This week, Jennifer Danis joins the Sabin Center as senior fellow, bringing her significant experience in environmental and energy law to the team. She will be exploring regional opportunities to contribute to the forward momentum that aggressive climate laws and goals have created, including reducing reliance on fossil fuel use. As states have begun to enshrine robust clean energy goals within newly enacted or amended state laws, the thornier questions of how to achieve those emissions reductions targets remain unanswered. Ms. Danis will be focusing on creating sustainable legal frameworks to support those state goals. She continues to be Of Counsel to Morningside Heights Legal Services.
Previously, Ms. Danis worked as a staff attorney and clinical instructor at Columbia Law School’s Environmental Law Clinic. In that capacity, she advocated on behalf of the Clinic’s clients for sustainable energy choices in the region, developing and implementing novel legal theories to prevent the proliferation of gas pipeline infrastructure. She also has significant experience working with a broad range of national energy advocates and experts to help document skewed natural gas market economics, the economics of deep decarbonization, and ecological, health and safety impacts from fossil fuel infrastructure. Ms. Danis has testified on these issues before congressional committees, and helped nonprofit clients advance legislation to directly address these conflicts. She also served as the Senior Staff Attorney for Eastern Environmental Law Center’s Energy Infrastructure program. Prior to her energy work at EELC, she was of counsel to Bradley M. Campbell, LLC, where she used legal and scientific tools to address toxic contaminants under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Working as an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, Ms. Danis researched complex litigation strategies to address legacy pollution of regional waterways. She successfully advocated for the preservation of 600 wetlands acres in the Hackensack Meadowlands. Her interest in environmental law started while clerking in the United States Department of Justice, Environment & Natural Resources Division, in the Indian Resources Section, working on conflicts related to water compacts, as well as issues related to the Cherokee constitutional crisis. She also serves on the Conservation and Research Committee of the New Jersey Audubon Society. Ms. Danis began her law career as a litigator at Kirkland & Ellis in New York, where she worked on various commercial litigation matters, including intellectual property, securities fraud and contractual disputes. She is an alumna of University of Pennsylvania and Boston University.
Tiffany is the Communications Associate at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law.
