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

Languages

  • Spanish (Proficient)

Elizabeth B. Dawson

Counsel
edawson@crowell.com
+1.202.624.2508

Elizabeth (Ellie) B. Dawson is a counsel in the Environment & Natural Resources Group in Crowell & Moring’s Washington, D.C. office and a leader of the firm’s global ESG Advisory Team. 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 Art Committee and 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 serves on the American Bar Association’s Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources Superfund and Natural Resource Damages Litigation Committee, and has served as 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 was also selected to participate in the Environmental Law Institute’s Emerging Leaders Initiative.


Affiliations

Admitted to practice: District of Columbia, Oregon


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Firm News & Announcements

December 1, 2021 Companies Are Setting Environmental Goals, But Questions of Measurement Persist, Crowell & Moring Survey Finds
March 15, 2021 Crowell & Moring Establishes Global Environmental, Social, and Governance Advisory Team
January 3, 2019 Crowell & Moring Elects Eight New Partners and Promotes 21 Associates to Counsel