Chris Carr

Partner, Paul Hastings

Biography

Chris Carr is a partner in the San Francisco office of Paul Hastings LLP and chairs the firm’s Environment and Energy Practice Group. He is widely regarded as one of the leading infrastructure development, environmental, and energy lawyers in the United States. Drawing on his experience with the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Department of State, Mr. Carr represents businesses, landowners, public agencies, and nonprofits in all areas of environmental and natural resources law, including energy and infrastructure, water, forestry, agriculture, mining, and coastal and marine resources.

In particular, his practice focuses on permitting and litigation under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Clean Water Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and their California counterparts: the California ESA, the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act, and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). He has deep expertise and broad experience in local, state, federal, and international laws, regulations, initiatives, and programs addressing climate change and driving the energy transition.

Mr. Carr frequently defends permits, approvals, and environmental review documents for energy and other infrastructure projects in federal and state courts, and defends against “citizen suits” brought under federal and state environmental statutes for all manner of land and resources development.

Mr. Carr was Chair of Morrison and Foerster’s Global Energy & Environment Practice and Co-chair of its Cleantech Practice Group from 2010 – 2017. He is a regular speaker at Berkeley Law and Stanford Law School. Mr. Carr received his J.D. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.

He has published widely in the area of environmental regulation, and is frequently interviewed by the broadcast and print media for his views, including:

Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle, California pledges to redouble climate efforts after Supreme Court’s EPA ruling (Jun. 30, 2022), available at: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/California-vows-to-redouble-climate-efforts-after-17277969.php
Patrick Sisson, Bloomberg News, The Landmark Environmental Law Inside a NIMBY Firestorm (Apr. 20, 2022), available at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-04-20/the-landmark-environmental-law-inside-a-nimby-firestorm
Chris Carr, Wall Street Journal, The Environmental Law That Is Strangling California (Mar. 9, 2022), available at: https://www.wsj.com/articles/environmental-law-uc-university-california-berkely-students-enrollment-college-applications-acceptance-rejection-campus-building-codes-ceqa-11646864365
Chris Carr, Navi Dhillon, Lucas Grunbaum, The CEQA Gauntlet: How the California Environmental Quality Act Caused the State’s Construction Crisis and How to Reform It (Feb. 2022), available at: https://www.pacificresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/CEQA_Report_Final.pdf

Jennifer L. Hernandez

Partner, Holland & Knight

Biography

Jennifer Hernandez has practiced land use and environmental law for more than 30 years, and leads Holland & Knight's West Coast Land Use and Environmental Group. Ms. Hernandez divides her time between the firm's San Francisco and Los Angeles offices.

Ms. Hernandez is the only California lawyer ranked by her clients and peers in Chambers USA in the top tier of both land use/zoning and environmental lawyers. In addition, she was recognized as the top environmental litigator of the year in the San Francisco Bay Area by Best Lawyers, and received a California Lawyer of the Year award from the State Bar of California for her work on California's largest and most innovative land use and conservation agreement between her private landowner client and five major environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense Council. She also has received numerous civil rights awards for her work on overcoming environmentalist opposition to housing and other projects needed and supported by minority communities.

During his tenure as mayor of San Francisco, Willie Brown named October 9, 2002, as "Jennifer Hernandez Day" in San Francisco in honor of her work as a "warrior on the Brownfields" to restore and redevelop former industrial lands. Ms. Hernandez is the longest-serving minority board member (23 years) of the California League of Conservation voters, was appointed by President Clinton to serve as a trustee for the Presidio National Park in San Francisco, and serves on the board of directors for California Forward and Sustainable Conservation.

Ms. Hernandez works for private sector, public agency and nonprofit clients on a broad range of projects in Bay Area, Southern California and Central Valley communities, including infill and master-planned mixed-use housing and commercial projects, university and research facilities, transportation and infrastructure projects, renewable and other energy projects, and local agency plan and ordinance updates. She has written three books, and more than 50 articles, on environmental and land use topics, and regularly teaches land use, environmental and climate law in law and business schools, colleges and seminars. She also serves on the firm's Directors Committee and received the firm's highest honor – the Chesterfield Smith Award – for her community service.

Ms. Hernandez graduated with honors from Harvard University and Stanford Law School, and clerked for Region 20 of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) before beginning her land use and environmental law career. Ms. Hernandez is the daughter and granddaughter of steelworkers and was raised in Pittsburg, California. She and her husband live in Berkeley and Los Angeles.

Karrin Taylor Robson

Founder & President, Arizona Strategies

Biography

Karrin Taylor Robson is a respected and long-time Arizona business leader and land-use expert. She is Founder and President of Arizona Strategies, a premier land use strategy firm headquartered in Phoenix. Throughout her extensive career, she has entitled more than 35,000 acres including more than 45,000 homes and over 25 million square feet of commercial uses.

Karrin has worked with national organizations representing major landowners and stakeholders across the country to advance balanced federal environmental law and policy on endangered species acts and wetlands issues. In addition, she has advanced multiple public-private partnerships, leveraging private sector capital to deliver public infrastructure and other public benefits.

Karrin has also served on the boards of numerous government, community and economic development organizations. In June 2017, she was appointed by Governor Doug Ducey to the Arizona Board of Regents which is responsible for the governance of the state’s public universities, Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University and the University of Arizona. She served as the Chair of the Joe Foss Institute, Vice Chair of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, trustee of Boys and Girls Club of Metro Phoenix Foundation, and a board member of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and invisionAZ. Karrin currently serves as a member of the Civic Leaders Group for the Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, a member of the Arizona-Mexico Commission and a member of the board of American Council of Trustees and Alumni.

Prior to forming Arizona Strategies, Karrin served as Executive Vice President of DMB Associates, Inc., a Scottsdale based master-planned community developer where she was responsible for ongoing land use entitlement matters and other value-enhancing efforts for its communities and businesses.

Earlier in her career, Karrin was a principal with the law firm of Biskind, Hunt & Taylor, P.L.C., where she practiced in the areas of land use, development and zoning law representing large landowners on significant and complex land use cases.

Her deep Arizona history and professional experience have shaped her perspective on our culture today and helped define her personal priorities. She believes that being actively involved in the community is a prerequisite for being an American.

Through her numerous professional, community and philanthropic commitments, Karrin advocates daily for building and sustaining a dynamic and diverse economy, protecting property rights and creating value in real estate, developing a world-class education system with options for all types of learners, fostering civic engagement and supporting the men and women who serve in our military.

Karrin is the mother of four, a grandmother, and the wife of Ed Robson. In the most recent chapter of her career, Karrin was a candidate for Governor of Arizona.

Chris Carr

Partner, Paul Hastings

Biography

Chris Carr is a partner in the San Francisco office of Paul Hastings LLP and chairs the firm’s Environment and Energy Practice Group. He is widely regarded as one of the leading infrastructure development, environmental, and energy lawyers in the United States. Drawing on his experience with the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Department of State, Mr. Carr represents businesses, landowners, public agencies, and nonprofits in all areas of environmental and natural resources law, including energy and infrastructure, water, forestry, agriculture, mining, and coastal and marine resources.

In particular, his practice focuses on permitting and litigation under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Clean Water Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and their California counterparts: the California ESA, the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act, and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). He has deep expertise and broad experience in local, state, federal, and international laws, regulations, initiatives, and programs addressing climate change and driving the energy transition.

Mr. Carr frequently defends permits, approvals, and environmental review documents for energy and other infrastructure projects in federal and state courts, and defends against “citizen suits” brought under federal and state environmental statutes for all manner of land and resources development.

Mr. Carr was Chair of Morrison and Foerster’s Global Energy & Environment Practice and Co-chair of its Cleantech Practice Group from 2010 – 2017. He is a regular speaker at Berkeley Law and Stanford Law School. Mr. Carr received his J.D. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.

He has published widely in the area of environmental regulation, and is frequently interviewed by the broadcast and print media for his views, including:

Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle, California pledges to redouble climate efforts after Supreme Court’s EPA ruling (Jun. 30, 2022), available at: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/California-vows-to-redouble-climate-efforts-after-17277969.php
Patrick Sisson, Bloomberg News, The Landmark Environmental Law Inside a NIMBY Firestorm (Apr. 20, 2022), available at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-04-20/the-landmark-environmental-law-inside-a-nimby-firestorm
Chris Carr, Wall Street Journal, The Environmental Law That Is Strangling California (Mar. 9, 2022), available at: https://www.wsj.com/articles/environmental-law-uc-university-california-berkely-students-enrollment-college-applications-acceptance-rejection-campus-building-codes-ceqa-11646864365
Chris Carr, Navi Dhillon, Lucas Grunbaum, The CEQA Gauntlet: How the California Environmental Quality Act Caused the State’s Construction Crisis and How to Reform It (Feb. 2022), available at: https://www.pacificresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/CEQA_Report_Final.pdf