Lee Miller is a lecturing fellow teaching Food, Agriculture and the Environment: Law and Policy and a fellow in environmental law in the Environmental Law and Policy Clinic. Prior to joining Duke Law in the spring of 2019, Miller developed expertise in environmental advocacy, clinical teaching, food and agriculture law and policy, research, regulated industries, policy innovation, and coalition-building across food and farm movements in the U.S. His work has primarily focused on subnational climate change mitigation and resilience; adoption of regenerative agriculture systems; concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), environmental justice and animal welfare; the federal farm bill; development of local and regional food systems; as well as food justice, food sovereignty and the right to food; open markets and fair competition; and economic justice for restaurant workers.
Most recently, at the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic he developed and coordinated a farm bill research project to advance agricultural sustainability, racial and economic justice, and rural resilience. The project spanned eight environmental, food, and public health clinics across the law schools at Harvard, Yale, Duke, UCLA, Pace and Vermont. Previously, at Yale Law School’s Environmental Law Clinic, Miller spearheaded a nationwide CAFO survey for the Natural Resources Defense Council that exposed information asymmetries between regulatory authorities and industry.
Miller also serves as policy director for Acre Policy, a nonprofit and “community toolshed” filled with implements for direct action and policy entrepreneurship. Miller works with Acre Policy’s grassroots stakeholders to design model state and local policy that advances a future where farmers reflect the diversity of America, where farmers can make a viable livelihood producing food for their communities, and where our working lands grow more resilient each year.
Miller has published pieces in the Yale Law Journal Forum, the American Journal of Public Health, the Journal of Food Law and Policy, and the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law, among others. He has co-authored numerous reports on the farm bill, CAFOs, and regenerative agriculture. Miller serves as faculty advisor for the Duke Food Law Society and on the Board of Advisors for the national Food Law Student Network.
Miller received his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he co-founded the Yale Food Law Society. He was awarded the post-graduate Jane Matilda Bolin Yale Law Journal Public Interest Fellowship and was an inaugural Exchange Fellow at the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Pocantico Hills, NY. He received his B.S. summa cum laude from Duke, where he also received his MEM. He and his spouse raise sheep, bees, and vegetables on their small farm outside of Hillsborough.
