OSU Extension’s Agricultural & Resource Law Program welcomes Ellen Essman and Chris Hogan as the program’s first Law Fellows. The new positions are the result of OSU’s partnership in the Agricultural & Food Law Consortium, a multi-institutional collaboration designed to expand the delivery of timely and objective agricultural and food law research and information to the nation’s agricultural community at local, state, regional, and national levels.
Law Fellow Ellen Essman is a 2014 graduate of Drake University Law School, where she received a Juris Doctor with a certificate in Food and Agricultural Law. She is also a 2011 graduate of The Ohio State University, having earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science with a minor in Natural Resources Management. Ellen grew up on a farm in Pickaway County, Ohio and was very involved in 4-H and FFA as a student at Westfall Local Schools.
Ellen’s legal research projects will include a comparative analysis of state approaches to nutrient management regulation and legal barriers to entry in direct marketing of foods. Ellen will also be responsible for general research and outreach on food law, environmental law and policy and transportation laws for agriculture.
Law Fellow Chris Hogan is a recent graduate of West Virginia University College of Law, where he received his Juris Doctor in 2016. An Ohio native, Chris earned his B.A.in History with a minor in Agribusiness from The Ohio State University in 2012. While an undergraduate student, Chris coordinated a shale gas landowner education grant for the Agricultural & Resource Law Program. The son of OSU Extension Educators, Chris graduated from Carrollton High School and gained a strong interest in agriculture through 4-H and time working on Christmas tree farms in eastern Ohio.
Chris will be responsible for several legal research projects, including an examination of Limited Liability Company (LLC) statutes across the nation, the use of LLCs for agriculture and a comparative analysis of property tax assessment laws for agricultural land in the Midwestern farm states. Chris will also work on outreach projects in landowner liability, property law, business organizations, taxation, and estate planning.
For more information about the Agricultural & Food Law Consortium, visit http://nationalaglawcenter.org/consortium/. Information from OSU’s Agricultural & Resource Law Program is available at http://aglaw.osu.edu.