Biography:  Professor Trish McCubbin is an associate professor at the Southern Illinois University School of Law, where she teaches several environmental law courses and administrative law.  She has been awarded the Law School’s Outstanding Teaching Award as well as its Outstanding Scholar Award.

Professor McCubbin served as a Fulbright Scholar in China in the spring semester of 2007.  She taught American environmental law and administrative law at the Wuhan University School of Law in Wuhan, China, which is home to the Research Institute for Environmental Law, one of China’s premier institutions in this field.  There she worked with Chinese colleagues on issues related to China’s domestic efforts to address climate change.  From this experience, she has written her latest article, entitled China and Climate Change: Domestic Environmental Needs, Differentiated International Responsibilities, and Rule of Law Weaknesses, 3 Envtl. & Energy L. & Pol’y F. 200 (2008).

Prior to joining the SIU faculty in 2000, Professor McCubbin was an attorney with the Environmental Defense Section of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., where she received numerous awards for distinguished service, including the Special Achievement Award for Sustained Superior Performance of Duty presented by the U.S. Attorney General.  During her career at the Justice Department she defended regulations adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, enforced the nation’s wetlands protection laws, and argued successfully before the U.S. Courts of Appeals in such cases as Michigan v. EPA, 213 F.3d 663 (D.C. Cir. 2000), and Marine Shale Processors, Inc. v. EPA, 81 F.3d 1371 (5th Cir. 1996).  Before joining the Justice Department, she practiced environmental law with the firm of Beveridge & Diamond in Washington, D.C.

Professor McCubbin received her J.D. in 1990 from the University of Virginia School of Law, where she also served as Executive Editor of the Journal of Law & Politics. She received her B.A. in Political and Social Thought from the University of Virginia in 1985, graduating with High Honors and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa.