People

CLA Staff 

  Executive Director

• Jacqueline Sincore Guild joined us as our first Executive Director in 2011. Jackie is an attorney with extensive experience in private practice in New York, Washington, D.C., Washington State and Maryland, and with two major trade associations in Washington, DC. Prior to joining CLA, Jackie litigated environmental, toxic tort, and products liability matters and provided regulatory, legislative and litigation services with respect to environmental statutes. Her particular areas of concentration were the Clean Water Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Superfund and environmental justice. Jackie is a graduate of James Madison University and the University of Virginia School of Law.  Email: jguild@chesapeakelegal.org

  Program Assistant

• Terri Bartos Eckert joined CLA in August, 2011. She brings to CLA over 25 years of experience in marketing, media and communications, fundraising, business development, and legislative research. She has honed her skills in non-profit organizations, trade associations and law firms, and as a legislative assistant in the Maryland House of Delegates. Prior to joining CLA, Ms. Eckert served as Marketing Manager for a prominent architecture firm. Ms. Eckert is a member of the Board of Directors of The Arc Central Chesapeake Region and past Board member of Artwalk Annapolis.  Email: teckert@chesapeakelegal.org

  Outreach Coordinator

• Heather Ballew joined CLA in February 2012.  Prior to her employment at CLA, Heather worked as a Client Service Manager in a customer service-training firm and has several years experience in customer service and contract management.  She now supports the CLA team with marketing and outreach efforts, many aspects of program services, and fundraising endeavors. Heather grew up in the Annapolis area and volunteers as a youth girls lacrosse coach.  Email: hballew@chesapeakelegal.org

Board of Directors

• Thomas Barba is a Partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Steptoe & Johnson LLP.  He is a member of both the firm’s Litigation and Technology Departments.  He is an experienced products liability litigator and advisor and has a separate longstanding practice representing technology companies in federal regulatory matters involving government electronic surveillance.  In addition to his core legal practice, for the last decade, Mr. Barba has served as General Counsel to Steptoe & Johnson LLP.  Prior to joining Steptoe, Mr. Barba was U.S. Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division.
• John Butler joined the World Shipping Council in Washington, D.C. in September 2010 as General Counsel.  Prior to joining the World Shipping Council, he was a partner at Sher & Blackwell LLP.  He has extensive experience in representing citizens’ associations and environmental groups in zoning and land use cases.
• Rita A. Cavanagh is a Partner in the Tax Department at Latham & Watkins in Washington, D.C., where she specializes in tax controversy and litigation matters.  Ms. Cavanagh has been cited as a leading attorney in the 2007, 2008 and 2009 Chambers USA legal guides, as well as recognized in the 2009 Legal 500 US guide as a leading individual in the area of tax controversy.  She also has been an Adjunct Professor of Law in the LLM tax program at Georgetown University and The George Washington University National Law Center.  She is a member of the American Bar Association, Section of Taxation, and is a former Vice Chair of the Court Procedure and Practice Committee.
• Josephine S. Cooper is chief executive of Josephine Cooper LLC, a Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm, which provides crisis management, public affairs and communications services to companies, trade associations and individuals.  For almost seven years, she served as group Vice President for public policy and government/industry affairs for Toyota North America.  Prior to joining Toyota in 2004, Ms. Cooper served for five years as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.  Ms. Cooper also served as Assistant Administrator for External Affairs at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and was responsible for legislative, intergovernmental and public affairs.  The several boards and advisory groups on which she serves include the Board of Visitors for Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, the Business Advisory Board of Meredith College, and the Board of Advisors for the Salvation Army National Capital Area.
• Patrick Coyne is a Partner in Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner in Washington, D.C., specializing in intellectual property trials and appeals. He has served as Chair and Vice Chair of the Amicus and Antitrust Law Committees and is currently co-chair of the Special Committee on Legislation of the American Intellectual Property Law Association.  Mr. Coyne also currently serves as Vice President and is a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Circuit Bar Association.
• C. Richard D’Amato spent most of his career as a staff member in the U.S. Congress, most recently as the Democratic Counsel for the Senate Appropriations Committee. Currently he serves, and from 2001 to 2007 served as a member of the U.S. China Economic and Security Commission, on which he was Chairman and Vice Chairman. From 1998 to 2002, he was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, representing Annapolis.
• Geraldine Edens is a Partner at Baker & Hostetler LLP in Washington, D.C., where she practices in areas involving environmental litigation, regulatory matters and issues regarding law and science.  Ms. Edens has a broad base of litigation experience with a particular emphasis on litigating issues under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and related statutes including the Endangered Species Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Clean Water Act.
• Theodore Garrett is Senior Counsel with Covington & Burling LLP in Washington, D.C. and is co-chair of the firm’s Environmental Practice Group.  He has been extensively involved in litigation and administrative proceedings, compliance matters and transactions throughout the country involving federal and state environmental and natural resource matters.  Mr. Garrett’s practice involves major compliance, regulatory and enforcement issues, particularly concerning air quality, water quality, and hazardous waste matters.  He has been lead industry counsel in cases involving major EPA air and water regulations and has represented clients in numerous Superfund sites.  Mr. Garrett has been named Global Environment Lawyer of the Year in the 2012 Who’s Who Legal Awards.
• Charles Goodell is a founding Partner of Goodell, DeVries, Leech & Dann, LLP in Baltimore, MD.  He has an extensive products liability and litigation management practice, especially in the defense of pharmaceutical, medical device and toxic tort litigation.  He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.
• Ridgway M. Hall, Jr. was a founding Partner of Crowell & Moring in Washington, D.C. where he started the firm’s Environmental Law Group. He retired at the end of 2009 and maintains a part-time law practice.  Prior to joining Crowell & Moring, he was Associate General Counsel for Water at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  Ridge has spoken and written widely on all aspects of environmental law, regulation and litigation.  He is a member of the American Law Institute, a past officer of the Environmental Law Institute, and a member of the American College of Environmental Lawyers.
• Joe Hollingsworth is a founding Partner of Hollingsworth, LLP in Washington, D.C., where he concentrates on litigation, including trials and appeals. He defends cases involving pharmaceutical and medical device product liability, toxic and environmental torts, and consumer product liability.  He also prosecutes and defends complex federal claims involving the government.
• Sheila D. Jones is a member of the Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Practice Group at Holland & Hart, LLP.  She is resident in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office.  As lead counsel for more than 25 years, Ms. Jones skillfully represents clients regarding environmental enforcement matters, site remediation, project development matters, and the development of environmental policy. Her clients include state and local governments, a major university, local communities, Indian Nations, and corporations and other for-profit enterprises.  Ms. Jones has extensive experience with several federal environmental statutes and their state analogues, including the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, the Endangered Species Act, Section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act, the Clean Water Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the Clean Air Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, the Deepwater Port Act, and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act.  Before joining Holland & Hart, Ms. Jones was a partner with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, LLP, a partner with Cutler & Stanfield, LLP, and Assistant Chief and a trial attorney in the Environmental Enforcement Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, Land and Natural Resources Division.
• Stephen Kurzman is a retired Washington, D.C. attorney, most recently a Partner in Nixon, Hargrave, Devans & Doyle. He also served as Assistant Secretary for Legislation at the U.S. Department of Health, Education & Welfare, Legislative Assistant and Counsel to Senator Jacob K. Javits, Minority Counsel to the Senate Labor & Public Welfare Committee, and Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York.  A former member of the D.C. Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civil Commission, he is currently active in several other civic and arts organizations.
• Roger Martella is a Partner in the Environmental Practice Group at Sidley Austin LLP in Washington, D.C.  Before rejoining the firm, he served as the General Counsel of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, concluding 10 years of litigating and handling complex environmental and natural resource matters at the U.S. Department of Justice and EPA.
• Renee Martin-Nagle is both a Visiting Scholar with the Environmental Law Institute and a free-lance journalist with OOSKAnews, a global water publication.  With ELI, Renee performed independent research and writing on both water issues and aviation, and with OOSKAnews she wrote the official summary for water conferences in Bonn and Abu Dhabi.  Prior to joining ELI, Renee had a highly successful 25-year career as an aviation lawyer, retiring from Airbus Americas as Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, Head of Environmental Affairs, Corporate Secretary and a member of the board of directors.  She is active with the American Bar Association, having chaired the Forum on Air and Space Law, and has chaired and spoken at many conferences.  Her thesis on fossil aquifers won the 2010 Jamie Grodsky Prize for Environmental Scholarship from The George Washington University Law School.
• Roy Mason is a Partner in Mason & Cawood in Annapolis, Maryland with a focus on civil litigation and health and administrative law.
• Katherine Meyer is a founding partner of Meyer Glitzenstein & Crystal.  With a focus on administrative, environmental, wildlife, animal, public health, and Freedom of Information Act law, she has represented many national and grass roots environmental, animal welfare, consumer protection, and public health organizations, as well as authors, journalists, and historians.  Ms. Meyer has extensive federal and state court litigation experience.  She co-founded and serves on the Board of Directors of The Wildlife Advocacy Project; served for nine years on the Board of Directors of Defenders of Wildlife, chairing its Litigation Committee; was a member of the Board of Directors for The Center for Biological Diversity; and is currently on the Board of Directors of The Center for Auto Safety.
• Michael Murphy is a Partner in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Washington, D.C., where he is a member of the firm’s Environmental and Natural Resources Practice Group and has been extensively engaged in pro bono environmental work.
• Eliza Smith Steinmeier is an environmental non-profit consultant and an Adjunct Professor at Loyola University, teaching Environmental law.  She worked for a public-interest law firm, Lawyers for Clean Water, representing California Waterkeepers in their lawsuits against polluters.  In 2004, she founded the Magdalena BAYKEEPER in Baja California Sur, Mexico, and continues to serve on its Board of Directors.  In 2006, Eliza founded Baltimore Harbor WATERKEEPER and served as the Executive Director and Waterkeeper until 2012 where she shepherded the organization through a five-way merger into Blue Water Baltimore.  She is currently a member of the California and Maryland Bars.
• Russell B. Stevenson, Jr. has practiced law in Washington, D.C., taught law as a Professor of Law at The George Washington University, and served as Deputy General Counsel of the Securities and Exchange Commission.  He was General Counsel and Secretary of Ciena Corporation from 2001 to 2008, when he retired. He is currently Visiting Associate Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law School.
• David Weinberg is a Partner at Wiley Rein, LLP in Washington, D.C. He has more than 35 years of experience in administrative and environmental law, specializing in environmental, occupational health and safety, transportation, product safety and pesticide matters.
• Kenneth Weinstein is a retired Partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Latham & Watkins.  Ken was a member of the firm’s Litigation Department and Environment, Land & Resources Department.  He has extensive experience in environmental law.
• Allison Zieve is the Director of Public Citizen Litigation Group and General Counsel of Public Citizen.  At the Litigation Group, her practice areas include public health and consumer safety, access to court issues, open government, and the First Amendment.  Allison serves as a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States and as a trustee of the D.C. Bar’s Client Security Fund.  She also teaches as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law School.