The Profession - ELI Is An Association of Many Facets

• Author: Scott Schang
• Position: Vice President - Climate Change and Sustainability
• Pages: 59-59

MAY/JUNE 2010 ❧ Page 59

Copyright © 2010, Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, D.C. www.eli.org.

Reprinted by permission from The Environmental Forum®, May/June 2010

ELI Report

been talking about of‌fering

training on the skills of be-

ing an ef‌fective advocate. It

would complement all the

substantive environmental

law training we do through

our Boot Camps and ALI-

ABA courses.

e workshop also of-

fered something of value

to the non-prof‌it sector of

ELI’s membership. Virtual-

ly all of our Associate Semi-

nars and programs are done

with private practice issues

in mind. I had often heard

that Boot Camp, which

includes sessions on how to

conduct due diligence and

transactional practice and is

taught mostly by law f‌irm

attorneys, is too focused

on corporate issues to be

useful to those in the non-

prof‌it world.

We took the ELI mem-

ber’s concerns seriously. We

discussed the objections

with other ELI members

and advisors and with the

member who wrote the

email. Although I don’t

believe we resolved her

concerns, we concluded it

was appropriate to conduct

the workshop.

We all understand that

teaching people how to

sue companies was not the

primary purpose of the

workshop. ELI’s Associate

Seminars seek to increase

the knowledge, skills, and

ability of all environmental

professionals to do their

jobs. It may help you de-

fend a company, advance a

government position — or

yes, even sue someone.

at portion of the skills

workshop entitled “Build-

ing a Case” spent much

time discussing how to

select the right case to take

and the right clients with

which to work. It taught

people how to avoid frivo-

lous suits and to recognize

issues better addressed

through administrative or

legislative venues. And it

covered how to be a more

ef‌fective advocate in those

matters that do wind up in

court.

By teaching these skills,

we made workshop par-

ticipants better profession-

als, inside and outside the

courtroom. e people on

the other side of these new-

ly trained professionals will

benef‌it by working with

better rounded, more sea-

soned practitioners. Skills

training is not a zero-sum

game: all parties benef‌it

when you have the luxury

of working with smart,

well-trained opponents.

ere is no doubt a

closed door session made

this program especially ef-

fective. According to work-

shop participants, they felt

more comfortable talking

about what they did not

understand and asking

open-ended questions,

which would not have hap-

pened if potential adversar-

ies were in the room. Fur-

ther, the session was able to

target the issues of concern

unique to public interest

environmental advocates.

Finally, the ELI mem-

ber may have felt the

Institute was singling out

environmental groups

for special treatment not

af‌forded other ELI mem-

bers. In fact, we hold

annual closed door meet-

ings of the ELI Corporate

Environmental Network,

where we invite the envi-

ronmental leaders from

ELI member companies to

meet and discuss issues of

common concern.

We conduct other

training sessions, such as

international sessions for

judges, in closed door set-

tings. We limit attendance

when we think it will serve

the interests of the partici-

pants, not because we are

forming cabals or help-

ing people devise grand

schemes against other ELI

members’ interests. At the

same time, we appreciate

that ELI’s role of non-

partisan convener can be

called into question when

we use invitation-only

sessions, and we use them

judiciously.

We hope to f‌ind fund-

ing for the workshop again

next year, and to use the

experience gained to cre-

ate skills training programs

for other ELI members

to further our mission of

strengthening all environ-

mental practitioners.

“ELI must not conduct

this seminar.”

at was the closing

line of an e-mail received

just days before our new

Skills Workshop in Public

Interest Environmental

Law, held on March 26-

27. [See preceding page.] A

member was upset that we

were planning a training

session for public inter-

est lawyers on skills such

as negotiating, litigating,

commenting, building co-

alitions, and working with

the media. She had two

concerns: ELI was teaching

opponents to sue her cli-

ents, and we were doing it

behind closed doors.

e workshop was made

possible by a $25,000 grant

from the Natural Resources

Council of America. e

contours of the grant pro-

posal were shaped to meet

the funder’s requirements:

networking among envi-

ronmental activists, raising

awareness of environmental

justice, and making people

more ef‌fective advocates on

behalf of America’s natural

resources. We applied for a

grant because it allowed us

to meet two long-term ELI

goals: to of‌fer more profes-

sional training and to do

more for our public interest

members.

For many years, ELI has

The Profession

ELI Is An Association of

Many Facets

Scott Schang

Vice President

Climate Change and Sustainability