College of Law

Article by Vogelpohl '15 receives statewide award

May 6, 2015

Vogelpohl '15

Alec Vogelpohl ’15 has been announced the winner of the Ohio State Bar Association’s 2015 Environmental Law Award for his paper titled “Ohio’s Public Trust Doctrine: The State’s Duty to Prevent Harmful Algal Blooms in Lake Erie.”

The article was published in the OSBA Environment, Energy, and Resources Law Seminar materials and Vogelpohl received a prize of $1,000 donated by the Ohio law firm McMahon DeGulis LLP.

The OSBA Environmental Law Award is a writing contest for law students on topics that advance the application and practice of environmental, energy, or resources law in Ohio. 

Vogelpohl’s paper analyzes how the public trust doctrine, rooted in our constitution, statutes, and common law, imposes a duty on the state to protect the public’s rights of navigation, commerce, and fishing in Lake Erie. The state is violating its duties under the public trust doctrine by failing to address key sources of nutrient pollution contributing to harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie, Vogelpohl argues, and the state should be forced to regulate those sources.

“Alec’s novel paper does a great job of applying an ancient legal doctrine to an important modern problem,” said Ken Kilbert, associate dean for academic affairs, professor of law, and director of Toledo Law’s Legal Institute of the Great Lakes.

Vogelpohl graduated cum laude this month with a certificate of concentration in Environmental Law. Last year he earned a best oralist award at the National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition.

This is the 6th year for the OSBA Environmental Law Award, and it marks the second time a Toledo Law student captured the top prize. M. Zack Hohl ’12 won in 2012.  

According to the OSBA website, a panel of environmental lawyers and OSBA members reviewed the submissions to select the winner. Submitted articles were judged on the following criteria: relevance to the practice of law in Ohio, timeliness and importance of the selected topic, organization, quality of legal analysis, quality of legal research, and quality of the overall writing.

This year there were two second place winners: Alex Savickas, also a Toledo Law student, and a student from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.

Last Updated: 6/27/22