Stephanie Safdi is a clinical associate professor of law at Yale Law School. She is the founder and director of the Environmental Justice Law and Advocacy Clinic, which represents Native American Tribes, community groups, nonprofit organizations, and coalitions in litigation, administrative proceedings, and multi-modal advocacy projects that aim to advance environmental justice and tackle complex environmental and governance problems.
Safdi’s teaching and practice areas include environmental law and justice, administrative law, land use, water law, public nuisance, and Indigenous rights. Safdi’s current scholarship focuses on Indigenous water governance and legal accountability for environmental trauma.
Prior to joining Yale Law School, Safdi was clinical supervising attorney and lecturer in law at Stanford Law School’s Environmental Law Clinic. Safdi previously served as deputy county counsel for the County of Santa Clara, California, where she advised the County Consumer and Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Environmental Health, and Planning and Development Department. Safdi litigated public nuisance actions and worked on lead hazard abatement as a member of the Office of the County Counsel’s Social Justice and Impact Litigation Team and served as general counsel for the County Emergency Operations Center on COVID-19 response and legal advisor for wildfire recovery.
Safdi began her legal practice as an environmental law fellow at the public interest environmental law firm Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger LLP, where she represented public agencies, community groups, and Native American Tribes in state and federal court and in regulatory proceedings before state public utilities commissions. Safdi clerked for the Honorable Michelle T. Friedland on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and the Honorable Ricardo S. Martinez on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
