February 2019
(Washington, DC): The Environmental Law Institute (ELI) is delighted to announce the newest members of its Leadership Council: Tommy P. Beaudreau; Kimberly Leue Bick; Nadira Clarke; Avi S. Garbow; Charles B. Howland; Deborah J. Schmall; Ethan G. Shenkman; and Hilary C. Tompkins. “We are so fortunate to have these accomplished individuals join our Leadership Council,” said ELI Leadership Council President Kathy Robb. “ELI’s vision is a healthy environment, prosperous economies, and vibrant communities founded on the rule of law. As esteemed thought-leaders in the field of environmental law and policy, these newest members of the Leadership Council will bring valuable guidance and expertise to our organization as we continue our path making law work for people, places, and the planet.”
- Tommy P. Beaudreau is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Latham & Watkins, a member of the Environment, Land & Resources Department, and Global Co-Chair of the Project Siting & Approvals Practice. He has extensive experience in conventional and renewable energy, environmental litigation, crisis management, internal investigations, and financial industry regulation. Prior to joining Latham’s Washington, D.C., office, Tommy was the Chief of Staff for the U.S. Department of the Interior, where he also served as the first-ever Director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. In addition, Tommy is a non-resident fellow at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, where he provides thought leadership on a broad range of issues relating to conventional and renewable energy and infrastructure development on public lands and the offshore.
- Kimberly Leue Bick is the founding and co-managing partner of Bick Law LLP, an environmental law firm based in Newport Beach, California. She has extensive experience representing major aerospace, manufacturing, land use, biotech, and real estate companies in environmental matters. Kimberly regularly provides environmental counseling to corporations pertaining to regulations and business operations, and she represents investors and companies in mergers and acquisitions involving environmental issues. She also has defended companies in white-collar crime environmental matters. Formally educated as an environmental engineer, Kimberly was an environmental compliance and Superfund remediation engineer at McDonnell Douglas Corp. (now Boeing Co.) for many years before becoming a lawyer.
- Nadira Clarke is a partner with Katten LLP. In addition to heading the litigation practice at the firm’s Washington, D.C., office, she is a member of the firm's Board of Directors and Executive Committee. Nadira is a white-collar criminal defense lawyer who focuses her practice on environmental crimes and major incident response. She represents corporations and executives facing large-scale, multi-faceted governmental investigations following a major accident or environmental event. Prior to entering private practice, Nadira served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, and a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. She also served as counsel to the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility, where she led internal professional ethics investigations involving federal prosecutors and high-ranking DOJ officials. Early in her career, Nadira worked as a trial attorney with DOJ’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, including the Environmental Crimes Section and the Natural Resource Section.
- Avi S. Garbow is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He is a Co-Chair of the Environmental Litigation and Mass Tort Practice Group, and a member of the White Collar Defense and Investigations, Administrative Law and Regulatory, and Crisis Management Practice Groups. He joined the firm after serving as General Counsel at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Avi was nominated by President Barack Obama, confirmed with the unanimous consent of the U.S. Senate, and was EPA’s longest-serving General Counsel, from 2013 through 2017. Avi has extensive experience in the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental regulations under nearly all major environmental statutes. His practice focuses on environmental compliance, internal investigations and enforcement proceedings, litigation defense, and crisis management. He also provides strategic counseling on matters relating to climate change and sustainability, helping clients in a wide range of industries identify and maximize business opportunities arising from changing environmental and regulatory landscapes.
- Charles B. Howland is a partner at Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP in New York City and heads its Environmental group. He advises U.S. and foreign clients on the acquisition, cleanup, sale, and redevelopment of sites under federal and state laws; risk management plan preparation and emergency release reporting; and national and international sustainability initiatives. Charlie is nationally known for his work facilitating the development of renewable energy projects on contaminated land. Charlie previously served as a Senior Assistant Regional Counsel at EPA’s Region 3 office, where he worked on complex site cleanups and enforcement actions. In 2018, before joining Curtis, he served as Senior Advisor to EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, helping to implement Superfund Task Force reforms. Charlie frequently publishes and lectures on environmental and energy law and policy, and has been appointed to the U.S. State Department's Fulbright Specialist Program Roster. He teaches Energy Law at Villanova Law School, and Navigating the Regulatory State at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
- Deborah J. Schmall is a partner in the Environment and Energy practice of Paul Hastings and is based in the firm’s San Francisco office. Deborah advises and represents companies, universities, and developers on a broad range of environmental regulatory, enforcement defense, facility siting and closures, and remediation issues arising under federal environmental laws and their state counterparts. Among her areas of focus is providing strategic counsel to developers and investors regarding significant brownfield projects, including the redevelopment of former federal facilities. Prior to entering private practice, Deborah served as an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan and as a Trial Attorney with the Environmental Enforcement Section of DOJ in Washington, D.C. She sits on the Board of Directors for Out and Equal Workplace Advocates and for the Center for Creative Land Recycling.
- Ethan G. Shenkman is a partner at Arnold & Porter in Washington, D.C., where he brings more than 16 years of government experience to bear on his wide-ranging environmental practice. He served for seven years as a political appointee, most recently as Deputy General Counsel at EPA, where he oversaw a wide range of legal and regulatory issues, including key administration initiatives related to the Clean Air Act, climate change, international environmental agreements, and tribal treaty rights. Prior to that, he served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General at DOJ's Environment and Natural Resources Division. Ethan also teaches environmental law at Georgetown University Law Center and is a regular columnist for The Environmental Forum, ELI’s policy magazine.
- Hilary C. Tompkins is a partner with Hogan Lovells in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining the firm, she served in the presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed position of Solicitor for the U.S. Department of the Interior—the agency responsible for the management and conservation of public lands, natural and wildlife resource programs, and the trustee for Native American tribes. In that role, she led over 300 attorneys in 16 offices nationwide and acquired significant experience in onshore and offshore energy development (conventional and renewable), the administration of federal water projects, conservation and wildlife legal requirements, and public land law. Hilary is also well-versed in federal Indian law and is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation. Hilary also sits on the Board of Directors of ELI.
The ELI Leadership Council is the Institute’s group for the most prominent environment, energy, and natural resource leaders in the nation. The Council recognizes leaders for their commitment of resources and time to the Institute’s vision of a healthy environment, prosperous economies, and vibrant communities founded on the rule of law. Members participate in events and have a chance to network and engage other leaders in discussions about key environmental law and policy issues.