Sustaining ongoing environmental law research teams and programs

This chapter considers 'environmental law research groups' (ELRGs) that involve multi-disciplinary teams to design, implement, coordinate, administer and fund research. ELRGs encompass centres hosted by universities, NGOs, government agencies or consortia of these, and informal groups or research teams assembled for a particular task. Such groupings are a structurally and operationally unique method for legal research compared with more traditional modes in which individual scholars, perhaps with a few collaborators, focus on studying legal documents. As a case study, the chapter focuses on the Australian Centre for Agriculture & Law (with which the authors are associated). It offers reflections on experiences, presented as hypotheses to encourage dialogue about innovative organisational arrangements to address complex environmental problems. ELRGs can catalyse different approaches to environmental law research by facilitating multi-disciplinary collaborations and attracting resources. Growing an ELRG requires entrepreneurship and negotiation, management and leadership skills that may be unfamiliar and uncomfortable for some traditional legal researchers. ELRGs can enable a broader view of the research problem by harnessing alternative perspectives and a collective understanding of complicated issues. Effective ELRGs should care about communication and narrative building to ensure the trust of non-law researchers and stakeholders. ELRGs can benefit from processes that strengthen human relationships and nurture enjoyable interactions, collegiality and professional friendships.