Stephanie Safdi ’13 to Join Law School Faculty
Dean Heather K. Gerken has announced that Stephanie Safdi ’13 will join the Yale Law School faculty as a clinical associate professor of law on July 1.
Safdi’s research and practice areas include environmental law and justice, water law, land use, and Indigenous rights. From 2021 to 2024, she was Clinical Supervising Attorney and Lecturer in Law at Stanford Law School’s Environmental Law Clinic, where she supervised students in environmental and civil rights litigation and administrative advocacy on behalf of Native American tribes and nonprofit organizations.
“Stephanie’s passion for public service and devotion to students shine through her work and teaching,” Gerken said. “She embodies all the finest qualities of a clinician and will be a wonderful addition to our faculty."
In the 2024–25 academic year, Safdi was a Visiting Clinical Associate Professor of Law and taught the Veterans Legal Services Clinic and the Environmental Justice Law and Advocacy Clinic.
In March, the Environmental Justice Law and Advocacy Clinic secured a rare victory on a petition for a writ of mandate to the California Court of Appeal on a legal challenge to a highway expansion project and is leading legal efforts to restore instream flows in an embattled Northern California watershed. The clinic is also working with local partners to remediate a legacy industrial site for community-serving uses.
Safdi previously served as Deputy County Counsel for the County of Santa Clara, California, where she advised the County Consumer and Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Environmental Health, and Planning and Development Department. Safdi litigated public nuisance actions and worked on lead hazard abatement as a member of the Office of the County Counsel’s Social Justice and Impact Litigation team and served as General Counsel for the County Emergency Operations Center on COVID-19 response and as legal advisor for wildfire recovery.
Safdi began her legal practice as an environmental law fellow at the public interest environmental law firm Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger LLP, where she represented public agencies, community groups, and Native American tribes in state and federal court and in regulatory proceedings before state public utilities commissions and other agencies. Safdi clerked for Judge Michelle T. Friedland on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and for Judge Ricardo S. Martinez on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. Prior to law school, Safdi was a Fulbright Fellow in Israel.
As a student at the Law School, she discovered her interest in environmental law and became involved in the Yale Environmental Law Association and completed the joint J.D./M.E.M degree program offered by the Law School and the Yale School of the Environment in 2013. She co-founded and chaired the first New Directions in Environmental Law Conference, now in its 15th year. She received her A.B. from Harvard College in 2005 and an M.Phil. from the University of Cambridge in 2006.
