I'm a public interest lawyer. I work at the intersection of environmental justice, civil rights, and protest defense — and I write about it too.
About Me
I came to law through organizing. Before law school, I spent years doing digital strategy for criminal justice reform campaigns, knocking doors for renewable energy legislation, and organizing in New York City. I went to Georgetown Law because I wanted to be more useful to the fights I already believed in.
At Georgetown, I focused on environmental justice and civil rights. I clerked at the EPA's Office of Enforcement, worked with the NAACP Environmental & Climate Justice Center on Title VI litigation, and represented RISE St. James — a frontline community in Louisiana's Cancer Alley — before the United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent. I also worked alongside climate activist defendants in federal and D.C. Superior Court, including on the first motion in the jurisdiction to raise the climate necessity defense at trial.
I write about the law too. My work has appeared in the D.C. Bar Blog, Sojourners, and the Georgetown Environmental Law Review.
I'm based in New York. I'm interested in the places where environmental justice, public service, and the right to dissent overlap — and in using the law to push back.
RISE St. James
Affiliations
The New York City
Law Department
Real Litigation Experience
I have extensive experience in the crucial trial skills that every great advocate needs, from legal research through to trial.