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UC Hastings is now UC College of the Law, San Francisco

Learn more here

David
Takacs

Professor of Law

  • Office 312-200
  • Email Address takacsd@uchastings.edu
  • Telephone (415) 565-4845

Biography

Professor David Takacs is a proud UC Law SF alumnus. He also holds an LL.M. from the School of Oriental & African Studies at the University of London, and a B.S. (Biology), M.A., and Ph.D. (Science & Technology Studies) from Cornell University.

His scholarly work addresses forest carbon offsetting, biodiversity conservation law, environmental and ecological democracy, rights for nature, and the human right to water. He is the author of The Idea of Biodiversity (Johns Hopkins U. Press). He has been a consultant for international NGOs and US government agencies, analyzing legal and policy issues pertaining to REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) and global climate change. In 2017, he received the Rutter Award for Outstanding Teaching at UC Law SF.

Before his legal career, David was a professor in Earth Systems Science & Policy at CSU Monterey Bay, a lecturer in the John S. Knight Writing Program at Cornell, and a Peace Corps Forestry Volunteer in Senegal.

Expertise

  • Environmental Law
  • International Law
  • Tort Law

Education

  1. University of California Hastings College of the Law

    J.D., Law

  2. University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies

    LL.M., International Law

  3. Cornell University

    Ph.D., Science & Technology Studies

  4. Cornell University

    M.A., History and Philosophy of Science

  5. Cornell University

    B.S., Biology

Selected Scholarship

  1. (Forthcoming) We Are the River 2021

    ___ U. Ill. L. Rev. ___

  2. An Aye Aye for an Aye Aye: Making Biodiversity Offsets Sustainable 2020

    45 Colum. J. Envtl. L. 519

  3. Environmental Law. Disrupted 2019

    (with Inara Scott, Rebecca Bratspies, Vanessa Casado Pérez, Robin Kundis Craig, Keith Hirokawa, Blake Hudson, Sarah Krakoff, Katrina Fischer Kuh, Jessica Owley, Melissa Powers, Shannon Roesler, Jonathan Rosenbloom, J.B. Ruhl, and Erin Ryan), 49 Envtl. L. Rep. News & Analysis 10038

  4. Whose Voices Count in Biodiversity Conservation? Ecological Democracy in Biodiversity Offsetting, REDD, and Rewilding 2019

    22 J. Env. Pol'y & Plan. 43

  5. Are Koalas Fungible: Biodiversity Offsetting and the Law 2018

    26 N.Y.U. Envtl. L.J. 161

  6. South Africa and the Human Right to Water: Equity, Ecology, and the Public Trust Doctrine 2016

    34 Berkeley J. Int'l L. 55

  7. A Response to the IPCC Fifth Assessment 2015

    45 Envtl. L. Rep. News & Analysis 10027

  8. Environmental Democracy and Forest Carbon (REDD+) 2014

    44 Envtl. L. 71

  9. Protecting Your Environment, Exacerbating Injustice: Avoiding 'Mandate Havens' 2014

    24 Duke Envtl. L. & Pol'y F. 315

  10. Forest Carbon (Redd +), Repairing International Trust, and Reciprocal Contractual Sovereignty 2013

    37 Vt. L. Rev. 653

  11. Forest Carbon: Law and Property Rights 2009

    Conservation International

Courses

  1. 1st Year Environmental Law
  2. International Environmental Law
  3. Climate Change: Law and Business Seminar
  4. Torts
  5. Biodiversity Law

Links

  1. Publications
  2. Law Review Articles on SSRN

Related News

Faculty Achievements: Fall 2021

11/28/21

Faculty Achievements: Summer 2021

10/09/21
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Research Dean’s February 2020 Roundup of Scholarly Activities

03/01/20
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Research Dean’s November 2019 Roundup of Scholarly Activities

03/01/20
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