Santa Clara University

Fighting For a Green Cause

Santa Clara Law is a leader in educating environmental lawyers.

By Keri Modrall

 

Before the mid 1960s, environmental law didn’t really exist. The Scenic Hudson case, which halted the construction of a power plant on Storm King Mountain in New York, and the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act in 1969, changed all that. In addition, after Senator Gaylord Nelson called for the creation of the first Earth Day, held on April 22, 1970, the general public began paying more attention to ecological issues. Important legisla tion such as the Clean Air Act and laws to protect drinking water was then created.

Progress in protecting the environment would not get far without environmental law. Since 1969, Santa Clara has been turning out knowledgeable and energetic environmen tal lawyers, such as John Cruden, who was recently named one of the top lawyers in America by Lawdragon Magazine, and Peter Greenwald, who was recently involved in draft ing federal legislation to require the stringent regulation of pollution from oceangoing vessels. Other graduates include Kenneth Gray, who was awarded a bronze medal by the EPA for developing the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments; David Sandino, Chief Counsel for the California Department of Water Resources, which manages the State Water Project; Kristen Thall Peters, who evaluates the effects and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions; and Rita Chan, whose work spans the energy, mining, manufacturing, and real estate industries.

The environmental law program at Santa Clara Law benefits from the wealth of experience of those who teach in it. Before Wil Burns began teaching at Santa Clara he worked extensively on a regional whaling treaty in the Black and Mediterranean Seas. Kenneth Manaster has been involved in many different aspects of environmental law, from air quality to toxic pollutants to teaching at Hastings and Stanford law schools. Professors such as these, who focus on this field, are committed not only to providing their students with a thor ough education but also to paving the way for those who will further the work they care so much about.

THERE AT THE BEGINNING 

Environmental law was a virtually unknown field when Kenneth Manaster graduated from Harvard Law School in 1966. After studying in Peru on a Fulbright Fellowship and clerking at the U.S. District Court in Chicago, he worked at the firm now known as Sidley Austin. He then became an assistant attorney general of Illinois and headed the Chicago offi ce of the Environmental Control Division.

"At that time, it was pretty early in the game," he says, "so I was very fortunate that we were trying some of the big early lawsuits against air and water pollution, waste disposal on land, nuclear power plants, noise issues. We had a fi eld day. We got to look at all kinds of environmental problems, and we fi led a ton of lawsuits to try to change behavior."

Since then, according to Manaster, many things have changed but the fundamental issue of "how we relate to this planet we are living on and how we are going to treat it" is still the same.

"The manifestations of this issue are constantly chang ing," he explains. "We’re always finding new risks and prob lems we didn’t know about 10 or 20 years ago."

For example, when Manaster first started practicing, phosphates in detergents were a big concern, as were proposed supersonic aircraft. We’ve made progress, he says, and those things are not significant issues anymore. The biggest issues facing us now are climate change and hazardous substances.

Left to right: Wil Burns and Ken Manaster

"We weren’t talking as much about those things at the beginning," he says. "Certain issues are always with us. As mundane as it sounds, an issue like sewage treatment is and always will be very important. What does change is our increasing knowledge and understanding of the tremendous complexities of the environment and the impact we have. The goal, and the job, of the law is trying to adapt to help society deal with what’s next on the agenda."

Manaster has been pursuing this work in different ways for several decades. He was a member of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District Hearing Board from 1973 to 1990 and chaired the board from 1978 to 1989. He was also chair of the Public Advisory Committee to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s study of toxic pollutants in the Santa Clara Valley. He began teaching at Santa Clara in 1972.

"Santa Clara has always been a very personal place to study law," Manaster says. "We have a very strong commitment to our students in the classroom. If I have a student who is really interested in the field, I’ll do everything I can to help that student find good placements and internships and assist along the way. The people who teach in this area are energetically committed to helping students stick with it and find a productive niche."

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Professor Wil Burns always thought about teaching. He studied political science at Bradley University, but after he graduated he went to work for a think tank called the Greenlife Society.

"One of the things that really enriches students is real-world experience that teachers can impart to students," Burns explains.

So, he spent 20 years working on wildlife protection treaties before he went back to school to get his Ph.D. in international environmental law at Cardiff Law School in Wales.

"I went back to school expressly so I could teach," he says. "I felt like I had enough experience that I could provide something valuable to students."

Before coming to Santa Clara, Burns was an associate professor at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Although he has taught as an adjunct professor at Santa Clara and given many lectures here over the past decade, he recently finished his first year of full-time teaching at the University.

"Most of my work has been in the law," he says, "but I’ve mostly taught undergrad and graduate students. That was fulfilling, but I always thought I’d like to teach law students. I think the law can have an incredibly positive effect on the environment."

Burns was drawn to Santa Clara because the school focuses on international environmental law as well as local and national law.

"We’re in California, which exerts a tremendous influence on the environment because of the sheer number of people, the amount of automobiles, the size of our economy, and the amount of interdependence we have with other countries," he explains.

In addition to teaching, Burns is editor-in-chief of the Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy and co-chair of the International Environmental Law Committee of the American Society of International Law. His research for these positions focuses on climate change, an issue that Burns thinks is very important.

"We really have to meaningfully address this issue in the next 10 to 20 years or it will be too late," he says. "The law is one of the legs of the stool that can address this issue."

Burns is doing his part in tackling the issue by letting his students know that they can make a difference.

"I want to emphasize to my students that there is an alternative to private practice," Burns says. "I want to help them assess the full range of possibilities in the law. There are jobs in which you won’t starve and can help make the world better. You might really feel like you’re changing the world or trying to change the world. If I get one or two law students who take that path it will be good."

PIONEERING PASSION

"This is a rich time to be an environmental lawyer," John Cruden ’74 says.

He would know. As the Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., Cruden supervises all environmental enforcement cases brought by the United States.

"Not every day, and not in every case, but on a lot of days, and in a lot of cases, I go home at night thinking that I just made a difference in the health or welfare of a community of citizens in the United States," he says. "That is my favorite part of this job."

He took the LSAT while he was a soldier in Vietnam and was granted leave to attend Santa Clara. There, he developed a holistic approach to the law that he says he appreciates to this day.

"I believe that every course I took at Santa Clara has been useful in my environmental practice," he insists.

After graduating summa cum laude, Cruden continued his studies in the Army’s graduate law program and earned a master’s degree in government and foreign affairs from the University of Virginia. He developed his specialization in environmental law during his tenure as general counsel to the Defense Nuclear Agency. While there, he was deeply involved in the cleanup of the Eniwetok Atoll, which had been used as a nuclear testing ground.

"It gave me a real appreciation of the importance of good science and public involvement in environmental decision making," he says.

John Cruden '74

His complete move into environmental law came in 1991 when he was selected to be the chief of the environmental enforcement section of the Department of Justice, which was the largest litigating section of the department. He was promoted to his current position in 1995. Since then, he has worked on a wide variety of cases, ranging from enforcing reductions of Wal-Mart’s storm water runoff to a recent case brought against a New Jersey power plant to eliminate 500 tons of air pollutants each year.

"When I first started practicing environmental law, we were dealing with relatively new statutes, little case law, and incredible environmental problems," Cruden explains. "Environmental law tends to rise and fall with new statutes and cases. However, I remain convinced that this is an exciting area to practice. It’s important for lawyers, for students, for everyone, to study and work so that we leave this planet a little bit better, a little bit healthier, for our children."

CALIFORNIA'S WATER WATCHER

Growing up in Merced and working on farms, David Sandino ’84 learned the value of water. No

w his challenge is supplying water to 25 million Californians in a manner that avoids harm to the state’s delicate ecosystem.

David Sandino '84

Sandino is Chief Counsel for the California Department of Water Resources, which manages the State Water Project, the largest state-built, owned, and operated water project in the United States.

Sandino studied environmental chemistry at U.C. Davis. After teaching high school math and chemistry for two years, he enrolled at Santa Clara Law, where he took an environmental law seminar with Ken Manaster, and studied water law with a visiting professor, Gary Weatherford, an authority on the Colorado River. Both professors piqued his interest in environmental law; Sandino became president of Santa Clara Law’s Environmental Law Society.

After law school, Sandino studied international environmental law on a Rotary Fellowship at the University of London, King’s College, earning an LL.M. He worked in the Yuba County Counsel’s office prior to joining the Department of Water Resources as a staff attorney in 1989. In 2004, Sandino ran for Yolo County Board of Supervisors. He lost, but was proud to see that the county subsequently adopted some of his priorities, including sound environmental stewardship and water policy. In 2007, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed him Chief Counsel of the department.

Sandino says his biggest environmental challenge is "how to protect the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, one of the prime ecosystems in California. The natural systems have been modified over the years and many species are threatened."

The department is also heavily involved in addressing flood protection and global warming, specifically how warming affects water supply. "With decreased snow pack and snow pack melting sooner, the peak flows in the rivers are changing. This will impact the delivery of water," he says.

Community service is important to Sandino. He served on the Davis Planning Commission and as chair of the Davis Natural Resource Commission, working to promote water and energy conservation.

Santa Clara Law, he says, reinforced the values of public service and the desire to make the world a better place that he grew up with. "I enjoyed the first day of law school and was sad the day I left," he says. "It was a feast for the intellect." Despite his high-level job, Sandino commutes from Davis one night a week to teach water law, energy law, and natural resources law at Santa Clara. It’s his way of staying connected to the law school, which he calls "one of the most positive experiences I have had in life."

TOXIC WASTE WATCHDOG

Kenneth Gray ’79 was sitting in Professor Manaster’s environmental law class when it hit him.

"This is what I want to do," he thought. "This is good stuff."

Kenneth Gray '79

The fascinating mix of policy, science, and law that appealed to Gray then is still something that he enjoys now in his work as a partner at Pierce Atwood in Portland, Maine. His work focuses on hazardous substance and hazardous waste management. "Nasty stuff," he says.

His experience with toxic waste began when he was studying government at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. A small chemical manufacturer spilled kepone, a carcinogenic insecticide, into the James River. This experience later inspired him to write a paper about the Toxic Substances Control Act for Manaster’s class. He entered the paper into the American Trial Lawyers Association’s Environmental Law Essay Contest, and it was nationally recognized. He was invited to an ATLA meeting in Los Angeles, an exciting experience for a starving law student. Even better, the recognition helped him get a job at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where he worked on an array of issues, including the Safe Drinking Water Act, Superfund, and the Clean Water Act.

Gray left the EPA in 1986 and, after a year working for Hunton & Williams in Washington, D.C., he saw an opening at Pierce Atwood and jumped at the opportunity.

"The quality of life here is way too good compared with D.C.," he says.

Gray feels right at home at Pierce Atwood, which is one of the largest firms north of Boston and employs a lot of attorneys who concentrate on environmental work full-time. Although he is happiest when he can "make an environmental problem go away," Gray spends most of his time addressing and resolving issues before they become problems. However, when problems do arise, he is also involved in solving them. He has negotiated and settled various Superfund cases, including one involving the Portland Bangor Waste Oil Site in Wells, one of the largest in Maine.

Gray still thinks about his time at Santa Clara, and says he owes the school a lot.

"I loved law school at Santa Clara," he insists, "and that makes me unusual because most people don’t love law school. But the academic discipline was exactly what I was looking for. It gave me the opportunity to learn from outstanding teachers."

LIFELONG FOCUS

You could say that smog helped Peter Greenwald ’79 become a lawyer. He grew up in Los Angeles, and felt the effects of poor air quality every time he ran around the playground.

"I’ve always been concerned about the environment," he says. "And I always wanted to do something that would be good for the world. I thought that the law would be a good way to get there."

So, at Santa Clara, Greenwald took a class with Professor Kenneth Manaster. The field of environmental law was fairly new at the time and there weren’t many courses focusing on it.

Peter Greenwald '79

"Ken Manaster was very influential," Greenwald says. "He was working with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, and I got a clerkship there."

That was his first exposure to air pollution law, and it left a big impression. After passing the bar, Greenwald got a job with the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) in the Los Angeles area. He started as a staff attorney concentrating on enforcement, seeking civil penalties when companies violated pollution rules. He worked his way up to general counsel, and then went into private consulting so that he could help raise his two small children. About a year and a half ago, the South Coast AQMD asked him to come back to work on high profile issues.

"The most important thing I’m working on now is controlling pollution generated by goods movement from diesel polluters such as marine vessels, locomotives, and trucks," he says. "We’re trying to find ways, legal mechanisms, for them to control emissions from international and interstate shipping." The reason this work is so important, according to Greenwald, is that particulate pollution, which includes emissions from diesel vehicles, causes thousands of premature deaths every year in Southern California. "It’s an enormous problem," he says. "We feel a real sense of urgency trying to control it." Greenwald believes that the smog in Los Angeles has improved since he was a boy, but it’s still a significant issue that affects his life every day. "We try to do things at home in a way that reduces pollution," he says. "My wife even more than I. Everyone has to contribute to the solution."

WORKING TOWARD A COMMON GOAL

Kristen Thall Peters ’92 gained an appreciation for her natural surroundings at an early age. Her father was a biology teacher who later became the coordinator for the Water Environment Studies Program for Mt. Diablo Unified School District, in California’s Contra Costa County. She tagged along on his field trips to Mount Diablo, the Sacramento Delta, and Yosemite. When she was in the fifth grade, she wrote an essay about becoming an environmental lawyer when she grew up.

Peters’ first significant step in that direction was majoring in environmental sciences at U.C. Berkeley. Before attending Santa Clara, she worked as an Environmental Protection Specialist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

"I’m glad I had the opportunity to work in a regulatory agency before attending law school," she says. "I had the chance to evaluate the impacts of federal flood control and dredging projects through the National Environmental Policy Act. I realized I could effect more change by working in the private sector."

Kristen Thall Peters '92

Although Peters cultivated her passion while at Santa Clara by advancing to the national level in the Environmental Moot Court Competition, her first job did not have an environmental focus.

"My practice started off mainly in real estate and litigation," she says. "The lawyer that I worked for told me that if I wanted to do environmental law I would have to bring in those types of cases."

So she took on a pro bono case advocating on behalf of a professor at San Jose State who recycled everything but was still being charged a garbage collection fee by the city.

"It gave me some exposure and experience," she explains. "It was a lot of fun."

After working in litigation for a few years, Peters realized that she didn’t want to concentrate on that type of work anymore. She got a job with Fitzgerald Abbott & Beardsley in Oakland, and some attorneys there began to bring her real estate contracts to review.

"I was really enjoying that aspect more," she says. "At the end of my fifth year working, I had enough experience to be really selective about the job I wanted."

She saw an opening at the Walnut Creek office of Cooper, White, & Cooper and applied for the job. She has worked there for 10 years and is now a partner, and she was recently named the co-chair of the firm’s Green Practice Group. She develops corporate environmental programs and counsels clients regarding greenhouse gas emissions and on the range of laws and regulations concerning air and water quality, hazardous substances, and recycling issues.

Her favorite part of the job?

"We could be working on anything, but we’re all working toward the same goal," she says. "Everyone is willing to work with each other when you want the same thing in the end."

NEW TO LAW, BUT NOT ENVIRONMENTAL WORK

Before Rita Chan ’04 went to law school she worked at the Santa Clara Valley Water District. As a regulator, she worked with commercial developers, major oil companies, redevelopment agencies and others on cases related to ground water contamination.

"While my work at the District was primarily technical in nature, I also got an opportunity to work with the law," she explains. "I really enjoyed that intersect."

The experience inspired her to go back to school and study law. Chan looked into attending several schools in California, but decided on Santa Clara on the strength of its program and also because of the people she met at Santa Clara Law preview events.

"Santa Clara Law offers a wide variety of programs and courses, and has excellent professors," she says. "Most of my professors had an open-door policy, and I liked that aspect."

Rita Chan '04

Chan also appreciated the interactions she had with other prospective students at the law school preview events. She was looking for a nurturing school experience, and thought that Santa Clara would be a good fit.

She continued working for the water district while she was in school, but got a position at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman in San Francisco after passing the bar. She works with clients in the manufacturing, energy, mining, and real estate industries, and her practice includes compliance counseling and litigation. Recently, she was involved in a Superfund matter, which she found extremely interesting.

"I’d like to work on more Superfund cases as well as land use matters in the future," she says.

Chan is looking forward to gaining more independence in her practice. She was managing her own cases when she worked at the water district, working directly with property owners, consultants, and lawyers. She would like to be able to manage her own cases as an attorney.

"I’m very new in the practice, so most of my work requires supervision. I do get some tasks that allow me to work independently, where I can interact with clients directly. I really enjoy that."

UNIVERSITY-WIDE COMMITMENT

In addition to the strong environmental law program, Santa Clara as a whole is very focused on environmentally friendly practices.

"The University has made a major commitment to sustainable and green building methods," Professor Manaster says. "It is a leader in being environmentally responsible."

Manaster also hopes that the environmental law program will interact more in the future with the Environmental Studies Institute, a program on campus that offers seminars, internships, and research opportunities.

"Santa Clara has accomplished a lot in developing programs like this," Manaster says. "It’s something many students can, and should, take advantage of."