Chhime Dorji Selected as 2026 Karuna Foundation International LLM Scholarship Recipient

Lewis & Clark Law School has named Chhime Dorji as the 2026 recipient of the Karuna Foundation International LLM Scholarship, a significant award that supports international Environmental LLM students from countries where the Karuna Foundation has active programming. The scholarship, established to advance climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts in the Himalayan region, provides meaningful financial support for lawyers committed to environmental law and climate justice.

Dorji plans to arrive in the United States in early January 2026 and to begin his LLM coursework. He will join Lewis & Clark’s renowned Environmental, Natural Resources, and Energy Law program, building on his impressive record of public service and environmental leadership in Bhutan.

Dorji completed his BA LLB in the first division at Osmania University in India in 2015 and earned his Post Graduate Diploma in National Law (PGDNL) in 2016. Shortly after, he began serving as Registrar of the Bar Council of Bhutan, where he helped lead the first-ever Bar Examination in Bhutan, a key milestone in the professionalization of the country’s legal community.

In his current leadership role, Dorji is working to activate Bhutan’s Green Bench, a special judicial body dedicated to environmental cases, and to establish an Environmental and Climate Change Committee under the Bar Council of Bhutan. The committee’s mission will be to build a stronger national legal narrative around the right to a clean and healthy environment.

Dorji plans to use his LLM degree to help shape the future of Bhutan’s legal community. He is contributing to the development of Bhutan’s first environmental law curriculum, ensuring that the next generation of lawyers is prepared not only in traditional legal practice but also in addressing the escalating challenges posed by climate change.

“It is a profound honor to be awarded the Karuna Foundation Scholarship,” Dorji states, expressing his gratitude to the Karuna Foundation. “This generous support does more than ease the financial burden of my legal education at Lewis & Clark Law School. It affirms my dedication to pursuing a career in environmental law and public service in Bhutan. With this opportunity, I will be equipped to develop the expertise required to advance sustainable development and strengthen the legal structures that will safeguard our nation’s environment for generations to come.”

“Chhime embodies the leadership and vision that the Karuna Foundation International LLM Scholarship is designed to support,” states Associate Dean and Environmental Law Program Director Janice Weis. “We are delighted to welcome him to Lewis & Clark and look forward to the impact he will have on environmental law and climate work in Bhutan.”

The Karuna Foundation was created to foster contributions to climate change mitigation and adaptation in the Himalayan region, with a particular focus on Bhutan. Its scholarship at Lewis & Clark Law School is open to students from countries where the foundation has an active grantmaking program who are admitted to the LLM in Environmental, Natural Resources, and Energy Law.

First awarded in 2024, the Karuna Foundation International LLM Scholarship began with the support of Bhutanese lawyer Thinley Choden, LLM ’26, who is using her LLM studies to further sustainable development and environmental governance in Bhutan. Dorji now becomes the scholarship’s second recipient, continuing the partnership between Lewis & Clark and the Karuna Foundation to prepare lawyers from climate-vulnerable regions to confront urgent environmental challenges at home.

With the skills and perspectives he will gain from his master’s program, Dorji intends to return to Bhutan to advance climate-conscious legal reform, strengthen institutional collaboration, and mentor young lawyers, helping ensure that environmental protection and climate resilience remain at the center of Bhutan’s legal development.