ELS Virtual Panel: Criminalization of Environmental Activism

We regularly discuss the regulatory, political, and judicial obstacles in the way of advancing critical environmental policy. More rarely discussed is the literal criminalization of the actors who try to advance it. Indigenous water protectors, animal rights groups, even the lawyers who dare to challenge fossil fuel hegemony — across the spectrum these environmental activists have been criminalized, policed, and otherwise subjected to the violence of U.S. legal structures.

Take advantage of the calm before the storm of final examinations: Join us on May 1st for an exciting discussion that cuts across legal fields, tying together the implicit violence of industry-friendly policy with the explicit violence of the police state — and discussing our role in it as lawyers.

Zoom Link: https://nyu.zoom.us/j/98866767020

With Special Guest Panelists:

• Michelle L. Cook: Lawyer, Navajo Nation member, and Board Chair of the Water Protective Legal Collective. Michelle founded this organization to provide legal defense for the Indigenous-led resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) at Standing Rock, North Dakota.
• Will Potter: Investigative Journalist and author of Green Is the New Red: An Insider's Account of a Social Movement Under Siege. Will's work exposed how non-violent animal rights and environmental protesters became classified by the FBI as “eco-terrorists” and the consequences of that designation. 
• Steven Donziger: Attorney for Ecuadorean plaintiffs in one of the biggest (if not the biggest) legal victories ever seen against an oil company. Unfortunately, Steven faced his own criminalization in the wake of facing this giant; he is currently under house arrest in Manhattan. For any law students who aspire to challenge corporate interests, his story should absolutely not be missed.