Annie Brett

Professor Annie Brett teaches and writes in the areas of environmental law, ocean and coastal law, and the intersection of law, science, and technology. Her scholarship focuses on how emerging technologies and information sources can be used to improve environmental management, as well as how novel environmental technologies should be regulated, specifically in the oceans. In addition to legal venues such as the California Law Review and Harvard Environmental Law Review, Professor Brett has also published in leading scientific outlets, including Nature. She works on international policy issues and has served on several committees for the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, including as part of the U.S. National Committee to the U.N. Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. She is a co-author of Oceans and Coastal Law, the leading casebook in the field.

Prior to joining the University of Florida Levin College of Law, Professor Brett worked on international ocean policy for Stanford University and the World Economic Forum’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. She is an accomplished mariner, having sailed extensively as a vessel captain around the world and she continues to participate in scientific and legal expeditions. Professor Brett received her AB from Harvard University, and JD and PhD from the University of Miami.

Education

J.D., University of Miami
Ph.D., University of Miami
A.B., Harvard University

Expertise

Administrative Law, Artificial Intelligence, Environmental Law, International Environmental Law, Ocean and Coastal Law & Policy, Sustainability, Technology, Water Law

Courses

• Big Data and the Law
• Oceans and Coastal Law
• Property

Teaching & Scholarship

Environmental Law, International Environmental Law, Ocean and Coastal Law, Property, Sustainability, Technology & Artificial Intelligence, Water Law

Publications

Selected Publications

• Information as Power: Democratizing Environmental Data, 2021 Utah L. Rev. (forthcoming).
• How Performance Standards Could Support Innovation and Technology Compatible Fisheries Management Frameworks in the U.S., 131 Marine Policy 104631 (2021) (with M. Garren, F. Lewis, L. Sanchez & D. Spina).
• Transboundary Waters, 44 Harvard Envtl. L. Rev. 473 (2020).
• Ocean Data Need a Sea Change, 582 Nature 181 (8 June, 2020) (with Jim Leape and Mark Abbott). [Link]
• Technology, Data and New Methods for Sustainably Managing Ocean Resources, World Resources Inst. (2020) (with Jim Leape, Mark Abbott, Hide Sakaguchi, Ling Cao, Kevin Chand, Yimnang Golbuu, Tara Martin, Juan Mayorga, and Mari S. Myksvoll). [Link]
• Secrets of the Deep: Defining Privacy Underwater, 84 Mo. L. Rev. 47 (2019). [Link]
• Ending Illegal Fishing: Data Policy and the Port State Measures Agreement, World Econ. For. (2019). [Link]
• The Litigation of Exploration, 63 Villanova L. Rev. 241 (2018). [Link]