This advanced, practice-focused seminar examines the legal, regulatory, and strategic landscape governing deep-sea mining—one of the most rapidly emerging and contested areas of international law. Anchored in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea framework and the evolving role of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the course explores how states and corporations compete for access to critical seabed minerals such as cobalt, nickel, and rare earth elements.
The course places particular emphasis on U.S. interests and legal positioning, including the unique challenges posed by the United States’ non-ratification of UNCLOS, domestic regulatory approaches, and strategic competition with other global powers.
Students will analyze how lawyers advise governments, energy companies, and investors on licensing, environmental compliance, risk management, and dispute strategy in a legally uncertain and geopolitically sensitive environment.
The seminar treats deep-sea mining law as a high-stakes frontier practice, where international law, environmental protection, and economic competition collide.
This course assumes prior study of international law, environmental law, or energy law.
Course Objectives
By the end of the course, students should be able to:
1. Understand the legal framework governing deep-sea mining.
2. Analyze the role of international institutions regulating seabed resources.
3. Evaluate U.S. legal and strategic positions on seabed mining.
4. Assess environmental and regulatory risks in deep-sea extraction.
5. Understand licensing and compliance requirements.
6. Analyze geopolitical competition over seabed resources.
7. Evaluate corporate and investor risk exposure.
8. Advise clients on regulatory and operational strategy.
9. Navigate jurisdictional and legal uncertainties.
10. Apply legal principles to real-world resource development scenarios.
