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David N. Cassuto, Professor of Law at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law

David N. Cassuto

Professor of Law
Director, Brazil-American Institute for Law and Environment (BAILE)
Faculty Director of SJD Programs
Kerman Family Faculty Scholar
Elisabeth Haub School of Law
Animal Law
Comparative Law
Constitutional Law
Environmental Law
Legal Theory
Natural Resources Law
Property Law
Water Law

David N. Cassuto

White Plains
Preston Hall, 222 |
Contact Professor Directly

Biography

Professor David N. Cassuto came to Ƶ in July 2003 from Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass LLP in San Francisco, where he practiced complex civil litigation. Prior to that, he was an associate at Pillsbury Winthrop LLP in San Francisco and served on the Executive Committee of the San Francisco Bar Association’s Environmental Law Practice Group. Before entering private practice, Professor Cassuto clerked for the Honorable Rosemary Barkett on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

A former professor of English specializing in literature and the environment, Professor Cassuto has published and lectured widely on legal, literary, and environmental issues. He is also a frequent speaker on legal and cultural studies.

Professor Cassuto teaches in the areas of constitutional law, animal law, water law, international comparative law, and legal and environmental theory. He is the Faculty Director of SJD Programs at the Law School and the Executive Director of the Brazil American Institute for Law and Environment (BAILE), a cooperative endeavor with the Getulio Vargas Foundation School of Law in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Professor Cassuto was a Fulbright Fellow at FGV Direito Rio, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2010, is a visiting professor at the Universidad Cientifica in Lima, Peru and at the Federal University of Bahia, Brazil, and is the Class of 1946 Distinguished Visiting Professor of Environmental Law at Williams College.

Education

  • BA, Wesleyan University
  • MA, Indiana University
  • PhD, Indiana University
  • JD, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law

Selected Publications

View all of Professor Cassuto’s publications on , or download his CV (PDF).

Books:

  • Animal Law and the Courts, (Thomson West Press 2008) (co-editor)
  • Dripping Dry: Literature, Politics and Water in the Desert Southwest, (University of Michigan Press 2001)
  • Cold Running River: An Ecological Biography of the Pere Marquette River, (University of Michigan Press 1994)

Articles:

  • , 42 U. Haw. L. Rev. 41 (2020) (with Tala DiBenedetto)
  • , 5 Can. J. Comp. & Contemp. L. 1 (2019) (with Amy O’ Brien)
  • , Mich. St. L. Rev. 587 (2018)
  • (co-author with Drew Levinson), Revista Novos Estudos Juridicos – Eletronica (2018)
  • , 43 B.C. Envtl. Aff. L. Rev. 1 (2016) (with Cayleigh Eckhardt)
  • , 31 Pace Envtl. L. Rev. 399 (2014)
  • , 54 S. Tex. L. Rev. 579 (2013)

Honors & Awards

  • Michael A. Calandra, Jr. ’05 Faculty Scholar
  • Seeds Award (Presented by International Society for Animal Rights in Recognition of Contributions to the Field of Animal Law)
  • Fellow: FGV Direito Rio School of Law
  • Fellow: Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics
  • Jefferson Award for Service to the Community (National Award)
  • Academy Scholar – Pace Academy for Applied Environmental Studies
  • Lifetime Achievement Award – Institute for the Abolition of Animals, presented at the Third World Congress on Bioethics and Animal Rights
  • U.S. Speaker & Specialist Grant – Invited by U.S. State Department to give a series of lectures in Brazil
  • Fulbright Scholar
  • NEH Fellow: "Literature in Transition: The Impact of Information Technologies,”

Areas of Interest

Animal Law, Environmental Law, Water Law, Comparative Law, Property, Constitutional Law, Risk Management

Related News and Stories

Faculty and Staff

In their article, Powerless Beings: Solitary Confinement of Humans and Non Humans in America, published in Nebraska Law Review, Haub Law Professors Michael Mushlin and David Cassuto use a comparative format to examine the moral, penological and scientific shortcomings of solitary confinement across species. The article sheds light on the importance of empowering all creatures subjected to solitary confinement. “If we adequately protect all vulnerable beings, the unnecessary suffering inflicted by solitary confinement will finally end,” they write.

In the Media

Haub Professor David Cassuto was featured in an interview with Jus Animalis, the largest Brazilian legal portal dedicated to Animal Law. (In Portuguese and English)

Faculty and Staff

Professor David Cassuto has been a faculty member with the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Ƶ since 2003. But what you might not know about Professor Cassuto may surprise you -- learn more in this candid student-led interview.