Areas of Expertise

Environmental Ethics; Animal Law and Ethics; Legal Profession; Moral Philosophy for Professionals; Property Law

Brief Bio

Professor Reed Elizabeth Loder is an accomplished ethicist. The courses she has taught at Vermont Law School include Environmental Ethics, Legal Profession, Moral Philosophy for Professionals, and Property Law. She also has taught Ethics in the Professions at Dartmouth College.

She received her AB, MA, and PhD, all in philosophy, from Boston University. As a law student, she received the Connecticut Law Tribune Award, the Cornelius W. Wickersham Jr. Award (by the Federal Bar Council to the student judged most proficient in constitutional law), and American Jurisprudence Book Awards, among others. After receiving her JD degree, magna cum laude, in 1983 from the University of Connecticut, she clerked for the Honorable Thomas P. Smith, magistrate of the U.S. District Court in Bridgeport, Connecticut. She did legal work part time for the firm of Peckham, Lobel, Casey and Tye in Boston while teaching Legal Writing, Professional Responsibility, and Trial Advocacy at Boston College Law School. In 1988, she was an Adjunct Professor at VLS, while also an Assistant Professor of research and writing at Boston College Law School. She joined the VLS faculty in 1989. From 1990 to 1993, she was also a Visiting Professor at Dartmouth College. Her presentations have included "Lawyer Confidentiality" at Dartmouth College, "Ethics of the Government Lawyer" for Vermont attorneys general, "Ethical Discretion and Lawyers" at the Indiana University School of Law, and panels at VLS on pro bono services, religion and the environment, independence of the judiciary, and judicial ethics. She was a commentator for New Hampshire Public Television during a judicial impeachment trial. In addition to other publications in the field of ethics, she is writing a book, "Lawyers and Virtue."

Professor Loder is a member of the American Bar Association, the American Philosophical Association, and the Association of Practical and Professional Ethics. She was selected as a 2006-2007 Fellow of the National Institute for Teaching Ethics and Professionalism. She has served by court appointment on the New Hampshire Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics since 2001.

Publications (Weblink only), if any:

1. "Bears Among Us: Earth Law and Animal-Human Coexistence," chapter in Earth Law: A Practitioner's Guide, Wolters Kluwer (2021).
2. "Ecological Jurisprudence Beyond Earth: Toward an Outer Space Ethic," chapter in From Environmental to Ecological Law (Kirsten Anker, Peter Burdon, Geoffrey Garver, Michelle Maloney & Carla Sbert, eds.), Routledge (January 2021).
3. "Mining Asteroids: Ecological Jurisprudence Beyond Earth," Virginia Environmental Law Journal, Volume 3, Issue 36, Fall 2018.

1. 4. "Mining Asteroids: Ecological Jurisprudence Beyond Earth," Virginia Environmental Law Journal, Volume 3, Issue 36, Fall 2018.
2. Toward Reconciling Environmental and Animal Ethics: Northeast Wolf Reintroduction, 10 Journal of Animal and Natural Resource Law 95-164 (2014).
3. The Ethical Dimensions of Sustainability, The Long View, Summer 2011, No. 6, The Oregon State Bar Sustainable Future Section
4. Gratitude and the Environment: Toward Individual and Collective Ecological Virtue, 2011 Journal Jurisprudence 383 (2011)
5. Breath of Life: Ethical Wind Power and Wildlife, 10 Vermont Journal of Environmental Law 507-531 (2009).
6. Epistemic Integrity and the Environmental Future, 32 Environs: Environmental Law and Policy Journal 1-46 (2008).
7. Lawyers and Gratitude, 20 Notre Dame J. of Law, Ethics and Public Policy, Symposium on Law and Politics as Avocation 175 (2006).
8. Integrity and Epistemic Passion, 77 Notre Dame Law Review, 841 (2002).
9. Tending the Generous Heart: Mandatory Pro Bono and Moral Development, 14 Geo. J. Legal Ethics 459 (2001).
10. Professional Grieving, 21 Legal Stud. F. 267 (1997).
11. Symposium, When Silence Screams, 29 Loy. L.A. Rev. 1785 (1996).
12. Moral Truthseeking and the Virtuous Negotiator, 8 Geo. J. Legal Ethics 45 (1994).
13. Out From Uncertainty: A Model of the Lawyer-Client Relationship, 2 S. Cal. Interdisc. L.J. 89 (1993).
14. Moral Skepticism and Lawyers, 1990 Utah L. Rev. 47.
15. Tighter Rules of Professional Conduct: Saltwater for Thirst?, 1 Geo. J. Legal Ethics 311 (1987).

Legal Advocacy

• Published Advisory Opinions, New Hampshire Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics (2001 - present)
• American Judicature Society
• New Hampshire Courts