Maura E. Blau, Counsel in the firm’s Environmental Department, will be on the faculty for the live webinar “Weather Climate Change and the Law,” to be presented by the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education on Wednesday, April 28, 2021 from 9:00am – 12:00pm.
The program agenda will address the following topics:
- Weather and Climate- how are they related and why does it matter?
- Understanding the difference between weather and climate
- Discussion of recent weather events i.e., tropical systems, wildfires, heat waves, flooding
- Climate change and the law
- What is the greenhouse effect? What is global warming? Why is it important?
- Climate change: what we know and the projected impact?
- Projected impacts of a warmer climate
- Current observations which show changes consistent with climate projections
- The ‘unknowns’ – what impacts are yet to be observed/documented?
- How storms (including snowstorms) may be different and what those impacts may have on personal injury cases
- What are the impacts on the legal field?
- Weather considerations in slip and fall and auto cases
- Hazardous weather conditions such as snow and ice
- NJ Ongoing Storm Rule
- A party’s responsibility to clear hazardous conditions
- Case studies
Ms. Blau counsels clients on a broad range of environmental and energy related matters. She has a longstanding interest and particular practice focus with respect to alternative energy, sustainable building initiatives and climate change issues. Her experience includes solar energy and cogeneration/combined heat and power (CHP) projects. She closely follows related legislative and regulatory developments at the state, federal and global levels, and played a role in crafting the New Jersey Energy Master Plan as an engineer with the former NJ Department of Energy. She has also completed coursework in Climate Change Law at Pace Law School, offered as part of its environmental LLM curriculum.
Ms. Blau is Co-Founder and Former Co-Chair of the New Jersey State Bar Association Special Committee on Renewable Energy, Cleantech and Climate Change, Past Chair of the New Jersey State Bar Association Environmental Section, and a member of the NJDEP Site Remediation Program Steering Committee.
Additional information and registration can be found on NJICLE's website.