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

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 supports them in agency rulemaking challenges and enforcement defense.

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 received her J.D. and Certificate in environmental and natural resources law, summa cum laude, from Lewis & Clark Law School in 2011, where she was inducted into the Cornelius Honor Society. She also served as notes and comments editor of Environmental Law, co-chaired the school’s annual Public Interest Law Project auction, and reached the final round of the National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition. 


Affiliations

Admitted to practice: District of Columbia, Oregon


Speeches & Presentations

  • "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

  • "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