Elizabeth (Ellie) B. Dawson is an associate 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
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"Energy Law Update," Energy & Mineral Law Foundation 39th Annual Institute, Nashville, TN
(June 18, 2018).
Presenters: Daniel W. Wolff and Elizabeth B. Dawson.
Publications
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"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
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"Judicial Branch Continues to Scrutinize the Executive Branch's Deregulatory Agenda,"
Environment & Natural Resources Law Alert
(October 12, 2017).
Contacts: Daniel W. Wolff, Kirsten L. Nathanson, Elizabeth B. Dawson
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"Trump: The First Year - Deconstruction of the Administrative State Stymied by the D.C. Circuit,"
First 100 Days Series
(September 7, 2017).
Contacts: David Chung, Elizabeth B. Dawson
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"The Administrative State Will Not Deconstruct Itself,"
(June 29, 2017).
Contacts: David Ervin, Thomas A. Lorenzen, Elizabeth B. Dawson
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"Citizen Suit Watch: No End in Sight for Clean Water Act Litigation Involving Discharges to Groundwater,"
Environment & Natural Resources: Citizen Suit Watch
(May 23, 2017).
Contacts: David Chung, Kirsten L. Nathanson, Thomas A. Lorenzen, Elizabeth B. Dawson
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