University of St. Thomas

A native of Wisconsin, Jerome M. Organ graduated magna cum laude from Miami University and attended Vanderbilt University School of Law as a Patrick Wilson Scholar. At Vanderbilt, Organ served as an editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review and graduated as a member of the Order of the Coif. After clerking for Justice William G. Callow of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Organ entered private practice with Foley & Lardner in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Organ practiced law for five years, predominantly in the environmental law area.

In 1991, Organ left Foley & Lardner to join the faculty of the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law, where he taught property, environmental law, regulation of hazardous substances, land use controls, and client interviewing and counseling. In 2001, Organ became one of the founding faculty members here at the University of St. Thomas School of Law.  He has earned a reputation as a gifted classroom teacher who cares deeply about his students, receiving a Gold Chalk Award at Missouri in 2001 and a Mission Award for Professional Preparation in 2005 and the Dean’s Award for Teaching in 2010 here at the University of St. Thomas.

Organ believes profoundly in the importance of integrating the skills and values of the profession into the doctrinal classroom and in instilling in students an appreciation of the vocation of being a lawyer. Organ is coauthor of Property and Lawyering, a casebook for first year property that integrates lawyering skills and dispute resolution materials. This text and course received the 2003 CPR Institute of Dispute Resolution Award for Problem-Solving in the Law School.

Organ's scholarship initially focused on environmental law; in particular, on developing more efficient means of resolving environmental disputes and on considering questions of the appropriate locus for environmental regulation -- that is, the balance of authority in environmental matters as between the federal government and state and local governments. More recently, he has begun to write about issues associated with the culture of law school and the formation of professional identity.

A strong believer in pro bono activities, Organ tries to model servant leadership for students.  He has invested hundreds of hours in a variety of social justice activities over the last two decades, from providing legal services to people who lack the financial resources to gain access to the legal system to serving as a member of the board of the Central Missouri Food Bank and St. Stephens Human Services, to coaching youth soccer.

Having served for four years as Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Organ has recently taken on responsibilities as the Associate Director of the Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions.  His current research is directed toward transparency in financial aspects of the decision to attend law school – addressing both scholarship programs for students and employment and salary data of graduates.  In addition, he is working on obtaining funding for a survey of law students to assess the extent to which alcohol consumption, drug use and mental health issues are prevalent among law students.  He also is working with the Holloran Center on developing assessment tools to document the development of professional identity among law students.

Representative Scholarship

PROPERTY AND LAWYERING, 2d ed. (Coauthor with R. Wilson Freyermuth, Alice Noble-Allgire and James L. Winokur)(West Publishing Company 2006)

Further Reflections on Institutional Pluralism (or the Absence of Institutional Pluralism) -- Part I--Missing Missions:  Challenges to Outcome Measures in Legal Education, Journal of Legal Education (forthcoming 2010)

The Impact of Scholarship Programs on the Culture of Law School, Journal of Legal Education (forthcoming 2010)

Subsidiarity and Solidarity: Lenses for Assessing the Appropriate Locus for Environmental Regulation and Enforcement, 5 University of St. Thomas Law Journal 262 (2008)

From Those to Whom Much Has Been Given, Much is Expected:  Vocation, Catholic Social Teaching, and the Culture of a Catholic Law School, 1 Villanova Journal of Catholic Social Thought 361 (2004)

A Vocation-Based System of Ethics for Law Students, 45 South Texas Law Review 997 (2004)

Environmental Federalism Part II: The Impact of Harmon, Smithfield and CLEAN on Overfiling Under RCRA, the CWA and the CAA, 30 Environmental Law Reporter 10732 (September 2000)

Environmental Federalism Part I: The History of Overfiling Under RCRA, The CWA and the CAA Prior to Harmon, Smithfield and CLEAN, 30 Environmental Law Reporter 10615 (August 2000)

The Contemporary Property Law Course: A Study of Syllabi, 47 Journal of Legal  Education 205 (1997)(Coauthored with Roberta Rosenthal Kwall)

Controlling Externalities Associated with Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations: Evaluating the Impact of H.B. 1207 and the Continuing Viability of Zoning and the Common Law of Nuisance, 3 Missouri Environmental Law and Policy Review 183 (1996)(Coauthored with Kristin M. Perry)

Advice for Owners of Contaminated Land After Meghrig v. KFC Western, Inc., 26 Environmental  Law Reporter 10582 (Nov. 1996)

Understanding State and Federal Property Rights Legislation, 48 Oklahoma L. Rev. 191 (1995)(reprinted in Environment, Property, and the Law, edited by Ronald L. Rosenberg, (Garland Publishing 1998)

Limitations on State Agency Authority to Adopt Environmental Standards More Stringent than Federal Standards:  Policy Considerations and Interpretational Problems, 54 Maryland Law Review 1373 (1995)(Symposium on Environmental Federalism)

Superfund and the Settlement Decision: Reflections on the Relationship Between Equity and Efficiency, 62 George Washington Law Review 301 (1994)

Courses Taught

Client Interviewing & Counseling
Environmental Law
Foundations of Justice
Land Use Planning
Property

Mailing Address

MSL 400
1000 LaSalle Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55403-2015