Areas of Expertise
Environmental Law, Climate Change Law, National Security Law, Constitutional Law, Natural Resources Law
Courses
Climate Change Law & Policy, Environmental Law, Natural Resources Law (Energy focus)
Biography
Mark Nevitt is an associate professor of law with tenure at Emory School of Law, where he joined the faculty in 2022. His research examines climate adaptation, environmental governance, and national security, with particular emphasis on how climate change reshapes doctrines of tort, property, sovereign immunity, and federalism. His work explores the legal institutions that govern sea-level rise, disaster recovery, managed retreat, migration, and environmental resilience.
Professor Nevitt was previously an associate professor of law at Syracuse University College of Law and Distinguished Professor of Leadership and Law at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. From 2017 to 2019, he served as the Sharswood Fellow and Lecturer-in-Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
His scholarship has appeared or is forthcoming in leading law reviews, including the Stanford Law Review, Columbia Law Review, Vanderbilt Law Review, Washington University Law Review, Iowa Law Review, Yale Journal of Regulation, and Harvard Environmental Law Review, among others. He was elected to the American College of Environmental Lawyers in 2025. He serves on the editorial boards of Lawfare, the Journal of National Security Law & Policy, and Just Security, where his scholarship frequently appears. He is also an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and a co-author of the forthcoming 11th edition of Environmental Regulation: Law, Science, and Policy (with Robert V. Percival).
Before entering academia, Nevitt served for twenty years in the United States Navy as both a tactical jet aviator and Judge Advocate General (JAG) attorney, retiring at the rank of commander. As a Navy JAG, he practiced environmental, international, criminal defense, and ethics law. Earlier in his career, he flew carrier-based tactical aircraft, logging more than 1,000 flight hours and over 290 carrier landings aboard USS Constellation (CV-64). He also served as a White House military social aide. His military decorations include the Air Medal and four Meritorious Service Medals.
Education
Nevitt, originally from Rhode Island, holds a BSE from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and both a JD and LLM (with distinction) from the Georgetown University Law Center.