U of I Law alumnus put all his energy into creating a new path

It makes sense that Cody Harrison ’26 would build a career related to nuclear energy. Growing up in Pocatello – about an hour from Idaho National Laboratory, where several of his family members worked as engineers – he understood the industry.

Although he also earned a degree in nuclear engineering, Harrison’s career interests lie on the legal side of nuclear energy, a field that is still emerging.

Harrison graduated from University of Idaho College of Law (Idaho Law) in Spring 2026 and began work in September as a general civil litigation associate with the law firm Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani (Gordon Rees). His long-term ambition is to specialize in nuclear regulatory and safety law.

With a background in science, 10 years of service in the U.S. Navy — including four years aboard a nuclear aircraft carrier and three years on a nuclear submarine — and a Juris Doctor with emphases in business law as well as natural resources and environmental law, Harrison feels prepared to pursue this developing field.

“Cody has put in a tremendous amount of work to combine all of his different skills and interests together to create a really unique idea,” said Marie Callaway Kellner, assistant clinical professor at Idaho Law. “He followed a very specialized path to be able to have this opportunity and that path was created here at Idaho Law.”

Uncharted waters

Harrison’s path to becoming a nuclear lawyer was a gradual process. He joined the Navy three years after graduating from Century High School in Pocatello, intending to become a chaplain while enlisted. The Navy had other ideas about his true calling.

“I took an aptitude test and scored highly on nuclear and engineering metrics,” he said. “I was encouraged to join the nuclear program, fell in love with that work and eventually earned an engineering degree while still serving in the Navy.”

He began contemplating a career in law after noticing that many decisions affecting engineering and technology were being made by people without technical training.

“I saw an opportunity to bridge engineering and law, which led me to seek a law school with faculty having scientific backgrounds,” Harrison said.

Harrison enrolled at Idaho Law and met Assistant Professor Tim Murphy. They quickly bonded over their shared engineering training and Navy service. Regular conversations during Murphy’s office hours eventually led to discussions about Harrison’s long-term plans.

“Having that shared background in the Navy was pretty helpful,” Murphy said. “I think it allowed him to feel comfortable asking me questions about his interest in power systems and maybe someday specializing in nuclear law."

According to Murphy, few, if any, U.S. law schools offer a dedicated nuclear law track. To prepare for a career in the field, Harrison worked with his advisors to pursue dual emphasis in areas that address many of the issues he will face in the nuclear energy field.

Power and possibility

Nuclear law may not be widely practiced in the U.S. yet, but Harrison is confident demand for attorneys with that expertise will continue to grow. His outlook is based in part on what he learned while attending the invite-only 2026 Nuclear Energy Summit in Paris in March.

As one of only 83 attendees — and the conference’s only college student — Harrison learned about the growing interest in small modular reactors (SMRs), deepening his expertise in the field.

SMRs are nuclear fission reactors that are up to one-tenth the size of traditional nuclear power plants. Their simplified designs incorporate advanced safety features, and some models can be cooled with air instead of water or use nuclear waste as fuel. SMRs are attracting growing interest worldwide and are under development in the United States.

Harrison sees strong potential for SMRs to power facilities with relatively small footprints but high energy demands, such as data centers. He believes their safety features and clean-energy potential will drive growth, even if broader public acceptance takes time.

“I think people in the U.S. might still be wary about nuclear power because of Three Mile Island,” Harrison said, referring to the 1979 partial meltdown at a Pennsylvania nuclear reactor that led to stricter nuclear regulations in the U.S. “But that was more than 40 years ago. SMR technology is inherently better than older technology, and results so far have been promising.”

Harrison notes that while SMRs are gaining traction worldwide, many existing international treaties do not specifically address the technology. He believes that gap will raise new legal questions involving patents, copyrights and other regulatory matters.

Those evolving legal questions are the type of work he hopes to tackle at Gordon Rees as the firm opens its Boise office, giving it a presence in all 50 states.

Harrison is grateful to Idaho Law for allowing him to pursue a dual emphasis that blended his interests and expertise. The determination he brought to that path was evident to Kellner throughout Harrison’s time at Idaho Law.

“Having a dual emphasis is not something we see a lot of here,” Kellner said. “But he was able to do it because of his drive and the desire to learn more. You’re not going to find anyone who works harder than Cody.”