ELI Skills Workshop in Public Interest Environmental Law

The ELI Skills Workshop in Public Interest Environmental Law is ELI's first training program that is specifically dedicated to skills training for junior attorneys and policy professionals who work for public interest organizations. ELI is drawing from nearly 20 years of experience working with senior practitioners to distill the substance and practice of environmental law into training programs for new environmental attorneys.

The workshop is open to members of public interest organizations with a local, regional, national, and international focus and that address environmental protection, conservation of natural resources, and environmental justice. This workshop is expected to be a central mechanism for promoting dialogue among participants, and significant time will be devoted on both days to networking and relationship building. After the workshop, ELI will create and maintain a listserv for attendees so they can stay in touch after the course, share experiences, and seek advice about practice issues.

This is a dynamic workshop with a
significant amount of peer-to-peer interaction. Participants learn to:

• practice skills necessary to use natural resource and environmental protection law and policy to advance conservation goals,
• improve understanding of key legal issues within the environmental community, and
• foster cooperation among environmental groups and professionals working in diverse geographical regions and substantive focuses, including environmental justice.

The faculty is drawn from those in public interest groups who practice law and policy every day, professors from prominent law schools across the country, and experts from government agencies such as EPA, so that participants are exposed to a variety of perspectives.

Attendees in included staff from: Ashoka, Earthjustice, Environmental Integrity Project, National Parks Conservation Association, National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council, Oceana, Southern Environmental Law Center, The Wilderness Society, US Climate Action Network, and the World Resources Institute.

Here is what people said about our first workshop, in March, 2010:

“Excellent, valuable workshop – it helped create a big picture view of how the objectives of the organization may be accomplished, and particular strategies for going about accomplishing them.”

“Thank you! I was really impressed at how this conference applied to lawyers and non-lawyers.”

“As someone who works in the public interest/public policy realm but does not have legal background, I feel like this skills workshop was incredibly useful and educational. I feel like I understand how we can use the law more effectively.”

“The faculty was truly outstanding – a breadth of experience with nearly everyone at the top of their game. Despite how busy I’m sure each and every one of them is, they all seemed excited to be presenting at this workshop. No one was boring!”

“The course was outstanding: I feel fortunate to have been part of this pilot project. The subject material was very rich and relevant. The course materials were excellent because – I believe – they were prepared by the presenters themselves. As a non-lawyer (but someone who is a legislative representative), I found the level of difficulty to be very good – challenging at times, but able to keep up.”

Full Agenda and Faculty

AGENDA:

Friday, March 26, 2010 (8:30 AM to 6:00 PM)

• Registration
• Welcome and Introduction
• “The Role of Law and the Public Interest Organization” (Peter Lehner, NRDC)
• “Rulemaking, Public Commenting & Working with Agencies” (Hope Babcock, Georgetown University Law Center; Grant MacIntyre, US EPA)
• “Coalition Building and Working with Networks” (Dianne Russell, Institute for Conservation Leadership; Stephanie Young, Save Our Environment)
• Keynote Address: “US Supreme Court and Public Interest Organizations” (Richard Lazarus, Georgetown University Law Center)
• “Environmental Justice and Working with Communities” (Leslie Fields, Sierra Club; Suzi Ruhl, US EPA)
• “Getting the Word Out and Working with the Media” (Doug Kendall, Constitutional Accountability Center; Kim Connolly, University of South Carolina School of Law)
• “Negotiating and Working with Opposing Parties” (David Batson, US EPA; Howard Learner, Environmental Law and Policy Center)
• Welcome and Reception (Leslie Carothers, Environmental Law Institute; Granta Nakayama, Kirkland & Ellis LLP)

Saturday, March 27, 2010 (8:30 AM to 3:00 PM)

• “Building a Case” (Adam Babich, Tulane Environmental Law Clinic; Jamie Pleune, Georgetown Law Clinic Fellow; Mitch Bernard, NRDC)
• Breakout Sessions

STEERING COMMITTEE

Adrienne Bloch, Staff Attorney, Communities for a Better Environment

J. Peter Byrne, Professor of Law and Faculty Director, Georgetown Environmental Law and Policy Institute

Kristen Genovese, Staff Attorney, Center for International Environmental Law

Doug Honnold, Managing Attorney, Earthjustice

Brad Klein, Staff Attorney, Environmental Law and Policy Center

John Suttles, Senior Attorney, Southern Environmental Law Center

Ray Vaughan, Executive Director, WildLaw

This workshop was made possible by a grant from Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, which was awarded to ELI in partnership with the Natural Resources Council of America.