Marine Affairs Institute

Our Mission: Training the next generation of marine law professionals.

The Marine Affairs Institute at Roger Williams University School of Law is a partnership of the law school, the University of Rhode Island, and Rhode Island Sea Grant.  The Marine Affairs Institute is also home to the Rhode Island Sea Grant Legal Program.  The Marine Affairs Institute/Rhode Island Sea Grant Legal Program prepares law students to enter the exciting field of ocean and coastal law and policy by providing them with strong academic credentials and practical experiences that help them be practice-ready upon graduation. The Marine Affairs Institute offers a wide variety of opportunities for students, including:

• Rigorous and diverse maritime and natural resources law courses.
• Experiential learning and externships.
• Extracurricular opportunities to develop excellent research, writing, and advocacy skills.
• Opportunities for professional engagement through workshops and symposia that convene local, regional, national and international experts in a neutral forum to address relevant maritime and marine law issues.
• Leveraging unique institutional strengths and interdisciplinary approaches of our partners, Rhode Island Sea Grant and the University of Rhode Island.

Through the partnership with the University of Rhode Island, students can obtain their J.D. at the law school and their Master of Marine Affairs at the University of Rhode Island in just three and a half years. Through the partnership with Rhode Island Sea Grant, law students can participate in the Rhode Island Sea Grant Law Fellow Program, an experiential education program that matches second and third-year law students with outside organizations seeking assistance with marine law or policy questions.