RSVP to join us on Thursday, April 2nd at 3 p.m. PST/6 p.m. EST for a webinar panel on strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP suits). The panel was previously scheduled for this year’s PIELC (Public Interest Environmental Law Conference), which was cancelled due to COVID-19. This webinar will be recorded for PIELC, and CLE credits will be applied for participating.

Environmental justice activists face more overcriminalization than ever before, while companies enjoy resources and governmental policies that aid in their work. SLAPP suits are on the rise, and activists rely on nonprofits and activist attorneys to help them navigate the legal world.

The presenters, each of whom represent organizational members of the Protect the Protest task force, will discuss how SLAPPs are being used to attack climate defenders, including their lawyers, and how you can support those who are targeted by SLAPP suits by becoming a cooperating attorney. We will also discuss how you can best armor yourself against a frivolous SLAPP attack.

Presenters:

  • Lauren Regan, Executive Director and Senior Staff Attorney, CLDC

Regan oversees the CLDC and founded the organization in 2003. She has extensive federal and state litigation experience in both civil rights and activist defense cases, as well as expertise in necessity and other constitutional defenses. Lauren has a juris doctorate in law, bachelor degrees in political science and psychology, and is a national expert in the defense of political activists, particularly those engaged in climate justice, environmental/animal rights, indigenous, and anti-capitalist movements and their intersections.

Lauren and the CLDC provide more than 50 Know Your Rights trainings each year to activists, immigrants, indigenous communities, rural landowners resisting pipelines, and many other at-risk groups. Lauren is also an Oregon State Bar leadership fellow, a volunteer Teen Court judge, and has been given dozens of public interest attorney awards, and has been interviewed in dozens of publications and documentary films over her 22 years of activist lawyering.

Paul Paz y Miño, Associate Director, Amazon Watch

Paz y Miño, Associate Director at Amazon Watch since 2007, has been a professional human rights, corporate accountability and environmental justice advocate for over 25 years. He has been Colombia Country Specialist for Amnesty International USA since 1995, served on staff at Human Rights Watch/Americas for two years and was the Guatemala/Chiapas Program Director at the Seva Foundation for seven years.

Paul has lived in Chiapas, Mexico and Quito, Ecuador, promoting human rights and community development and working directly with indigenous communities. He is also an Associate Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies where he has led a FOIA suit against the CIA since 2006 related to human rights and US foreign policy in Colombia.

He has also served on the board of Peace Brigades International USA. Paul’s professional experience includes many documentary and film appearances, news interviews, and multiple articles. He has an MA in International Affairs from The George Washington University.

  • James Wheaton, Senior Counsel, First Amendment Project

Wheaton founded the First Amendment Project in 1991. He has more than 30 years of experience practicing public interest, civil rights, constitutional, and related areas of law.

Jim assisted in authoring California’s pioneering anti-SLAPP law (“Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation”), California Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16, and all of the amendments thereto. He continues to litigate anti-SLAPP cases, as well as a variety of matters concerning access, freedom of the press, and media law issues.

Jim teaches First Amendment and Media Law at the Stanford Graduate School of Communications and U.C. Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.

 

Webinar Registration:

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Please note: You will receive a link to the Zoom webinar in advance. Please note that Zoom is not end-to-end encrypted, and therefore all on the webinar are advised to treat the forum as semi-public (i.e. no more secure than Skype or Google Hangouts).