Brooks Beard top

Brooks Beard is a partner in Morrison & Foerster's San Francisco office, with a trial and appellate litigation practice  focusing on complex commercial matters. His practice focuses on on intellectual property (patent, trademark, and trade secrets), false or deceptive advertising,
and environmental litigation matters, and his clients have come from a range of industries, including Internet technology,  semiconductors, telecommunications, network processing, consumer products, pharmaceuticals, financial, consumer retail, food products, restaurants,
and mining.

Mr. Beard sits on the Steering Committee for Morrison & Foerster's Cleantech Practice Group. In this rapidly evolving area, he currently provides counseling and litigation advice on issues surrounding false or
deceptive advertising allegations relating to  environmental or "green" claims made by companies in connection with consumer products and services, as well as on patent infringement matters relating to
clean-tech companies and subject matter. He received is BA from the UC Santa Barbara, his JD, cum laude, from Vermont Law School, and his LLM, with distinction, from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Workshops led by Brooks Beard

November 3, 2011
Advanced Environmental Law Lecture
"Green Marketing and Green Washing"
Brooks Beard, Morrison & Foerster, LLP

Presentation slides
Background readings: FTC Proposes Revised Green Guides; Green Guides - Summary of Proposal; MoFo Green Guides Alert; Proposed Revisions to the Green Guides

Morrison & Foerster, LLP

Morrison & Foerster is a global firm with more than one thousand lawyers in key technology and financial centers in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Founded in 1883, "MoFo" has areas of practice in litigation, financial services, intellectual property and technology, and transactional work, such as corporate, capital markets, and real estate finance representations.

Cleantech: Dedicated, Experienced Advisors — Cutting-Edge Expertise

Morrison & Foerster has been advising the leading innovators in the world of Cleantech for more than 30 years. During this time, it has represented a broad range of investors, emerging companies, and established companies developing new technologies and pioneering new approaches to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and sustainably use water and other natural resources. Morrison & Foerster's Cleantech attorneys are dedicated to representing clients in these evolving industries, combining their knowledge of the underlying science, technologies, and regulations to offer counsel with the depth and expertise needed to succeed.

Ernest J. Getto

Ernest J.Getto is a Managing Director of Burford Group LLC, an investment advisor to Burford Capital Limited, a publicly traded dispute financier that is one fo the world's largest investors in commercial disputes.  On December 31, 2010 Mr. Getto retired as a partner and former global Chairman of the Litigation Department of Latham & Watkins.  Mr. Getto practiced in the Los Angeles and San Francisco offices at the firm  During his 40 year of experience in major litigation, Mr. Getto represented many clients in massive environmental cases.  He also served as lead litigation counsel for The Directors Guild of America as well as lead counsel in numerous complex, multiparty cases.  Mr. Getto also had substantial experience in consumer fraud class actions, products liability, entertainment, securities and antitrust litigation.  In addition to chairing the Litigation Department, he served as Chairman of the Associates Committee, which manages all matters relating to associates at the firm.  Mr. Getto is a Fellow in the American College of Trial lawyers. has appeared in  numerous editions of The Best Lawyers in America and was named one of "Top 100 Outside Counsel" by The Hollywood Reporter.  He has been active in civil and community affairs for many years, having served as Chairman of the Board of the California Pediatric Center in Los Angeles and as a board member of the Children's Hospital Research Center, among others.  He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Direct Relief International. 

Workshops led by Ernest Getto

October 1, 2010
Fall 2010 Environmental Law Enhancement Workshop Science in the Courts: Climate Change and Other Issues Ernie Getto and Bob Wyman, Latham & Watkins LLP

October 27, 2011
Advanced Environmental Law Lecture
"Science in the Courts: Climate Change and Other Issues"
Ernie Getto and Bob Wyman, Latham & Watkins, LLP

Presentation slides
Getto: Science in the Courtroom presentation; Embedded videos: Video 1, Video 2, Video 3, Video 4, Video 5, Video 6, Video 7
Wyman: Climate Change; Climate Policy and Law

Burford Group LLC

Burford Group is the investment advisor to Burford Capital Limited, a publicly traded dispute financier that is one of the world's largest investors in commercial disputes.

Burford Capital provides financing in support of significant corporate litigation, arbitration, and other disputes, working with clients in both the United States and internationally. We employ a wide variety of flexible structures and Burford Capital is equally comfortable financing plaintiffs and defendants in disputes.

Maureen Gorsen top

Maureen Gorsen is a partner in the Environmental & Land Development Group at the law firm of Alston-Bird LLP, focusing her practice on environmental compliance and land use. She is the former director of the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, where she oversaw the state agency charged with protecting the public health and the environment from toxic harm, cleaning up sites contaminated by toxic substances, ensuring that hazardous waste is managed safely, and preventing future pollution. Ms. Gorsen has also been credited for overseeing California’s Green Chemistry Initiative, which will be one of the single most important environmental programs to be implemented in the next decade.

Ms. Gorsen previously served as the deputy secretary for law enforcement and general counsel at the California Environmental Protection Agency and, from 1993 until 1998, she was Governor Pete Wilson's appointee as the general counsel for the California Resources Agency, where, among other duties, she was responsible for reform and revisions of the 1998 CEQA Guidelines and issues relating to the California Endangered Species Act, the Williamson Act, and the Coastal Act.

Ms. Gorsen earned her law degree from Georgetown University, received her master's degree in international energy and environmental policy from Johns Hopkins University, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Workshops presented by Maureen Gorsen

Friday, January 21, 2011
Winter 2011 Environmental Law Enhancement Workshop
Where the Rubber Meets the Road: The Law You Really Need to Know to Work With and Against Agencies
See lecture slides

Thursday, September 29, 2011
Advanced Environmental Law Lecture
Where the Rubber Meets the Road: The Law You Really Need to Know to Work With and Against Agencies
See lecture slides

Alston-Bird, LLP

Alston-Bird was founded in Georgia in 1893 and now comprises 800 attorneys and offices in Washington, D.C., North Carolina, New York, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Ventura. Counseling clients from what was initially a local context to regional, then national, and now a global economic environment, Alston-Bird has overlaid its broad range of legal skills and business knowledge with a commitment to innovation and technology.

Legendary golfer Bobby Jones was a former partner of the firm, which continues to represent his name and monitor trademark issues for the family. Former partner Robert McCallum is now U.S. Ambassador to Australia, a position once held by Philip Alston, Jr. One of the most significant engagements in the firm's history began in 2002, when partner Neal Batson was appointed as Examiner for Enron Corp. by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York in 2002. The addition of former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole to the firm's Legislative & Public Policy Group gives Alston-Bird clients access to one of the nation's most respected statesmen and public-policy experts.

Russell M. McGlothlin top

Russell McGlothlin is a shareholder in Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck's Santa Barbara office and a member of the Water & Public Lands and Renewable Energy Practice Groups. His experience includes a broad range of water use issues in California and the western United States, including water-rights permitting, adjudication of groundwater rights, conjunctive water use, water transfers, water quality, recycled-water projects, and environmental matters, including CEQA and ESA compliance.

Mr. McGlothlin is a board member with the Santa Barbara-based Community Environmental Council and serves as the liaison for Brownstein's Corporate Partnership with the Bren School.

Workshops presented by Russell McGlothlin

Thursday, October 6, 2011
Advanced Environmental Law Lecture
"Who Owns the Water?" (Caution, it's a trick questions): Understanding the Fundamentals of Water Management Law
See lecture slides

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP was named one of the most highly commended "Water Law Firms of the Year" at Global Water Intelligence (GWI) Global Water Awards in 2008.

The firm has 250 attorneys and policy consultants in 12 offices and practices in the areas of corporate and business law, government relations and public policy, litigation, natural resources and real estate. Within these concentrations, Brownstein lawyers work in real estate development, hospitality, private equity, telecommunications, technology, manufacturing, construction, energy, water, gaming, banking and finance, and many other industries and practice areas.

Edward M. Norton top

Edward M. Norton serves as Senior Advisor – Environment to TPG Capital, L.P. In that role, Mr. Norton works with TPG portfolio companies to develop strategies to reduce costs, environmental impact, and associated risks through energy efficiency and waste reduction and to seize competitive advantage, increase revenue, and enhance value through environmental innovation. Mr. Norton also participates in TPG’s investment review process for new investments and works with the TPG’s growth fund to identify investments in renewable energy and clean technology companies.Mr. Norton graduated with a BA in European History from Washington & Lee University, attended Columbia University’s Russian Institute as a Woodrow Wilson Scholar, and received his JD from Harvard Law School.

After practicing law in Baltimore, Maryland, Mr. Norton served as an Assistant Attorney General of Maryland, an Assistant United States Attorney, special counsel to The Wilderness Society, the founding president of the Grand Canyon Trust, the founding chairman of the Board of Directors of the Rails-To-Trails Conservancy, the Vietnam Veterans Reconciliation Project, the Vice President for Law and Public Policy of the National Trust for Historic Preservation,

From 1998-2004, he lived and worked in northwest Yunnan Province, China, as senior advisor to The Nature Conservancy’s China Program. He also served as The Nature Conservancy’s Deputy Director for the Asia-Pacific Region, based in Bali, Indonesia and as Senior Advisor to the USAID Orangutan Conservation Services Project in Indonesia.

Workshops led by Ed Norton

November 10, 2011
Advanced Environmental Law Lecture
Conservation Through Acquisition

TPG Capital

TPG Capital  is a leading global private investment firm with $47 billion of capital under management across a family of funds. Since the firm's founding in 1992, TGP's investment philosophy has been to create value by investing in change — change created by industry trends, economic cycles, or specific company circumstances. TPG invests in companies across a broad range of industries and geographies. Its goal is to help management teams build long-term value that benefits all stakeholders. TGP structures its private equity investments based on each company’s circumstances.

Nik Patel top

Nik Patel is a partner in the Cooley Business department and a member of the firm's Clean Energy and Technologies group. He joined thefFirm in 2010 and is resident in the Washington, D.C., office. Mr. Patel's practice focuses on project development and finance, renewable-energy policy, carbon management and clean-energy technology. Acting primarily for developers, Mr. Patel has developed and financed numerous renewable-energy (including wind, solar, biomass, landfill gas, biofuels, geothermal, and hydro) and conventional-energy projects. He also provides counsel to clients in developing efficiency and renewable-energy transmission solutions.

Mr. Patel received his BS, magna cum laude, in accounting and finance from Florida State University in 1993 and his JD, cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center in 1996. He serves as adjunct professor of project finance and renewable energy at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University and lectures widely on topics relevant to the renewable energy industry.

Workshops presented byNik Patel

Friday, April 8, 2011
Spring 2011 Environmental Law Enhancement Workshop
Contracts and the Marketplace: Allocating the Risks and Benefits of Environmental Use and Impact
Howard Susman, Stoel Rives LLP; and Nik Patel, Cooley LLP

Cooley, LLP

The law firm now known as Cooley LLP opened its doors in San Francisco more than 80 years ago. Today, Cooley has nine offices and approximately 650 attorneys practicing law in areas ranging from life sciences, venture capital, technology transactions, and intellectual property to commercial litigation, tax, and bankruptcy. The firm is at the forefront of several emerging industries, including venture capital, information technology and life sciences. The firm formed Raychem in 1957 and National Semiconductor in 1959. Cooley took Genentech public in 1980 and Amgen in 1983, positioning the iirm as one of the leaders in the life sciences industry. In 1992, Cooley took Qualcomm public and soon opened an office in San Diego to support this and other clients in the Southern California region. Cooley became the first Silicon Valley firm to establish a presence in Colorado, when it opened an office in Boulder in 1993. Today, Cooley serves the Rocky Mountain corridor from Broomfield, Colorado. In 1999, Cooley expanded to the East coast with an office in Reston, Virginia, and immediately became a leading firm in this newest technology hotbed. In 2005, Cooley opened its second East coast office, expanding into Washington, D.C.