If you attended the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (PIELC) in Eugene, Oregon last weekend, you may have noticed the CLDC team in multiple places. While we always enjoy a weekend of networking and weaving our web with other resilient humans fighting incredibly hard to protect our planet (and humanity’s future on it), don’t mind us as we search for our energy after such an eventful weekend! Here’s a wrap-up of how CLDC was involved in PIELC:

• On Friday, our two attorneys, Lauren Regan and Marianne Dugan, held a panel with Greenpeace Australia attorney Julia Grix, on the implications of state repression including lawfare, criminalization and SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) in the U.S., as well as how US corporations are exporting these tactics in the land down under. One thing is for sure >> the rich are forever salivating over how they can control and exploit the environment and silence those who stand up for it in order to grossly increase their personal profits (but don’t worry, that doesn’t stop us from kicking ass in the courtroom).

  It is our goal to embolden and empower social and environmental justice activists and their legal teams to engage in the legal system in a movement aligned way.

• On Saturday, Lauren presented a panel on the Climate Necessity Defense with Alex Marquardt, Director of the Climate Defense Project, and one of CLDC’s former clients, and one of 5 defendants in the Valve Turners cases from 2016, Ken Ward. The goal of the panel was to help organizers and lawyers integrate the climate necessity defense into the earlier stages of campaign and communication work before it gets into the courtroom. The presentation was a fantastic mix of activism storytelling, legal history, and current defense strategy that attendees were gushing over!
• Following Saturday’s more legal-focused session was a premier screening of Valve Turners, a documentary film directed by Steve Liptay that won the Climate Action Award at this year’s Climate Film Fest. The film follows a group of CLDC climate activist clients from the Pacific Northwest who shut off the valves of five oil pipelines entering the United States from Canada to highlight the climate emergency, as well as CLDC’s Lauren Regan as attorney for all of the defendants except North Dakota defendant Michael Foster (we defended a co-defendant in ND). The film is beyond motivating, as the conviction these defendants hold to enact such bold and novel displays of nonviolent direct action in order to disrupt climate change is seemingly fearless, strategic and certainly unwavering. Lauren, Ken, and Emily engaged in a lively Q&A after the screening, which was a special treat for all viewers.

The CLDC team is grateful for the University of Oregon Law School students and all of their tireless work. We are delighted for the invitation and opportunity to participate in these important panels and film screenings so we can share the work we engage with every day. See you next year, PIELC!