Alva Review-Courier -

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Tulane University says a $2 million gift is bringing a European energy law scholar to New Orleans, where he will become founding director of a new Tulane Center for Energy Law and be the first to hold the James McCulloch Chair in Energy Law.

Law school Dean David Meyer says in a statement that Kim Tallus and Sirja-Leena Penttinen will be coming in January, and Penttinen will be the new center's assistant director.

"Energy law and policy is inherently and increasingly international and has never been more important," Meyer said. "Tulane Law School is uniquely positioned to lead in this area, given its location in the heart of America's energy corridor and its long leadership in the closely allied fields of environmental, international, and maritime law."

Tallus is professor of energy law at both the University of Helsinki and the University of Eastern Finland. He is a founding co-director of the University of Eastern Finland's Center for Climate Change, Energy and Environmental Law, where Penttinen also has played an important role, Tulane's news release said.

Tallus also has taught at University College London and the Universities of Bonn, Houston, Malta and Sydney.

Officials say Tulane Law School aims to use its strengths in the related fields of maritime, environmental and international law to build a top energy law program.

Talus has published seven books and more than 100 articles and chapters dealing with every sector of the energy field and has lectured across the globe. He also is editor in chief of the Oil, Gas and Energy Law journal.

Penttinen, a lecturer at the University of Eastern Finland and frequent Talus collaborator, has written or co-authored four books and more than a dozen articles on energy and competition law in Europe and elsewhere.