Texas Tech Law Meet the Faculty Biographies

Professor Gabriel Eckstein

George W. McCleskey Professor of Water Law, 2003
Director, Center for Water Law and Policy
(806) 742-3990 x260
Email:

Admitted to practice in New York, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia, and before the Federal District Courts of West Virginia.

Professor Eckstein is a recognized expert in US and international water law and policy and has significant experience in US and international environmental law and policy. He has lectured in numerous law and science conferences around the world, and served as an expert advisor and consultant on US and international environmental and water issues to various organizations, including the United Nations, US Agency for International Development, World Commission on Dams, Organization of American States, International Association of Hydrogeologists, and various local water entities in the United States.

Over the past few years, Professor Eckstein served as a neutral advisor, under the auspices of the Geneva Initiative, in Track II negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians on transboundary freshwater resources in the Middle East. He also served on an experts group advising the U.N. Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization and the U.N. International Law Commission in the UN's effort to develop a new global agreement for transboundary ground water resources. In addition, Professor Eckstein directs the Internet-based International Water Law Project, an Internet-based resource for treaties, documents, articles, news, and other resources on international water law and policy issues.

At Texas Tech University, Professor Eckstein directs the university's Center for Water Law & Policy, which is currently involved in research effort investigating pharmaceuticals and other micro-pollutants in our nation's drinking water. He regularly teaches courses and seminars on US and international water law, US and international environmental law, US property law, law and science, and related topics.

Prior to joining academia, Professor Eckstein served as Senior Counsel for CropLife America, an agrichemical trade association, advising on matters of U.S. and international regulatory and environmental law and compliance issues related to agricultural chemicals and biotechnology, air and water pollution, endangered species, and intellectual property. Prior to that, he worked as a litigator in private practice on environmental, toxic tort, and asbestos cases.

Degrees

Professor Eckstein holds LL.M. and JD degrees from American University's Washington College of Law, M.S. in International Affairs from Florida State University, and a B.S. in Geology from Kent State University.

Selected Publications

"Organophosphates, Friend and Foe: The Promise of Medical Monitoring for Farm Workers and Their Families," 27 UCLA Journal of Envt'l L. and Pol'y 39 (2009) (with Adriane Busby [formerly with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency])

"Chapter 1: Scientific, Legal, and Ethical Foundations for Texas Water Law," Texas Law of Water Resources ___ (with Amy Hardberger [Environmental Defense]) (M. Sahs, ed. 2009)

"State Practice in the Management and Allocation of Transboundary Ground Water Resources in North America," 18 Yearbook of Int'l Envt'l L. 2007 96 (2008) (with Amy Hardberger [Environmental Defense])

"Commentary on the U.N. International Law Commission's Draft Articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers,” 18 Colo. J. Int'l Envt'l L. & Pol'y 537 (2007)

"Precious, Worthless, or Incalculable: The Value and Ethic of Water,” introductory essay to Proceedings of the Symposium–Precious, Worthless, or Incalculable: The Value and Ethic of Water Vol. 1, 38 Texas Tech L. Rev. 963 (2006)

"A Hydrogeological Perspective of the Status of Ground Water Resources under the UN Watercourse Convention," 30 Columbia J. of Envt'l Law 525 (2005).

"Protecting A Hidden Treasure: The U.N. International Law Commission and the International Law of Transboundary Ground Water Resources," 5 Amer. Univ. Sustainable Devel. L. & Pol'y 5 (2005).

"The Challenges of the Rule of Capture in Texas," Conference Proceedings – High Plains Groundwater Resources: Challenges and Opportunities, Conference Proceedings 163, Texas Tech University Water Resources Center, Lubbock, TX (Rainwater & Zobek, Eds. 2004).

"Ground Water Resources and International Law in the Middle East Process," Water International (June 2003) (co-authored with Prof. Yoram Eckstein).

"Development of International Water Law and the UN Watercourse Convention" in Hydropolitics in the Developing World: A Southern African Perspective 81 (Turton & Henwood, eds.) (2002).