Professor of Law and Justice John J. Francis Scholar. (Environmental Law; International Environmental Law; Toxic Torts and Toxic Substances Regulation; Torts; Products Liability; Law and Economics.) Professor Latin joined the faculty in 1976. He earned a B.A. from Brandeis and a J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was lead articles editor of the California Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif. Professor Latin has published many articles in the fields of environmental law, torts, and products liability. He is now finishing a book, entitled Saving Nature Despite Fools, Felons, and Experts, that explains why 30 years of conservation efforts in remote regions of developing nations, where most of the world's biological diversity is located, have been failing abjectly and will continue failing as long as the major conservation organizations keep relying on unrealistic, ineffectual, self-defeating methods.

Professor Latin was a Fulbright Scholar in Australia during 1992 and in South Africa during 1997, and he has traveled to more than 40 countries in the past two decades while conducting research on global conservation problems. In addition to his Fulbright visits, he has been a visiting professor at the Georgetown University Law Center and UCLA School of Law; a visiting scholar at the University of California at Berkeley and the Richardson School of Law of the University of Hawaii; and in the spring semester of 2006 he was the Distinguished Environmental Law Scholar at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, OR. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute, and has served as a consultant on environmental and torts issues to several government agencies and advocacy groups.

Professor Latin's favorite recreational pastime is scuba diving with sharks and marine mammals, preferably dozens or hundreds at a time. He has been fortunate to combine his recreational interest in diving with his professional interest in marine conservation issues around the world.