Events
Free Webinar: Fahrenheit 101: California Air Quality and Greenhouse Gas Law
August 21 @ 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Free event! Self-study credit available
Participants will receive a “101” level introduction to California’s complex set of laws that regulate air quality and climate change-inducing greenhouse gasses. This is a great opportunity to brush up on the basics prior to attending the annual Environmental Law Conference at Yosemite.
Moderators:
- Darcy Brown
- Samir J. Abdelnour
Speakers:
- Jessi Fierro
- Suma Peesapati
Jessi Fierro is a Senior Attorney at the California Air Resources Board (CARB). Prior to joining CARB in January 2023, she worked at the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District from 2005-2022, serving as Assistant Counsel for eight years, and serving in a variety of roles in plan and rule development for ten years. Ms. Fierro is an adjunct professor for Monterey and Kern County Colleges of Law. She is an advisor and Immediate Past Chair of the California Lawyers Association Environmental Law Section. Ms. Fierro is also a member of the California Lawyer’s Association committees for Governance, Civics Engagement, Member Engagement, and Tribal and Indian Law. Ms. Fierro holds a BA in geology and physics from Lawrence University (Appleton, WI); an MA in journalism and mass communication from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; and a JD from San Joaquin College of Law (Clovis, CA). Ms. Fierro lives in Fresno, California.
Professor Peesapati is the inaugural Environmental Justice and Community Engagement Officer at the Bay Area Quality Management Air District. Before joining the Air District, she was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2019 to serve as Assistant General Counsel for Enforcement at CalEPA. She has more than two decades of experience practicing law in the private, nonprofit, and public sectors, specializing in environmental law.
Prior to her appointment, Professor Peesapati was a Deputy Attorney General with the California Attorney General’s Bureau of Environmental Justice where she focused on environmental enforcement in low-income communities and communities of color. In 2017, she founded Peesapati Law, a plaintiff’s environmental law firm in San Diego. She has served as a visiting assistant professor at UC Irvine’s Environmental Law Clinic and as adjunct faculty at UC Davis and UC Berkeley Law Schools. Earlier in her career, she practiced law in the Bay Area as a staff attorney with Earthjustice, as an associate attorney with small plaintiffs’ side law firm, and as a staff attorney and an Equal Justice Works Fellow with Communities for a Better Environment.
Professor Peesapati is also an advisor to the Executive Committee of the California Lawyers Association’s Environmental Law Section.
We are committed to accessibility! Virtual events are equipped with closed captioning. To request an in-person accommodation, send us a note at accessibility@calawyers.org or contact us at 916-516-1760 for assistance.