Joseph Sax

Joseph Lawrence Sax (February 3, 1936 – March 9, 2014) was an American environmental law professor, known for developing the public trust doctrine.

Born and raised in Chicago, Sax graduated from Harvard University in 1957 and then earned a J.D. degree in 1959

From 1994 to 1996, Sax worked with the Clinton Administration under Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. and working on a variety of water resource cases in California.

Works Books Playing Darts With a Rembrandt: Public and Private Rights to Cultural Treasures (1999) Mountains Without Handrails Water Law--Planning and Policy Water Law--Cases and Commentary Defending the Environment

Scholarly articles "The Public Trust Doctrine in Natural Resource Law: Effective Judicial Intervention", 68 Michigan Law Review 471 (1970)

Awards Blue Planet Prize - 2007, from the Asahi Glass Foundation ("likened to a Nobel for environmental science" ) American Academy of Arts and Sciences, fellow Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award, University of Michigan Elizabeth Haub Environmental Prize of the Free University of Brussels Audubon Society's Conservationist of the Year Award William O. Douglas Legal Achievement Award from the Sierra Club Environmental Quality Award of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency