David Wirth

• A.M., Harvard University
• A.B., Princeton University
• J.D., Yale Law School

David A. Wirth, visiting professor of international law at The Fletcher School of Tufts University, holds a primary appointment at Boston College Law School where he is professor of law, teaching courses on environmental law, administrative, public international, and foreign relations law. Previously, he was senior attorney and co-director of international programs for the Natural Resources Defense Council and attorney-advisor for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs for the U.S. Department of State.

A graduate of Yale Law School, he holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in chemistry from Princeton and Harvard, respectively. Wirth served as law clerk to Judge William H. Timbers of U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He has been the recipient of a Fulbright scholarship and a National Science Foundation fellowship. A life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Wirth has served on advisory boards to a number of institutions of higher learning, domestic agencies, and international organizations, including Vermont Law School, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. He has been a consultant to the United Nations Development Program, the United Nations Environment Program, the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation, the C.S. Mott Foundation, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and the Belgian State Secretary for Energy and Sustainable Development.

Wirth is the author of more than five dozen books, articles, and reports on international environmental law and policy for both legal and popular audiences.

Areas of expertise

Humanitarian Affairs
Regional Studies

Professional Activities

• Professor of Law (1999-present), Director of International Programs, (2002- present), and Visiting Professor (1998) Boston College Law School
• Has also taught at MIT, Oxford University; Harvard Law School, Washington and Lee University School of Law, and University of Virginia School of Law
• Director of Trade, Health, and Environment Program, Community Nutrition Institute (1996)
• Senior Attorney (1987-1990), Co-Director of International Programs (1990), Senior Project Attorney (1986-1987), Natural Resources Defense Council
• Attorney-Advisor for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (1984-1986), Attorney-Advisor for European And Canadian Affairs (1983-1984), Office of the Legal Advisor, U.S. Department of State

Courses taught

• ILO L223 International Environmental Law

ARTICLES

Wirth, David A. "The President, the Environment and Foreign Policy: The Globalization of Environmental Politics." Journal of Land, Resources and Environmental Law 24, no. 3 (2004): 393-407.

Wirth, David A and Jeffery Atik. "Science and International Trade: Third Generation Scholarship." Boston College International and Comparative Law Review 26, no. 2 (2003): 171-182.

BOOKS

Wirth, David A, Zygmunt Plater, Robert Abrams, William Goldfarb, Robert Graham and Lisa Heinzerling. Environmental Law and Policy: Nature, Law, and Society. Aspen Publishers, 2004.

BOOK CHAPTERS

Wirth, David A. "Hazardous Substances and Activities." In Oxford Handbook of International Environmental Law, eds. Daniel Bodansky, Jutta Brunee & Ellen Hay, Oxford University Press, 2007.

Wirth, David A. "The GMO Dispute between the United States and the European Community: Some Preliminary Thoughts." In EU and WTO Law: How Tight is the Legal Straitjacket for Environmental Product Regulation?, ed. Marc Pallemaerts, VUB Press, 2006.

Wirth, David A. "Unilateral Trade-Based Measures for Protection of the Marine Environment: A Legal and Policy Perspective". In Values at Sea: Environmental Ethics for the Marine Environment, ed. Dorinda G. Dallmeyer, University of Georgia Press, 2003.

Wirth, David A. "Unilateral Trade-Based Measures for Protection of the Marine Environment: A Legal and Policy Perspective." In Values at Sea: Environmental Ethics for the Marine Environment, ed. Dorinda G. Dallmeyer, University of Georgia Press, 2003.