Photograph of Elizabeth B. Dawson

Government Experience

  • Department of Justice: Environment & Natural Resources Division—Trial Attorney, Environmental Defense Section (2011-2017)

Education

  • Viterbo University, B.A. Spanish/B.F.A. musical theatre (2005) summa cum laude
  • Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College, J.D. (2011) summa cum laude, Cornelius Honor Society

Admissions

  • District of Columbia
  • Oregon

Elizabeth B. Dawson

Counsel
Washington, D.C.
edawson@crowell.com
Phone: +1 202.624.2508
1001 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20004-2595

Elizabeth (Ellie) B. Dawson is a counsel in the Environment & Natural Resources Group in Crowell & Moring’s Washington, D.C. office. She advocates for her clients’ interests in everything from agency rulemaking petitions under the Clean Air Act to Superfund liability and allocation disputes, everywhere from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to the Western District of Washington.  

Ellie’s practice covers the range of environmental and natural resources statutes, including the Clean Air Act; the Clean Water Act; the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act; the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act; the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act; the National Environmental Policy Act; and the Endangered Species Act. She counsels clients in navigating these statutes and helps them achieve their goals in commenting on and litigating agency rulemakings, in undertaking federal permitting processes, and in defending against enforcement actions.

Ellie’s prior experience includes over five years at the Environment & Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where as a trial attorney in the Environmental Defense Section she gained invaluable insight into agency policies, procedures, and thought processes. She presented oral arguments in three different U.S. Courts of Appeals and litigated in district courts across the country, including the Western District of Washington, the Central District of California, and the Eastern District of Virginia. Ellie received numerous performance awards, a Special Achievement Award, and was nominated for the John Marshall Award for Participation in Litigation, one of DOJ’s highest awards offered to attorneys.

Ellie serves on the firm’s Public Service Committee and maintains an active pro bono practice in a wide variety of areas, including asylum, landlord-tenant, and reproductive rights.

Outside of the firm, Ellie is the co-chair of the ABA’s Clean Technology & Climate Change Committee, where she has organized programs covering such topics as the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures and the role of climate change in the legal profession. Ellie has also been selected as a member of the Environmental Law Institute’s Emerging Leaders Initiative.


Affiliations

Admitted to practice: District of Columbia, Oregon


Speeches & Presentations

  • "Election 2020: Environmental Law and Policy," Crowell & Moring Webinar (October 28, 2020). Presenters: David Chung, Robert Meyers, Byron R. Brown, Paul Freeman, Amanda Shafer Berman, Elizabeth B. Dawson, and Amy Symonds.
  • "The Future of the Endangered Species Act," D.C. Bar, Washington, D.C. (February 19, 2020). Panelist: Elizabeth B. Dawson.
  • "EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standard Agenda for 2019," Crowell & Moring Webinar (March 7, 2019). Speakers: Paul Freeman, Robert Meyers, Thomas A. Lorenzen, Byron R. Brown, Elizabeth B. Dawson, and Preetha Chakrabarti.
  • "Energy Law Update," Energy & Mineral Law Foundation 39th Annual Institute, Nashville, TN (June 18, 2018). Presenters: Daniel W. Wolff and Elizabeth B. Dawson.

Publications

  • "Biden Administration to Use Purchasing Power for Climate Change, Clean Energy Goals," Bloomberg Law (December 22, 2020). Authors: Paul Freeman, Thomas A. Lorenzen, Elizabeth B. Dawson.
  • "How The Election May Affect The Renewable Fuel Standard," Law360 (October 2, 2020). Authors: Robert Meyers, and Elizabeth B. Dawson.
  • "How Environmental NGOs Are Targeting Plastic Pollution," Law360 (March 2, 2020). Authors: David Chung, Kirsten L. Nathanson, Byron R. Brown, and Elizabeth B. Dawson.
  • "Shifting Federal Policies on Public Lands: The Promise and the Peril, 65 Rocky Mt. Min. L. Inst. 23-1 (2019)" Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation (2019). Author: Elizabeth B. Dawson.
  • "Pesticides and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)" Environment, Energy, and Resources Law: The Year in Review 2018 89 (Am. Bar Ass’n, 2019). Authors: Michael Boucher and Elizabeth B. Dawson.
  • "The Clean (Ground) Water Act?" Trends January/February 2019, Vol. 50, No. 3, American Bar Association (2019). Authors: David Chung and Elizabeth B. Dawson.
  • "The Florida Beach Case and the Road to Judicial Takings," 35 Wm. & Mary Envtl. Law & Pol’y Rev. 713 (2011). Authors: Michael C. Blumm & Elizabeth B. Dawson.

Client Alerts & Newsletters


Media Mentions


Firm News & Announcements

Jan.03.2019 Crowell & Moring Elects Eight New Partners and Promotes 21 Associates to Counsel