An absolutely phenomenal class. Professor Boyd is honestly such an amazing professor who really knows his stuff and is extremely approachable. He throws in some humor here and there in his lectures, which is always an added plus. Professor Boyd made a lot of these otherwise seemingly difficult policies and regulations in U.S. environmental law seem super easy to understand, and I know that the knowledge that I learned in this class will help me in my career path further down the road. Our TA, Will Krantz, was also super awesome. I personally did not go to any of their office hours, and I actually regret doing so seeing that both were very nice people. Professor Boyd seemed to know quite a few students' names and would call them by their names in class when they raised their hands, so he'll definitely remember you (in a good way).

As for the structure, this class meets 2 times a week for an hour and fifteen minutes, and there's no discussion, which is super chill. Professor Boyd will literally spend a quarter to a half of every lecture doing a recap of the previous lecture, so if you skip a lecture or two, don't be too worried. But with that being said, it is absolutely crucial that you try to attend all the lectures because all the exams my year were based on content covered in class. He explicitly says if a particular concept or idea is important to know, and sure enough, all of such things showed up on the midterm/final. In terms of content, the first half of the class is about court cases and how environmental law came about, while the second half is mainly about specific environmental statutes. There is also a focus on environmental justice all throughout, which was a unique perspective that I absolutely enjoyed (and never really thought about before).

The class grade was composed of 30% problem exercises (2 problem exercises worth 15% each), 30% midterm, and 40% final. Since Professor Boyd realized he made the problem exercises way too hard last year, he made them easier our year. And let me tell you, they were stupidly easy. I started them the night before and got full credit on both. You basically have to read a trimmed-down statute that you learn about in class and answer 10 questions about them (for a total of 20 points). Most of our questions were literally super straightforward and required 1 sentence or were yes/no. The second problem exercise even had an extra credit question. You get the first problem exercise a little bit before the midterm, and the second one comes right before Thanksgiving break. I will say though, even though the questions were really easy and you could just ctrl + F the document for the right key words, the point is to learn how to read statutory text, so I would really recommend trying to read what's given for understanding.

However, because of this change, Professor Boyd said he made our midterm harder than last year, which to be honest, was kind of hard to believe because even the midterm felt super easy. I think the change he was alluding to was the fact that last year's midterm was all MC, whereas this year's had mainly MC and a good amount of short-answers as well. About 3/4ths of the short answers were technical, while the other 1/4 required you to take on a "policy maker" mindset and provide a solution to a flaw in a current environmental regulation or explain how a certain scenario would be regulated based on the environmental regulations we learned. Fair enough, considering this is an environmental policy and regulation class after all. However, I felt like the free-response were actually easier than the MC's. I got an 84% on the midterm, which was exactly the average, and I think I got baited by a good amount of multiple choice questions that involved the LEVEL/EXTENT of regulation that certain statutes required, and time periods for revising regulations. I could've sworn a lot of the answers I got wrong had the correct key words, but I never bothered to ask why I got them wrong, but nevertheless, the wording of some questions/level of detail is something to consider. However, the vast majority of the questions were very straightforward and easy; reminded me of AOS 1 and 2 in terms of difficulty. Most people left early too. Oh, and there were 2 extra credit questions (MC).

The final was very similar in format (just longer), and for us, I think most, if not all, of the MC questions were only about the second half of the class. Most were gimme questions, but a good portion definitely involved very specific details. Since our class didn't finish the Clean Air Act before the midterm, a surprising amount of detail was tested on the second part of the Clean Air Act, which may have gotten a lot of people since that was old stuff, so if the same thing happens, I'd highly recommend spending a lot of time studying that latter part. The short answers were definitely a lot easier than the midterm, and only one was hypothetical/asked you to make a solution to a scenario. Again, most people left early. There was no extra credit on the final though. I happened to get a 70/77 on the final.

The class also has 2 books, while the rest of the readings are posted on CCLE. Honestly, the readings were actually really good; I just didn't prioritize them and eventually stopped reading altogether by week 4. So yea, you don't actually have to read the books because Professor Boyd only tests what he says IN LECTURE (unless it changes in the future). However, if you really want to get the most out of this class, I would absolutely recommend getting the readings and doing all the other readings. They really help you understand the applications of the statutes learned in class and also help clarify a lot of things that Professor Boyd doesn't have time to explain in lecture (but aren't tested). He'll occasionally ask questions to the class about the reading (he doesn't force anyone to participate or really expect THAT much participation), and you get clout if you can answer the questions, since I noticed a lot were quite easy if you did the reading. Also, from what I've seen, the PDFs of the books aren't on the internet.

The main difficulty with this class is that because it's so new, there isn't a lot of practice material out there. The exams, like I mentioned earlier, are pretty straightforward, but there's definitely a good amount of questions that have a unique style to Professor Boyd. My advice would to be study everything that's mentioned in class (and ideally memorize it all), star the points that Professor Boyd says are important, and have those points nailed down before exams. Also, GO TO THE TA REVIEW SESSIONS (if they still exist). We got 2 free midterm questions during the review session that showed up word-for-word on the midterm. Not quite lucky for the final review session, but we were still hinted at what to focus on/study.

Overall, I am extremely satisfied with this class, and although I fell asleep a couple of times, I absolutely loved it. It's definitely a "you get what you put out of it" type of class, and seeing that it's a requirement for the environmental science major, for those of you who are in fact ES majors, try to treat it as seriously as you can, because even though it's not particularly hard to do bad in this class, the material you learn in this class is the stuff you really have to know going into the workforce.

I loved this class. Professor Boyd is a fantastic teacher and I genuinely enjoyed attending his lectures. I never missed a class except when I was sick, even though lecture attendance is not mandatory. As a person though, I went to Office Hours a lot and I found that Professor Boyd could be a bit condescending at times. I still would recommend going to OH because he'd give tips for the tests sometimes but just be sure to be very professional and tbh ask him about his work haha then he'll like you. He would answer questions during lecture but again sometimes he'd give off a bit of a condescending vibe if you asked a question or made a comment to add something to the discussion so be careful with that too.
Class structure was just the lectures, two Problem Sets, a midterm and a final. The First Problem Set wasn't "hard" per se, they just graded it so anally for no reason. Just make sure you are VERY specific in your answers and DO NOT add more material other than just what the question was asking, and check your work with friends in the class. They graded the second one more easily. The Midterm was good if you study (study the PPTs and your class notes), the Final was harder.
There's no discussion but the two TAs each have their own weekly OH. Our TAs Lorena and Emma were not helpful. They did not know our class material. OH was nice for getting to know them but if you have questions about material go to Boyd's OH he knows everything.
I would recommend reading the textbook as it is helpful for understanding the concepts and truly being prepared for the tests but you don't have to. The other readings were good too. I'm actually finishing the two books we read excerpts of because they're so good and informational.
Overall, good class, I'd recommend, would take again, you'll love Boyd, read go to OH and study for the tests. Gonna sell the books when I'm done reading them so text me if you need them or have Qs abt the class **********

Helped me realize the importance of environmental law! Boyd is an amazing professor- highly recommend getting to know him

This is by far one of my favorite courses I’ve taken at UCLA so far! Very interesting material, and the Professor always keeps its lighthearted and engaging, plus he really stresses that he does not want anyone to fail/do bad in the course. While it is only broken up into a few assignments (the practice problems) he really helps you out by curving the class—I got a C- on the first PP which had me spooked but I ended up with an A- in the class because of the midterm and his curve. And he is overall a very kind and understanding man, due to the TA strike this quarter he mixed our 2nd practice problem and the final together, made it only on the material covered in the second half of the course, and put it online, which lifted a lot of stress in my opinion. You definitely still need to pay attention in the class, put effort into the practice problems and study for the midterm/finals, but if you do that you’ll for sure get a grade you’re happy with.