The old college try | Bernstein Shur attorney Jeff Thaler is a founding member of the American College of Environmental Lawyers
Jeff Thaler felt his world grow smaller last July at the first meeting of the American College of Environmental Lawyers in Toronto. Thaler, an attorney at Bernstein Shur in Portland was finally meeting the group's nearly two dozen other founding members, including Richard Glick an attorney from the "other Portland" in Oregon. Though from opposite coasts, the two found they were working on the same issues: hydroelectric power, wind power, liquefied natural gas. The two talked for an hour, comparing notes and sharing ideas.
"It's peer support on a national basis," Thaler says. "That wouldn't have happened, if not for the college."
It's the kind of camaraderie that lawyers in other fields — like bankruptcy, trial and even construction — have been enjoying for as many as 60 years, when the first colleges of lawyers formed. The college of environmental lawyers, which launched last month, will allow top attorneys in the environmental field to learn from each other and share their expertise with younger environmental lawyers. The website, www.acoel.com, has a blog featuring articles written by college members on issues like climate change and renewable energy, with the hopes of creating a dialogue between lawyers and non-lawyers alike.
The college is the brainchild of Delaware lawyer Steve Herrmann, who then asked Thaler if he'd like to help start it. Thaler agreed: "I felt that it was an important initiative and I wanted to see it succeed," he says.
For the next several months, Thaler, Maine's only member, joined in on monthly conference calls with the 22 other founding members from 21 states. The group devoted its energy to writing the college's bylaws, organizing committees and developing material for the website's blog. "We were all busy people, and it was hard to get things done in between phone calls," he says. "It probably took longer than any of us envisioned."
The timing couldn't be better, though, as issues like global warming and increasing energy costs routinely make the daily headlines. The number of environmental lawyers also has reached "a critical mass," Thaler says, making a college of environmental lawyers feasible for the first time since the field emerged in the 1970s. "We couldn't have done this 15 or 20 years ago," Thaler says.
It's been 23 years since Thaler, who started his legal career as a public defender in New York City, sought out environmental law to stave off what he calls an "early mid-life crisis" and affect positive change. The avid skier, hiker and kayaker got his feet wet as staff attorney and director of advocacy at the Maine Audubon Society, working to oppose such high-profile projects as a proposed dam on the West Branch of the Penobscot River, dubbed the "Big A" dam, in 1984.
Now, he's focusing most of his attention on wind power projects. He's currently the permitting attorney for Maine Mountain Power, the developer of the Black Nubble Wind Farm project near Sugarloaf, which is slated for a vote by the state's Land Use Regulation Commission on Jan. 14.
Thaler drew on his experience with climate change projects to organize the college's first seminar, "Climate change, wind power and coal: Major environmental and energy challenges for 2008," to be held on Jan. 31 in Miami, Fla. As chair of the college's program committee, Thaler will coordinate educational programs a few times a year, aimed to inform both environmental lawyers, as well as attorneys with other specialties.
Thaler hopes the college of environmental lawyers will raise the visibility of those who practice in the field. "By having the college, we're trying to reach out to the whole legal profession and those outside the profession to let them know these issues are important," he says.
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