The KCBA Environmental Law Section will hold its third annual CLE, Environmental and Land Use Law: What You Need to Know for 2008, on December 12. This full-day event will cover a broad range of current developments in environmental and land use law, including an update on the Puget Sound Partnership, ethical issues facing lawyers transitioning between public and private practice, and recent significant environmental decisions from Washington’s federal courts.
This year’s presentation also will feature several lively and informative panel discussions on such topics as helping decision makers navigate complex environmental cases, climate change and environmental insurance, and “Environmental and Land Use Law in the Pacific Northwest – Where We Have Come From & Where We Are Going.” Designed for lawyers just beginning their practices and experienced environmental attorneys alike, this presentation will provide you with the information you need to stay current in the coming year.
David Dicks, the Puget Sound Partnership’s executive director, will kick off the event with an update on what the Partnership is doing to restore Puget Sound’s ecological health. Following will be a panel discussion on how attorneys can help administrative and judicial decision makers navigate complex land use and environmental cases. This panel will feature the Hon. Mary Kay Becker (Washington Court of Appeals, Division I), John Galt (hearing examiner), Kathy Mix (Environmental Hearings Office) and Margaret Pageler (Growth Management Hearings Board). A panel discussion on climate change and environmental insurance with David Brenner (Riddell Williams), Janet Carl (Marsh USA) and Terry Uhling (senior vice president, J.R. Simplot Co.) will close out the morning session.
The afternoon’s agenda will begin with Mason Morisset, of Morisset Schlosser Jozwiak & McGaw, discussing tribal and water law issues in the context of the Western District of Washington’s recent decision in the “Culvert Case” (United States v. Washington, CV 9213RSM (W.D. Wash. Aug. 29, 2007)) and the 100-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s seminal implied water rights case, Winters v. United States, 207 U.S. 564 (1908). Narda Pierce, the former Washington solicitor general, who now practices at Benedict Garratt Pond & Pierce, will then discuss ethical issues facing attorneys who transition between public and private practice.
After a brief afternoon break, Connie Sue Martin from Marten Law Group will explore the implications of the Eastern District of Washington’s landmark natural resource damage decision involving the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation v. United States, CV 02-3105 (E.D. Wash. Sept. 4, 2007). Closing out this year’s event will be a lively panel discussion entitled “Environmental and Land Use Law in the Pacific Northwest – Where We Have Come From & Where We Are Going,” featuring Peter Buck (the Buck Law Group), Peter Eglick (Eglick Kiker Whited), Brad Marten (Marten Law Group) and Mary Sue Wilson (division chief, Ecology Division, Washington State Office of the Attorney General).
The KCBA Environmental Law Section’s third annual CLE will return to the Women’s University Club in downtown Seattle. Landau Associates will host a networking reception immediately following the seminar. Hors d’oeuvres and beverages will be provided, with a cash bar. For more information, please contact the KCBA at 206-267-7100 or visit cle@KCBA.org.
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Amanda Carr is an associate at Gordon Derr and chairs the KCBA Environmental Law Section’s CLE Committee. Dustin Till is an associate at Marten Law Group in Seattle and chairs the KCBA Environmental Law Section’s Communications Committee.
