Ann E. Carlson

Ann Carlson is the Shirley Shapiro Professor of Environmental Law and the founding Director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. She is a leading scholar of climate change and air pollution law and policy, the co-author of a top casebook on Environmental Law (with Dan Farber and William Boyd), and the co-editor, with Dallas Burtraw, of Lessons from the Clean Air Act: Building Durability and Flexibility into U.S. Climate and Energy Policy. She has published numerous articles in leading law reviews, including California, Harvard, Michigan, Northwestern, and UCLA.

From 2021 to 2024, Carlson served in the Biden-Harris Administration as Chief Counsel and Acting Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Under her leadership at NHTSA, the agency issued two sets of stringent fuel economy standards, a rule to require pedestrian automatic emergency braking for all light duty vehicles, and the first ever order requiring immediate reporting of crashes involving automated vehicles. Carlson is a frequent media commentator and blogs at Legal Planet. She is the recipient of the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award, the Eby Award for the Art of Teaching and the Rutter Award for Excellence in Teaching. Carlson is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of the American College of Environmental Lawyers. She is a magna cum laude graduate of both UC Santa Barbara and Harvard Law School.