stanford Environmental Law Journal, the Maryland Law Review, the UC Davis Law Review, the Utah Law Review, the Michigan Journal of Environmental and Administrative Law, the Environmental Law Forum, and the American Constitution Society's Issue Briefs series. Professor Uhlmann leads the efforts of more than 150 Michigan Law students participating in the Environmental Crimes Project, the first comprehensive empirical study of criminal enforcement under U.S. pollution laws. His first article regarding the Environmental Crimes Project, "Prosecutorial Discretion and Environmental Crime," received honorable mention as the top environmental law article of 2014. Professor Uhlmann has testified before Congress, appeared on CNN, Frontline, NPR, and other national news stations and programs, written multiple op-eds in The New York Times, and lectured widely about environmental crime and sustainability issues. Prior to joining the Michigan faculty, Professor Uhlmann served for 17 years at the U.S. Department of Justice, the last seven as chief of the Environmental Crimes Section, where he was the top environmental crimes prosecutor in the country. He led an office of approximately 40 prosecutors responsible for the prosecution of environmental and wildlife crimes nationwide. Professor Uhlmann coordinated national legislative, policy, and training initiatives regarding criminal enforcement and chaired the Justice Department's Environmental Crimes Policy Committee. He also served as vice chair of the annual American Bar Association's Environmental Law Conference and was on the planning committee for the ALI-ABA Criminal Enforcement of Environmental Laws Seminar. His work as lead prosecutor in United States v. Elias was chronicled in the book The Cyanide Canary (Free Press, 2004). Professor Uhlmann received a JD from Yale Law School and a BA in history with high honors from Swarthmore College. Following law school, he clerked for the Hon. Marvin H. Shoob of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in Atlanta.