Douglas Kysar

Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law

(on leave, spring 2024)


Professor Douglas Kysar is Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law at Yale Law School and faculty co-director of the Law, Ethics and Animals Program. His teaching and research areas include torts, animal law, environmental law, climate change, products liability, and risk regulation.

FULL BIOGRAPHY
Douglas Kysar

Contact Information



Faculty Assistant


Jennifer Marshall

Education & Curriculum Vitae


J.D., Harvard Law School, 1998

B.A., Indiana University, 1995

 

Courses Taught


  • Climate Change and Animals
  • Animal Law
  • Constitutions and the Environment
  • The Law of Climate Change
  • Torts I
  • Law, Environment and Religion: A Communion of Subjects
  • Products Liability

Professor Douglas Kysar is Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law at Yale Law School and faculty co-director of the Law, Ethics and Animals Program. His teaching and research areas include torts, animal law, environmental law, climate change, products liability, and risk regulation. Kysar was previously on the faculty at Cornell Law School. He received his B.A. summa cum laude from Indiana University in 1995 and his J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1998. Following law school, he clerked for the Honorable William G. Young of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Thursday, August 17, 2023


Yale Experts Explain Climate Lawsuits

In a Q&A, Douglas Kysar, the Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law at Yale Law School and faculty co-director of the Law, Ethics & Animals Program, explains the legal strategies behind recent climate change lawsuits, how the law could be used to protect those most vulnerable to climate disasters, and which cases may have the best chance of success.

Friday, May 12, 2023


The Supreme Court’s Ruling on Prop 12 Is a Win Against Factory Farming. But the Pigs’ Lives Will Still Suck — A Commentary by Doug Kysar and Justin Marceau

Douglas Kysar is Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law at Yale Law School and faculty co-director of the Law, Ethics and Animals Program.

Thursday, December 15, 2022


It’s Time for Climate Change To Reach the International Court of Justice — A Commentary by Douglas Kysar

Douglas Kysar is Joseph M. Field '55 Professor of Law at Yale Law School and faculty co-director of the Law, Ethics and Animals Program.

Tuesday, October 18, 2022


New Jersey Latest State to Sue Oil Companies Over Climate Misinformation

Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law Douglas Kysar comments on states suing oil companies over their role in the climate crisis.

Friday, September 30, 2022


Life on the Ark: The Zanesville Animal Catastrophe a Decade Later

Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law Douglas Kysar, Faculty Co-Director of the Law, Ethics and Animals Program will appear on episodes 5 and 8 of a podcast about the legacies of a 2011 incident in Zanesville, Ohio, during which 50 exotic animals were killed by county police upon being released by their owner.

Friday, May 27, 2022


EMBA Class of 2022 Selects Winners of Annual Teaching Awards

Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law Doug Kysar is among the winners of the Yale School of Management’s MBA for Executives Teaching Awards, selected in a vote by the EMBA Class of 2022.

Monday, March 21, 2022


Oil Giants Wage ‘Endless’ Disputes Before Climate Case Trials

Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law Douglas Kysar comments on a climate misinformation lawsuit — one of several filed nationally — moving closer to trial in a state court.

Monday, December 27, 2021


Focus on ‘Greenwashing’ Claims in New Year of Climate Litigation

Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law Doug Kysar is quoted about climate-related litigation.

Monday, October 18, 2021


European Activists Want to Ban Fossil Fuel Ads. Why Can’t We Do That Here?

Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law Faculty Co-director of the Law, Ethics and Animals Program Douglas Kysar explains why it is easier for U.S. authorities to regulate fossil fuel ads by placing stipulations on them rather than prohibiting them.

Monday, October 18, 2021


Could Property Law Help Achieve ‘Rights of Nature’ for Wild Animals?

Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law Faculty Co-director of the Law, Ethics and Animals Program Professor Douglas Kysar summarizes the legal argument for granting property rights to wildlife to protect them from habitat destruction. 

Tuesday, May 11, 2021


EMBA Class of 2021 Selects Winners of Annual Teaching Awards

Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law Douglas Kysar will share the Sustainability Teaching Award as part of Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives Teaching Awards.

Friday, March 26, 2021


LEAP Hosts Daniel Ho on Machine Learning

LEAP hosted Dr. Daniel Ho for a presentation on his research on machine learning.

Thursday, February 11, 2021


Why Wild Animals Should Have Property Rights

The Law, Ethics & Animals Program (LEAP) hosted Karen Bradshaw to discuss her recent book, “Wildlife as Property Owners: A New Conception of Animal Rights,” which argues for extending a legal right of property ownership to animals.

Thursday, December 17, 2020


Climate change turns up the heat on ad industry

Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law Doug Kysar is quoted in a Reuters story about advertising, climate change, and the energy sector.

Monday, November 9, 2020


The Case for Climate Change

A new book coedited by Professor Douglas Kysar and Jolene Lim is the first academic examination of climate change litigation in the Asia Pacific region.

Thursday, May 28, 2020


Kysar Given MBA for Executives Teaching Award

Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law Douglas Kysar was awarded Yale School of Management’s 2019–20 MBA for Executives Teaching Award.

Tuesday, May 19, 2020


Students Tackle Industrial Agriculture Exploitation in New CAFE Law & Policy Lab

This Spring, the Law, Ethics & Animals Program at Yale launched the inaugural Climate, Animal, Food and Environment (CAFE) Law and Policy Lab to provide hands-on training to students on building durable interventions in policy, legislation and litigation.

Tuesday, May 19, 2020


Sustainability in the Post-COVID Economy

Law, Ethics & Animals Program Faculty Co-Director Doug Kysar spoke on a Center for Business and the Environment at Yale panel.

Tuesday, March 31, 2020


John Hughes Discusses North Carolina Hog Nuisance Lawsuits

The Law, Ethics & Animals Program (LEAP) at Yale Law School hosted attorney John Hughes to discuss his firm’s high-profile cases against Murphy-Brown, a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods.

Wednesday, February 5, 2020


California communities suing Big Oil over climate change face a key hearing Wednesday

Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law Doug Kysar is quoted in the Los Angeles Times about a group of California communities suing fossil fuel companies for their contribution to climate change and the damages resulting from it.

Friday, January 31, 2020


Big Oil: Dismissal of Kids Climate Case Should Doom All Climate Cases

Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law Doug Kysar is quoted in Climate Liability News about the recent dismissal of the landmark youth climate case, Juliana v. United States.

Monday, December 30, 2019


2019: The Year Climate Litigation Hit High Gear

Doug Kysar, Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law and Faculty Co-Director of the YLS Law, Ethics & Animals Program, is quoted in article about the importance of climate lawsuits in courts around the globe.

Monday, December 16, 2019


Protecting the Rights of Kids: Paul Rink and Doug Kysar on Climate Litigation

Paul Rink ’19 speaks with Doug Kysar, Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law and Faculty Co-Director of the YLS Law, Ethics & Animals Program, about the merits and potential of Juliana v. U.S. and other youth-based climate litigation.

Friday, December 13, 2019


Tort Law and Climate Change Litigation

Deputy Dean and Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law Doug Kysar spoke with the Energy Tradeoffs podcast about the creativity of recent lawsuits aimed at holding companies and governments accountable for climate change.

Monday, November 18, 2019


Doug Kysar and Jon Lovvorn on law in the Anthropocene

In a recent podcast interview, LEAP Faculty Co-Directors Doug Kysar and Jon Lovvorn spoke about how animal law, industrialized cruelty, and climate change are inextricably entwined.

Monday, October 21, 2019


Oil Companies Make Extraordinary Plea to Supreme Court to Stop Colorado Climate Case

Deputy Dean and Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law Doug Kysar is quoted in a Climate Liability News article about an appeal filed with the Supreme Court by Exxon and Suncor to prevent a climate liability suit filed by three Colorado municipalities.

Tuesday, October 1, 2019


Doug Kysar at the Brooks Institute Animal Legal and Policy Studies Summit 2019

Douglas Kysar, LEAP Faculty Co-Director and Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law at Yale Law School, spoke at the 2019 Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law & Policy Summit about the importance of grappling with questions about how our society uses laws and regulations to prevent, manage and respond to threats of harm to life.

Tuesday, September 3, 2019


Law, Ethics & Animals Program to Launch

A new initiative, the Law, Ethics & Animals Program (LEAP) will launch during the 2019–2020 academic year dedicated to drawing attention to the questions of conscience raised by human-animal relationships and developing new strategies to address industrialized animal cruelty.

Tuesday, August 6, 2019


Exxon Accused of Pressuring Witnesses in New York Climate Fraud Case

Deputy Dean and Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law Douglas Kysar is quoted about the New York attorney general’s litigation against Exxon. 

Thursday, July 25, 2019


Big Issues: It’s Past Time to Decarbonize the Economy

Douglas Kysar, LEAP Faculty Director and Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law at Yale Law School, joined a class of Yale School of Management's Global Leadership: Big Issues course to discuss what it will mean to begin grappling with climate change in earnest.

Monday, June 17, 2019


In Courtrooms, Climate Change Is No Longer Up for Debate

Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law Douglas Kysar is quoted in an article about  about climate change science in lawsuits.

Friday, June 14, 2019


Douglas Kysar Wins Teaching Award from Yale School of Management

Douglas Kysar, Deputy Dean and Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law, received one of the Yale School of Management’s 2018-19 MBA for Executives Teaching Awards.

Monday, December 11, 2017


Here’s what’s at stake for the 21 kids suing the Trump administration over climate change

Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law Doug Kysar is a quoted in an article on the group of 21 youths who are suing the federal government over climate change.

Thursday, July 27, 2017


Fossil Fuel Industry’s 'Tobacco Moment' Has Arrived—A Commentary by Douglas Kysar

Professor Douglas Kysar is Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law at Yale Law School.

Friday, June 23, 2017


Op-Ed Response: In ‘the Most Important Lawsuit on the Planet,’ Who Exactly Should the Ninth Circuit Rein In?—A Commentary by Douglas A. Kysar

Douglas Kysar is the Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law at Yale Law School.

Friday, June 23, 2017


Cheryl Gilmore: The children lead on climate

Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law Douglas Kysar is quoted in an article about the lawsuit Juliana v United States.

Sunday, June 11, 2017


Trump administration takes a 'drastic' step to stop youth climate lawsuit

Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law Doug Kysar is quoted in an article about efforts by President Trump to quash a climate change lawsuit brought by 21 young people.

Thursday, May 25, 2017


Professor Kysar Receives Teaching Award

Professor Doug Kysar has been selected as one of the winners of the Yale School of Management’s 2016-17 MBA for Executives Teaching Awards.

Tuesday, September 6, 2016


Renowned Climate Diplomat Joins YLS Professors to Teach Global Climate Change Course

In the wake of the conclusion of the historic Paris Climate Change accords, Yale Law School Professors Harold Hongju Koh and Douglas A. Kysar asked Todd D. Stern to join them in teaching a Fall 2016 course at the Law School on The Past, Present and the Future of Global Climate Change: Law and Policy.

Thursday, July 23, 2015


A Communion of Subjects

This spring, Linda Sheehan, executive director of the Earth Law Center, visited a unique new class at Yale, “A Communion of Subjects: Law, Environment, and Religion,” a collaborative effort of the Law School, the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES), and the Yale Divinity School (YDS).

Sunday, February 8, 2015


New Harvard Law School program aims for ‘systemic justice’

Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law Douglas Kysar is quoted in an article about a program at Harvard Law School that employs an interdisciplinary approach to teaching.

Monday, October 8, 2012


YLS Partner Palau Acknowledged as International Environmental Leader

The island nation of Palau, an environmental partner of YLS, has been named recipient of the World Future Council’s 2012 Future Policy Award.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012


Prof. Doug Kysar’s Climate Change Paper Featured in the Environmental Law and Policy Annual Review

Prof. Doug Kysar’s paper “What Climate Change Can Do About Tort Law” was featured in the 2011-2012 volume of the Environmental Law and Policy Annual Review.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010


Professor Doug Kysar to Discuss Climate Change in Joseph M. Field ’55 Inaugural Lecture

Professor Doug Kysar will give his inaugural lecture as the Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law on November 15, 2010.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010


Chairs Conferred on YLS Professors Doug Kysar and John Fabian Witt ’99

Douglas Kysar has been named the Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law at Yale Law School, and John Fabian Witt ’99 has been named the Allen H. Duffy Class of 1960 Professor of Law.