Don C. Smith is the Director of the Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy Graduate Program at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. He specializes in environmental law, with particular emphasis on environmental law and policy of the European Union.

Mr. Smith formerly worked as a water policy advisor for Kansas Gov. John W. Carlin. After leaving Gov. Carlin’s office he served as the governor’s appointee to the Kansas Water Commission.

He practiced natural resources law before joining the legal publishing arm of McGraw-Hill, where he was an associate publisher. He has also served as a publisher for an Anglo-Dutch publishing company, Reed-Elsevier, where he was responsible for a series of publications (e.g., “The Air Pollution Consultant” and “The Hazardous Waste Consultant”) about U.S. environmental law. He has also had extensive experience working on environmental publications involving European Union policy.

He is a member of the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators, the Colorado Bar Association, and the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation. He is editor in chief of Utilities Policy, a peer-reviewed journal, published by U.K.-based Elsevier Science, Ltd.

Mr. Smith and Judge David Edward, who served on the European Court of Justice from 1992-2004, have collaborated on a “first of its kind” web-based oral history involving the life and career of Judge Edward. The oral history includes nearly 15 hours of streaming video and audio as well as the full-text of nearly 100 articles written by Judge Edward, who is widely recognized as one of the most influential judges ever to sit on the Court of Justice. The multi-year project is updated on a regular basis.

Mr. Smith began teaching at the Sturm College of Law in the spring of 2002.

Featured Publications

• Opinion: Udall to Battle it out for Senate, Renewable Energy Focus, September/October 2007, at 20
• Commentary: Landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision puts U.S. on likely path to regulating greenhouse gas emissions, Utilities Policy 15 (2007) 215-222
• US public getting the message?, Renewable Energy Focus, July/August 2007, at 18
• Commentary: US Court changes the GHG landscape: To what extent could a recent US Supreme Court ruling affect environmental policy?, Refocus: The International Renewable Energy Magazine, May/June 2007, at 12
• Commentary: Election to force US energy policy shift?, Refocus: The International Renewable Energy Magazine, March/April 2007, at 26