Renewable energy law expert appointed director at ASU

Troy Rule, associate professor of law in the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and senior sustainability scholar in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University, has been appointed the faculty director of the law school’s Program on Law and Sustainability.

Rule will follow Kris Mayes, professor of utility law in ASU’s College of Law and senior sustainability scholar at the ASU Wrigley Institute, who served as the director of the program from January 2011 through November 2014. Mayes will continue on at ASU as a professor, as well as the director of the Utility of the Future Center and the Energy Policy Innovation Council.

“I am very pleased that Troy is leading the Law and Sustainability program,” said Christopher Boone, dean of ASU’s School of Sustainability. “Under Troy’s leadership, with a fantastic group of environmental law faculty in the Sandra Day O’Connor College, ASU is poised to become the top law and sustainability program in the country. He brings an abundance of energy and enthusiasm to this position, plus is a renowned expert in the emerging field of renewable energy law. I look forward to working with Troy and his colleagues to advance the sustainability goals of the university."

Added Douglas Sylvester, dean of the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, “Troy joined the College of Law just this year, but he already has proven to be a valuable addition to our Law and Sustainability program, which is developing initiatives to solve the most pressing legal questions of sustainability. Troy is taking over a program started and taken to a level of prominence by Kris Mayes – Kris was an incredible director, and we are all exceedingly pleased she will continue on at ASU and work with our program.”

Rule worked as an associate attorney at K&L Gates LLP in Seattle, before joining the University of Missouri School of Law, where he served as an associate professor of law from 2009-2014 and faculty adviser for the Journal of Environmental and Sustainability Law.

“Policy and law need to keep up with the rapid pace of innovation in sustainability-related fields,” said Rule. “Regardless of how interesting and useful a sustainability technology is, it cannot serve any social purpose until a legal structure facilitates its implementation. That increasingly requires innovative policymaking and lawmaking. Our goal is to fill this gap by providing additional policy guidance and legal expertise to stakeholders in the sustainability movement.”

A specialist in renewable energy law, Rule has also published numerous journal articles on solar energy, international law, wind power and other modern energy issues. He is also the author of a new book on these topics, titled “Solar, Wind and Land: Conflicts in Renewable Energy Development.” He has also presented at several renewable energy and policy conferences.

Rule has taught a breadth of courses, including energy law and policy; land use controls; secured transactions; and property law. The University of Missouri School of Law and the American Bar Association Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law have recognized Rule for his teaching and writing.

Rule received his juris doctor with honors from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was a John M. Olin fellow in Law and Economics and served as a staff editor for the Chicago Journal of International Law. He also graduated summa cum laude from Brigham Young University with a bachelor’s degree in economics.