Movers & Shakers

Movers

George Washington University Law School has named Randall Abate as assistant dean for environmental law. Abate previously taught at Monmouth University and is an author of two books published by ELI Press.

Donna Attanasio has been granted the position of assistant dean for energy law at George Washington University Law School. She most recently served as director of the energy program and contributed to ELI’s Reimagining Environmental Law project.

The Atlantic Council welcomes Ken Berlin as a senior fellow in its Global Energy Center. Berlin, who formerly led The Climate Reality Project as president and CEO, will help launch the council’s Financing and Achieving Cost Competitive Climate Solutions Project.

Yue (Nina) Chen steps in as chief climate risk officer at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a federal agency that oversees the country’s biggest banks. Chen was formerly director of sustainability and climate initiatives at the New York State Department of Financial Services.

Stephanie Epner joins the National Security Council as acting senior director for climate and energy. She most recently worked as adviser to John Kerry, presidential envoy for climate.

Alison Gocke moves in as associate professor at the University of Virginia School of Law. Gocke specializes in energy, environmental, and administrative law.

Jim McElfish retires as senior attorney and director of the Sustainable Use of Land Program at ELI. For 36 years, McElfish contributed to the Institute’s mission as a nationally recognized authority on NEPA, an expert on natural resources, and a former litigator in private practice and at the Department of the Interior.

Angela Morrison moves in as senior attorney with Hunton Andrews Kurth’s environmental practice group in Miami. An experienced environmental and natural resources attorney with more than three decades of experience, Morrison most recently worked at Earth & Water Law PLLC.

Xiao Recio-Blanco will now serve as program officer for oceans at the Builders Initiative, a philanthropic organization founded by Lukas and Samantha Walton. He previously led as ocean program director and senior attorney at ELI for more than six years.

President Biden has tapped Richard Revesz to lead the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Revesz is currently a law professor at New York University.

Shakers

John Cruden has been honored with the Judge Advocates Association’s highest award, the Robinson O. Everett Distinguished Life Service Award. Cruden is a principal at Beveridge & Diamond PC and a former president of ELI.

Sheila Slocum Hollis has received The National Law Journal’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Hollis is the chair and founding managing partner of Duane Morris LLP’s Washington, D.C., office, and founded the firm’s energy, environment, and resources group.

The Sierra Club honors Winona LaDuke with its top annual award, the Sierra Club Changemaker of the Year Award. LaDuke is the executive director of Honor the Earth.

Meredith Weinberg, partner at Perkins Coie, has been named one of the 2023 Lawyers of the Year by Best Lawyers. Weinberg works in the firm’s environmental practice in Seattle, focusing on the Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water acts, and CERCLA.

Memoriam

Vivian Buckingham, attorney and writer, passed away on August 8 at 68 years old. From 2002 to 2006, Buckingham was a legal researcher, staff attorney, and director of public interest programs at ELI. She was an expert on climate change policy, NGO capacity-building, and community outreach. In subsequent years, she worked as director for the Campaign for Communities at the Earthday Network, as policy director at 1Sky, and as director of government relations at Ceres, Inc. She also served as a board member for several nonprofits, including the Institute for Conservation Leadership, the Janelia Foundation, Bernadette’s House, and Eastern Environmental Law Center.