Margaret Von Rotz

Margaret Von Rotz is a 2024-2026 Public Interest Environmental Law Fellow. She is an Indigenous scholar from Kiangan, Ifugao (Philippines) and Modesto, California (USA). Margaret holds a J.D. from UC Law San Francisco and an LL.M in Environmental Law and Sustainable Development from SOAS University of London. Her published note was on the unique challenges of climate change-induced displacement of Indigenous Peoples, and her dissertation similarly discussed the need for Fourth World Approaches to International Law when addressing biodiversity-related displacement of Indigenous Peoples.

While in law school, Margaret clerked at Earthjustice in their DC office, remotely externed at The Pacific Community in New Caledonia and at the Climate Litigation Network in the Netherlands and was a research assistant for Professor Dave Owen. She also served as Treasurer for the Indigenous & Native American Law Students Association, Environmental Justice Co-Chair for the Environmental Law Association at UCLSF, and a Student Lead for the UCLSF California Public Records Request Clinic. Prior to law school, Margaret was a special education teacher in Wahiawa, Hawai’i, and a co-founder of Indigenous Knowledge, Art & Truth (IKAT Voices), a political education organization focused on the marginalization of Indigenous Peoples in the Philippines. She graduated from UCLA in 2018 with a B.A. in Political Science and minor in Global Studies.