Biography

Maxine Burkett is a Professor of Law at the William S. Richardson School of Law and a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. At Richardson, she teaches Climate Change Law and Policy, Torts, Ocean and Coastal Law, and International Law.  An expert in the law and policy of climate change, she has written extensively in diverse areas of climate change law with a particular focus on climate justice—exploring policy responses to climate change’s impacts on vulnerable communities in the United States and globally.

Professor Burkett returns to the Richardson faculty after serving in senior roles in at the State Department and the White House.  Most recently, Burkett served as the Assistant Director for Climate, Oceans, and Equity at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.  From January 2022 through July 2023, Burkett served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oceans, Fisheries, and Polar Affairs in the Department of State’s Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES).  At OES, Burkett oversaw the formulation and implementation of U.S. policy on a broad range of international issues concerning the oceans, the Arctic, the Antarctic, and marine conservation.  Prior to that appointment, Burkett served as a Senior Advisor to Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, where her portfolio included climate-related migration, climate security, bilateral relationships with island nations, and Indigenous Peoples’ engagement.  While at the State Department, Burkett served concurrently as a Visiting Professor at Harvard Medical School’s Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, where she advanced research on climate justice and public health.

Before joining the Biden Administration, Maxine served on numerous commissions, state and federal committees, and the boards of several organizations dedicated to climate mitigation and adaptation, environmental and climate justice, and just transitions.  Among other affiliations, Maxine is a member scholar of the International Law Association’s Committee on International Law and Sea Level Rise, for which she served as a Co-Rapporteur from 2019 to 2021, and the American Law Institute. 

Prof. Burkett received her B.A. from Williams College, which awarded her the Bicentennial Medal for Distinguished Achievement in 2016, and Exeter College, Oxford University.  She received her J.D. from Berkeley Law, University of California, and served as a law clerk for The Honorable Susan Illston of the United States District Court, Northern District of California. 

Academic Journals

• Maxine Burkett, Behind the Veil: Climate Migration, Regime Shift, and a New Theory of Justice, 53 Harv. C.R.-C.L. Rev. 445 (2018). HeinOnline | ScholarSpace
• Maxine Burkett, Jainey Bavishi, and Erin Shew, Climate Displacement, Migration, and Relocation-And the United States, 7 Climate Law 227 (2017). HeinOnline | SSRN | Brill
• Maxine Burkett, Climate Disobedience, 27 Duke Envtl. L. & Pol’y F. 1 (2016). HeinOnline | SSRN | ScholarSpace
• Maxine Burkett, Reading Between Two Red Lines: Loss and Damage and the Paris Outcome, 6 Climate Law 118 (2016). HeinOnline | SSRN | ScholarSpace | ScholarSpace
• Yamada Seiji, Burkett Maxine, and Maskarinec Gregory G., Sea-Level Rise and the Marshallese Diaspora, Environmental Justice. March 2017. doi:10.1089/env.2016.0038. Mary Ann Liebert | SSRN
• Maxine Burkett, Justice and Contemporary Climate Relocation: An Addendum to Words of Caution on ‘Climate Refugees’, NEW SECURITY BEAT, August 2016. https://www.newsecuritybeat.org/2016/08/justice-contemporary-climate-rel… | ScholarSpace
• A. Magnan, E.L.F. Schipper, M. Burkett, S. Bharwani, I. Burton, S. Eriksen, F. Gemenne, J. Schaar, and G. Ziervogel, Addressing the Risk of Maladaptation to Climate Change, WIREs Clim. Change 2016. doi: 10.1002/wcc.409. WIREs | ScholarSpace
• Maxine Burkett, Lessons from Contemporary Resettlement in the South Pacific, Columbia J. Int’l Affairs (Spring 2015). SSRN | ScholarSpace
• Maxine Burkett, Rehabilitation: A Proposal for a Climate Compensation Mechanism for Small Island States, 13 Santa Clara J. of Int’l Law 81 (2015). HeinOnline | SSRN | ScholarSpace
• Maxine Burkett, Loss and Damage, 4 Climate Law 119 (2014). HeinOnline | SSRN | ScholarSpace
• Maxine Burkett, A Justice Paradox: On Climate Change, Small Island Developing States, and the Quest for Effective Legal Remedy, 35 U. Haw. L. Rev. 633 (2013). HeinOnline | SSRN | ScholarSpace
• Maxine Burkett, Duty and Breach in an Era of Uncertainty: Local Government Liability for Failure to Adapt to Climate Change, 20 George Mason L. Rev. 775 (Spring 2013). HeinOnline | SSRN | ScholarSpace
• Maxine Burkett, Litigating Climate Change Adaptation: Theory, Practice, and Corrective (Climate) Justice, 42 Env. L. Rptr. 11144 (2012). HeinOnline | SSRN | ScholarSpace
• Maxine Burkett, Climate-Induced Migration: Is there a there there?, 3 Climate Law 314 (2012). ScholarSpace | ResearchGate
• Maxine Burkett, ‘Drowning Nations’ Threaten New 21st Century Statelessness, ALERTNET, August 23, 2011. ScholarSpace | ResearchGate
• Maxine Burkett, Climate Justice and the Elusive Climate Tort, 121 Yale L. J. Online 115 (2011) HeinOnline | SSRN | ScholarSpace
• Maxine Burkett, The Nation Ex-Situ: On Climate Change, Deterritorialized Nationhood, and the Post-Climate Era, 2 Climate Law 1 (Fall 2011). HeinOnline | SSRN | ScholarSpace
• Maxine Burkett, Climate Justice, Climate Change Discourse, and the Failure of the Elite-Driven Democracy: A Think Piece, Am. Studies Inst. (Seoul National University Winter 2010). SSRN | ScholarSpace
• Maxine Burkett, The Debate Over African-American Reparations, 6 Ann. Rev. of L. & Social Sci. 449 (Winter 2010) (with John Torpey). academia.edu | SSRN
• Maxine Burkett, Climate Reparations, 10 Melbourne J. Int’l L. 509 (Fall 2009). HeinOnline | SSRN | ScholarSpace
• Maxine Burkett, Much Ado About . . . Something Else: D.C. v. Heller, The Racialized Mythology of the Second Amendment, and Gun Policy Reform, 12 J. Gender Race & Just. 57 (2008). HeinOnline | SSRN | ScholarSpace
• Maxine Burkett, Just Solutions to Climate Change: A Climate Justice Proposal for a Domestic Clean Development Mechanism, 56 Buffalo L. Rev. 169 (2008). HeinOnline | SSRN | ScholarSpace
• Maxine Burkett, Reconciliation and Non-Repetition: A New Paradigm for African-American Reparations, 86 Or. L. Rev. 99 (2007). HeinOnline | SSRN | ScholarSpace
• Maxine Burkett, The Climate of Environmental Justice: Taking Stock – Foreword, 78 U. Colo. L. Rev. 1551 (2007). HeinOnline | ScholarSpace
• Maxine Burkett, Strategic Voting and African Americans: True Vote, True Representation, True Power for the Black Community, 8 Mich. J. Race & L. 425 (2003). HeinOnline | SSRN | ScholarSpace
• Maxine Burkett, Current Issues Involving Rule 12(b)(6) and Rule 9(b), A.L.I., SH009 ALI-ABA 721 (2002) (with Elizabeth J. Cabraser and Joshua P. Davis). 

Book Chapters

• Maxine Burkett, Migration in Michael Burger & Justin Gundlach, eds., Climate Change, Public Health, and the Law (Cambridge U. Press 2018)
• Rosemary Lyster and Maxine Burkett, Climate-Induced Displacement and Climate Disaster Law: Barriers and Opportunities in Rosemary Lyster & Robert R.M. Verchick, eds., Climate Disaster Law: Barriers and Opportunities (Edward Elgar 2018).
• Maxine Burkett, Justice and Climate Migration, in Simon Behrman & Avidan Kent, eds., Climate Refugees: Beyond the Legal Impasse? (Routledge, 2018). SSRN
• Maxine Burkett, International Climate Change Law Perspectives, in Benoît Mayer and François Crépeau, eds., Research Handbook on Climate Change, Migration and the Law (Edward Elgar, 2017).
• Maxine Burkett, A Justice Paradox: Climate Change, Small Island Developing States, and the Absence of International Legal Remedy, in SUMUDU ATAPATTU AND CARMEN G. GONZALEZ, INTERNATIONAL ENVIROMENTAL LAW AND THE GLOBAL SOUTH (Cambridge U. Press, 2015).
• Maxine Burkett, Indigenous Environmental Knowledge and Climate Change Adaptation, in RANDALL S. ABATE AND ELIZABETH ANN KRONK, EDS., CLIMATE CHANGE, INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND THE SEARCH FOR LEGAL REMEDIES: BALANCING ON THE TIP OF THE SPEAR, (Edward Elgar 2013). SSRN
• Maxine Burkett, The Nation Ex-Situ, in MICHAEL GERRARD AND GREGORY WANNIER, EDS., THREATENED ISLAND NATIONS (Cambridge U. Press 2013).
• Maxine Burkett, Climate Refugees, in SHAWKAT ALAM, JAHID HOSSAIN BHUIYAN, TAREQ M.R. CHOWDHURY AND ERIKA J TECHERA, EDS., ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW (Routledge, Oxford, 2012).
• Maxine Burkett, Legal Rights and Remedies, in MICHAEL GERRARD AND KATRINA KUH, EDS., THE LAW OF ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE (ABA 2012).

Other Publications

• Flatt, Victor Byers and Flournoy, Alyson and Sokol, Karen C. and Verchick, Robert R. M. and Bratspies, Rebecca M. and Burkett, Maxine and Echeverria, John D. and Farber, Daniel A. and Flores, David and Isaacson, Evan and Kaswan, Alice and Klein, Christine A. and Lamdan, Sarah and Mintz, Joel A. and Shapiro, Sidney A. and Tomain, Joseph P. and Tracy, Katie, From Surviving to Thriving: Equity in Disaster Planning and Recovery (with others), 2019, Center for Progressive Reform, SSRN
• Maxine Burkett, Robert R.M. Verchick, and David Flores, Reaching Higher Ground: Avenues to Secure and Manage New Land for Communities Displaced by Climate Change, Center for Progressive Reform, May 2017. SSRN
• Maxine Burkett, Climate-induced migration and the role of philanthropy, 2016, Alliance Magazine. ScholarSpace
• Maxine Burkett, Small Island States and the Paris Agreement, 2015, Wilson Center. ScholarSpace
• Leong, J.-A., J. J. Marra, M. L. Finucane, T. Giambelluca, M. Merrifield, S. E. Miller, J. Polovina, E. Shea, M. Burkett, J. Campbell, P. Lefale, F. Lipschultz, L. Loope, D. Spooner, and B. Wang, 2014: Ch. 23: Hawaii and U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands. Climate Change Impacts in the United States: The Third National Climate Assessment, J. M. Melillo, Terese (T.C.) Richmond, and G. W. Yohe, Eds., U.S. Global Change Research Program, 537-556. doi:10.7930/J0W66HPM. SSRN | ScholarSpace
• Finucane, Melissa L., Rachel Miller, L. Kati Corlew, Victoria W. Keener, Maxine Burkett, Zena Grecni, 2013: Understanding the Climate-Sensitive Decisions and Information Needs of Freshwater Resource Managers in Hawaii.Wea. Climate Soc., 5, 293308. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-12-00039.1. ScholarSpace
• Burkett, M. (2011). In Search of Refuge: Pacific Islands, Climate-Induced Migration, and the Legal Frontier. AsiaPacific Issues, 98, 1-8. East-West Center | SSRN | ScholarSpace
• Burkett, M. (2009). Shoreline Impacts, Setback Policy and Sea Level Rise, Project 41.A/AS-1, Center for Island Climate Adaptation and Policy, University of Hawai’i Sea Grant College Program (with Hwang, D.). ResearchGate | SSRN | ScholarSpace