Keith Harley, Director of the Environmental Law Program

Keith heads GCLC’s Environmental Law Program, which operates as a collaboration between the Clinic and IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law. The program provides legal advocacy, education, and volunteer services to people confronting urban environmental problems in the Chicago area. Keith is a 1982 graduate of Moravian College and received a Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1985. He earned his JD from IIT Chicago-Kent in 1988 with a Certificate in Environmental and Energy Law and initiated a public interest environmental law practice on Chicago’s southeast side shortly thereafter.

For the past 26 years, Keith has served as an adjunct professor-lecturer in Chicago-Kent’s Program in Environmental and Energy Law, for which he also serves as Director. Additionally, he serves as an adjunct professor at Northwestern University and at IIT’s Stuart Business School. Keith has been appointed to many federal, state, and local environmental policymaking initiatives, including a present appointment to the State of Illinois’ Environmental Justice Commission. He served as the Chair of the Chicago Bar Association's Environmental Law Committee from 2006 to 2009.

In 2019, Keith received the Geertz Award from the Illinois State Bar Association in recognition of his achievements in human rights advocacy. Also in 2019, Keith received the Illinois Environmental Council’s Community Champion award at its annual banquet in recognition of his legal advocacy on behalf of environmental organizations.