Environmental Law Section eNews

This month ELS is celebrating Native American Heritage Month, also sometimes called American Indian Heritage Month and Alaska Native Heritage Month. During the month of November, we focus on uplifting the history, resilience, languages, and cultures of people indigenous to the Americas. Read more

Fall is one of the most special times of year for ELS.  Every year, ELS works tirelessly to plan for the Environmental Law Conference at Yosemite®. This year, we experienced record attendance. On October 19, over 800 registrants including lawyers and future lawyers joined together for the SOLD OUT 32nd Annual Environmental Law Conference at Yosemite®. The conference brings together lawyers, law students, professors, consultants, engineers, and their families for three days of continuing legal education, outdoor activities, and fun. The Environmental Law Conference at Yosemite® is designed to hold MCLE sessions in the mornings and open the afternoons for attendees to connect with nature. Andy Sawyer, Executive Committee Advisor and State Water Board Assistant Chief Counsel, gathers volunteers from the ELS membership to lead afternoon activities within and around the park. The weather was warm, and the skies were clear, giving everyone the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors. ELS even had fly fishing, mountain biking, and a dog-friendly hike. ELS hopes all participants enjoyed the programming, feel refreshed, and inspired. Read more

The Environmental Law Section is delighted to introduce our 2023 Diversity and Inclusion Fellows. Each of the Section’s Fellows will spend 8 to 10 weeks this summer practicing environmental, energy, land use, and/or natural resources law at a participating government agency of public interest organization, and will receive a $6,500 stipend from the Section and Fellowship sponsors. Please join us in congratulating our outstanding 2023 class of Fellows. Read more

It’s been a busy Spring for ELS! On March 24, UCLA Law School hosted our annual Law Student Negotiation Competition. We had 7 schools and 10 teams. First Place was UCLA School of Law, Samantha Yeager & Emmett Barnes; Second Place was Chapman University, Shehzaib Rahim & Paula Dizon. Read more

Are you interested in working on in-person programs, publications, social media, webinars, legislation, mentorships, sustainability issues, diversity and belonging in our practice area, or recruiting law students to the practice of environmental law?  If you said yes to any of these, then please consider applying to be a member of our section’s Executive Committee for our next term.  Read more

Would you like to get involved with the Environmental Law Section but cannot devote significant time?  Read more

Clifford T. Lee, a highly respected water law attorney and recipient of the 2021 Environmental Law Section Lifetime Achievement Award, died suddenly in late November 2022.  Read more

Happy New Year!  ELS is preparing excellent programs for 2023. Read more

It is so exciting that we will be back at the Tenaya, in person, for our annual ELS Yosemite conference, for the first time since 2019. Read more

The Environmental Law Section is a great source of community and collaboration for environmental lawyers in California. This year, I am particularly excited to focus on outreach to reach as many people as possible who practice or are interested (even if they don’t know it yet) in practicing environmental law. Read more