Interested in the practice of environmental law? This Environmental Law Careers webinar is part of a free series covering key practice areas within the environmental legal field. This series is geared toward law students, new lawyers, and even experienced attorneys interested in learning more about environmental law.

Participants will receive a “101” level introduction to the practice area from private, government, and non-profit lawyers. Each panel will include a high-level overview of the basic legal framework, real-life project examples, and a question-and-answer session for attendees to meet members practicing in the field.

Speakers: Jennifer Ganata, Paige E. Samblanet, and Tina Cannon Leahy

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Jennifer Ganata | Senior Staff Attorney, Communities for a Better Environment

Jennifer Ganata joined Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) in September 2018 as senior staff attorney. Previously she worked at Communities for a Better Environment from 2007 to 2012 as a youth organizer and a legal fellow. She transitioned from doing environmental justice work to housing by working as a tenants rights attorney in Los Angeles. Before returning to CBE, Jennifer was a senior staff attorney at Inner City Law Center where she did eviction defense and land use.

Today’s housing crisis is the result of historic and present-day discrimination in land use and housing policies. The same forces that drive present day housing instability also expose frontline communities to higher concentrations of toxic and polluting land uses, which result in health impacts and perpetuate socioeconomic inequities. To combat these issues, Jennifer knows community organizing led campaigns can reverse these impacts and lead to community self-determination.

Jennifer has a BA in Ethnic Studies and a minor in Urban Studies and Planning from University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Jennifer received a JD from City University of New York (CUNY), where she was trained through the Adult Defender Clinical program and an LL.M from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Paige E. Samblanet | Associate, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP

Paige Samblanet uses her technical background to add depth to her natural resources practice and provide strategic legal advice to clients. A passionate environmental justice advocate, she has particular experience in clean energy, water law and land use law.

Prior to joining Brownstein, she was an associate at the Sohagi Law Group in Brentwood, California, where she advised public agency clients on environmental and land use matters. She also clerked at a variety of environmental law firms and organizations, including Earthjustice, and was a legal intern for the California Energy Commission’s Chief Counsel’s Office. Prior to law school, Paige worked as a water environmental scientist focused on water resources.

Tina Cannon Leahy | Staff Counsel IV, Office of Chief Counsel, State Water Resources Control Board

Tina Cannon Leahy is a Staff Counsel IV with the State Water Resources Control Board Office of the Chief Counsel where her primary duties include assisting with the amendment, implementation, and enforcement of the Water Quality Control Plan for the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary and serving as lead attorney to the Groundwater Management Program implementing California’s landmark Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). Before coming to the State Water Board, she was the Principal Consultant for the California Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee where, from 2010 through 2015, she served as the Assembly’s water law and policy expert, including serving as a principal technical drafter of SGMA. Prior to the Assembly, Ms. Leahy was Senior Staff Counsel at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and an associate attorney in private practice counseling clients and litigating natural resources issues. Ms. Leahy is a water law Lecturer in the University of California, Davis, Department of Land, Air, and Water Resources, a Board Representative to the California Lawyers Association, and Co-Chair of the Advisory Board of Directors for the California Environmental Law and Policy Center at King Hall, the UC Davis School of Law.