The arrangement worked well until this year, when the student lawyers agreed to represent environmentalists in a lawsuit against Perdue Farms, the Eastern Shore chicken company, as well as one of the company's contract farms.

Some lawmakers are upset that state tax dollars are being used to wage a legal battle against a major employer, and they're threatening to withhold funding.

The House of Delegates had considered withholding $500,000 from the law clinic until the university provides more information on the clinic's activities. But yesterday, delegates withdrew the funding threat, but kept active the request for information.

The state Senate, which last week threatened to cut $250,000 from the law clinic unless such a report is filed, will have to decide whether to agree to the House version when the budget differences are ironed out in the next week.

"It's a significant improvement," said Rena Steinzor, a university law professor who ran the environmental law clinic from 1994 until 2006. "It's very unfortunate that they've decided to interfere at all."

Steinzor said the university has no problem giving information on the law clinic's activities, after all, the clinic receives about 12 percent of its funding from tax dollars. But it's another thing to punish the law clinic for the cases it agrees to take on, she said.

Fred Kelly, Severn Riverkeeper and a University of Maryland Law School graduate, said environmental groups just don't have the cash to fight big companies and polluters in court on their own.

"It's very expensive to carry on these cases, because one of the major tactics of the corporations is to delay and file endless motions, which are expensive to respond to," he said. "So you have to have a pro bono group that's got the ability and the capacity to level the playing field. These law clinics at our law schools are an area where we're able to have those resources."

The law students have represented Kelly and other Anne Arundel Riverkeepers in a variety of legal matters:

In December, the state's Riverkeepers filed a petition asking the federal government to review how well the state is enforcing clean-water laws.

In 2009, the state agreed to toughen permit limits for construction sites that cause sediment pollution, following a legal challenge from the Riverkeepers.

In 2008, the Riverkeepers sued the Maryland Department of Agriculture, seeking access to farm pollution reports.

Chris Trumbauer, the West/Rhode Riverkeeper, said those cases would have been difficult without the help of the law students.

"We don't have any money," he said. "We couldn't do a lot of the legal enforcement that we are able to do in making sure that our clean water laws are enforced, if we didn't have pro bono support. We're not the ones with the million-dollar lawyers."

As well, the funding threats have a chilling effect on student lawyers and the activists, said Erik Michelsen of the South River Federation. He said the clear message being sent from Annapolis is "if you actually file suits that threaten the wrong people - or the right people, depending which angle you're coming from - we're going to make you pay for it," he said.

The lawsuit against Perdue and the contract farm is pending in federal court. Meanwhile, the state has fined the farm $4,000 for alleged water pollution violations.

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