Corinne Virginia Snow

Partner, Vinson & Elkins

Biography

Corinne principally practices in environmental law, with an emphasis on litigation, regulatory compliance, internal investigations, and defense against government investigations and enforcement actions.

Corinne draws on wide experience at the U.S. Department of Justice, including serving as Senior Counsel in the Office of the Associate Attorney General, which oversees all civil litigation on behalf of the United States, and as Counselor in the Office of the Attorney General.

Corinne most recently served as Counsel and Chief of Staff in the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where she assisted in managing a 600-person division that included 400 lawyers. In this role she helped manage the Division’s civil and criminal litigation arising under more than 150 environmental and natural resources laws.

She also worked closely with the General Counsel’s Offices for multiple federal agencies, including the EPA, Departments of Interior, Defense, Energy, Commerce, and Agriculture, as well as the White House and Counsel on Environmental Quality to advise high-ranking officials on policy and litigation risks associated with the environmental and natural resource laws.

She has personally argued cases in three U.S. Courts of Appeals, and multiple district courts, and served as the lead or co-lead counsel in district court litigation defending agency regulations, approvals, and permits related to oil and gas operations and other energy extraction projects.

Her roles in government have given her a unique perspective into the decision-making processes in the federal government.

In the private sector, Corinne counsels clients on environmental compliance across a variety of industries, including energy, chemical, manufacturing, and mining sectors. In the transactional context, she assists in the drafting and negotiating of the environmental terms in purchase and sale agreements, lease agreements, credit agreements, and disclosures for debt and equity offerings and public filings. She has also drafted comments on behalf of clients to agencies on proposed rules with significant implications for the oil and gas industry.

Corinne Virginia Snow

Partner, Vinson & Elkins

Biography

Corinne principally practices in environmental law, with an emphasis on litigation, regulatory compliance, internal investigations, and defense against government investigations and enforcement actions.

Corinne draws on wide experience at the U.S. Department of Justice, including serving as Senior Counsel in the Office of the Associate Attorney General, which oversees all civil litigation on behalf of the United States, and as Counselor in the Office of the Attorney General.

Corinne most recently served as Counsel and Chief of Staff in the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where she assisted in managing a 600-person division that included 400 lawyers. In this role she helped manage the Division’s civil and criminal litigation arising under more than 150 environmental and natural resources laws.

She also worked closely with the General Counsel’s Offices for multiple federal agencies, including the EPA, Departments of Interior, Defense, Energy, Commerce, and Agriculture, as well as the White House and Counsel on Environmental Quality to advise high-ranking officials on policy and litigation risks associated with the environmental and natural resource laws.

She has personally argued cases in three U.S. Courts of Appeals, and multiple district courts, and served as the lead or co-lead counsel in district court litigation defending agency regulations, approvals, and permits related to oil and gas operations and other energy extraction projects.

Her roles in government have given her a unique perspective into the decision-making processes in the federal government.

In the private sector, Corinne counsels clients on environmental compliance across a variety of industries, including energy, chemical, manufacturing, and mining sectors. In the transactional context, she assists in the drafting and negotiating of the environmental terms in purchase and sale agreements, lease agreements, credit agreements, and disclosures for debt and equity offerings and public filings. She has also drafted comments on behalf of clients to agencies on proposed rules with significant implications for the oil and gas industry.

Varu Chilakamarri

Partner, K&L Gates

Biography

Varu Chilakamarri is a partner in the K&L Gates Environment, Land, and Natural Resources practice group. Her practice focuses on litigation services, particularly in appellate matters and in administrative, environmental, and energy law. Varu also counsels clients on government-facing matters, which often involve strategic analysis of legal risks and opportunities presented by statutory and regulatory frameworks.

Varu joined K&L Gates after a 17-year career at the US Department of Justice, where she was a successful federal district and appellate court litigator and held various senior leadership roles. Most recently, she served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the DOJ's Civil Division. In this role, Varu was the head of the Torts Branch, an office of over 230 litigators and staff who defend the United States in a wide range of suits for monetary damages—including toxic tort cases arising out of environmental regulatory actions, constitutional tort cases, and cases brought under unique statutory compensation programs.

Before that, Varu was an appellate attorney in the Environment and Natural Resources Division, serving as lead counsel in complex civil and criminal appeals. These included facial challenges to the constitutionality of federal laws and regulations, and challenges to the validity of federal permitting and land use decisions (e.g., cases involving the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Clean Water Act). She also litigated enforcement cases, including those involving violations of substantive environmental laws, recordkeeping requirements, and various Title 18 provisions. She argued cases before the US Court of Appeals for the Third, Fifth, Ninth, Tenth, D.C., and the Federal Circuit, and she has practiced in several other federal appellate and district courts. Varu was previously appointed as the Division's first counselor for animal welfare matters and served as Chief of Staff to the Assistant Attorney General in DOJ's Environment and Natural Resources Division. Varu's work at the DOJ often centered on novel legal challenges arising from a broad suite of federal statutes, including two preemption lawsuits that went to the US Supreme Court.

Varu joined the DOJ in 2006 through the Attorney General's honors program as a trial attorney in the Civil Division's Federal Programs Branch, and during her tenure, also worked in the office of the Associate Attorney General as Acting Deputy and served on detail to the White House Counsel's Office. Before joining the DOJ, Varu clerked for Judge R. Guy Cole in the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and Judge Timothy B. Dyk in the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Robert L. Levy

Executive Counsel - Issues and Advocacy, Exxon Mobil Corporation Law Department

Biography

Robert Levy serves as Executive Counsel at ExxonMobil, where he leads the company’s legal strategy on advocacy and civil justice reform. His work includes representing ExxonMobil in state and national organizations dedicated to improving the legal system and the rule of law, coordinating amicus support on key policy and litigation matters, and advising on data privacy and information governance. He previously oversaw the company’s eDiscovery compliance and cybersecurity law initiatives.

Robert currently chairs the Board of the American Tort Reform Association and previously served as President of the Civil Justice Reform Group. He is Treasurer of Lawyers for Civil Justice (LCJ), chairs its Discovery Committee, and serves on its Amicus Committee. He is also actively involved with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform and Litigation Center and sits on the Executive Committee of the Texas Civil Justice League. Additionally, he is an active member of the Federalist Society and its In-House Counsel Network.

A long-standing member of the Texas Supreme Court Advisory Committee, Robert has served for over 14 years and currently chairs one of its subcommittees. He also sits on the Advisory Councils of the Atlantic Legal Foundation, the Center for Law & Public Policy, and the Mountain States Legal Foundation. In recognition of his leadership, LCJ awarded him with the Al Cortese Award for his contributions to civil justice reform. Texans for Lawsuit Reform and the Texas Civil Justice League have honored Robert for his years of service to TCJL and Texas civil justice reform.

He has also been deeply engaged in community and bar activities, serving for over a decade on the board of Houston Volunteer Lawyers and on the board of the Houston Jewish Federation. He is a former Chair of the Board of Robert M. Beren Academy, where he was honored with the Dena and Baruch Brody Award for his leadership and service. Additionally, he served as President of United Orthodox Synagogues, reflecting his longstanding commitment to faith-based and civic leadership.

Robert is a frequent speaker at legal conferences and continuing legal education (CLE) programs. Early in his career, he served as a briefing attorney for the Honorable Judge Robert Parker of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. He has practiced law for over 39 years and earned his J.D. with honors from the University of Texas School of Law in 1986.

Before joining ExxonMobil, Robert was a partner at Haynes and Boone, LLP for over 14 years, where he practiced in the Business Litigation Section. He also held positions at Johnson & Gibbs and Weil, Gotshal & Manges.

Robert and his wife Barbara reside in Houston, Texas, where they raised four children and now enjoy their role as proud grandparents to three grandchildren.

Mario Loyola

Senior Fellow for Law, Economics, and Technology, The Heritage Foundation; Professor, Florida International University

Biography

Mario Loyola is a Senior Fellow for Law, Economics, and Technology at The Heritage Foundation.

Loyola served in the Trump Administration as Associate Director for Regulatory Reform at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. In that role, he was one of the principal drafters of the One Federal Decision policy, which helped to streamline the permitting and environmental review of large infrastructure projects. While at CEQ, he was a member of the U.S. delegation to the USMCA free trade negotiations with Mexico and Canada, as well as the United Nations conference on biodiversity on the high seas. Loyola initially joined the White House in February 2017 as a Presidential Speechwriter, employing his expertise in many areas of foreign and domestic policy.

After beginning his career in M&A and corporate finance law, Loyola served in the Bush 43 Administration as a special assistant to the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy. He left that position to start writing on national defense issues in magazines such as National Review and The Weekly Standard, reporting from the front lines of the war on terrorism in Lebanon, Israel, and Iraq. He finished the Bush Administration as Foreign and Defense Counsel to the U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee, then under the chairmanship of Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas. He subsequently moved to Texas and joined the Texas Public Policy Foundation, where he specialized in energy, environment, and federalism.

Loyola is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, National Review, and The Atlantic, among others. He teaches environmental and administrative law at Florida International University, where he is Founding Director of the Environmental Finance and Risk Management program in FIU’s prestigious Institute of Environment. He received a bachelor’s degree in European history from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a J.D. from Washington University School of Law.

Corinne Virginia Snow

Partner, Vinson & Elkins

Biography

Corinne principally practices in environmental law, with an emphasis on litigation, regulatory compliance, internal investigations, and defense against government investigations and enforcement actions.

Corinne draws on wide experience at the U.S. Department of Justice, including serving as Senior Counsel in the Office of the Associate Attorney General, which oversees all civil litigation on behalf of the United States, and as Counselor in the Office of the Attorney General.

Corinne most recently served as Counsel and Chief of Staff in the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where she assisted in managing a 600-person division that included 400 lawyers. In this role she helped manage the Division’s civil and criminal litigation arising under more than 150 environmental and natural resources laws.

She also worked closely with the General Counsel’s Offices for multiple federal agencies, including the EPA, Departments of Interior, Defense, Energy, Commerce, and Agriculture, as well as the White House and Counsel on Environmental Quality to advise high-ranking officials on policy and litigation risks associated with the environmental and natural resource laws.

She has personally argued cases in three U.S. Courts of Appeals, and multiple district courts, and served as the lead or co-lead counsel in district court litigation defending agency regulations, approvals, and permits related to oil and gas operations and other energy extraction projects.

Her roles in government have given her a unique perspective into the decision-making processes in the federal government.

In the private sector, Corinne counsels clients on environmental compliance across a variety of industries, including energy, chemical, manufacturing, and mining sectors. In the transactional context, she assists in the drafting and negotiating of the environmental terms in purchase and sale agreements, lease agreements, credit agreements, and disclosures for debt and equity offerings and public filings. She has also drafted comments on behalf of clients to agencies on proposed rules with significant implications for the oil and gas industry.

Jim Wedeking

Counsel, Sidley Austin LLP

Biography

JIM WEDEKING is an environmental litigator, representing large companies in the defense of criminal and civil enforcement actions, toxic tort defense, and complex civil litigation. A key aspect of Jim’s practice includes developing an involved understanding of how a client’s facilities and operations function, given the complex scientific and technical issues that are typically the subject of litigation. These clients have included large companies in the oil and gas, electric power, chemical manufacturing, mining, and automotive industries.

Selected representations include:

Defending an international pest control company on federal criminal charges as well as related civil actions by an Attorney General and private plaintiffs alleging tort claims and violations of racketeering statutes.
Representing a natural gas pipeline company in multi-forum Clean Water Act and NEPA litigation related to the construction of an interstate natural gas pipeline.
Representing an aftermarket parts company in an EPA investigation into Clean Air Act Title II compliance.
Represented an electric power company in a federal criminal investigation into coal ash discharges and NPDES permit violations.
Lead counsel for a commodities trading company in toxic tort litigation involving alleged MTBE contamination in California, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Jim has significant experience aiding clients in criminal and civil investigations, including responses to grand jury subpoenas and federal agency information requests. This experience helps reduce the burden of response for clients while targeted internal investigations aid in resolving potential compliance issues. Jim’s work on environmental litigation has earned him recognition as a Rising Star in environmental litigation in 2014 and 2015 by Washington D.C. Super Lawyers magazine.

Corinne Virginia Snow

Partner, Vinson & Elkins

Biography

Corinne principally practices in environmental law, with an emphasis on litigation, regulatory compliance, internal investigations, and defense against government investigations and enforcement actions.

Corinne draws on wide experience at the U.S. Department of Justice, including serving as Senior Counsel in the Office of the Associate Attorney General, which oversees all civil litigation on behalf of the United States, and as Counselor in the Office of the Attorney General.

Corinne most recently served as Counsel and Chief of Staff in the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where she assisted in managing a 600-person division that included 400 lawyers. In this role she helped manage the Division’s civil and criminal litigation arising under more than 150 environmental and natural resources laws.

She also worked closely with the General Counsel’s Offices for multiple federal agencies, including the EPA, Departments of Interior, Defense, Energy, Commerce, and Agriculture, as well as the White House and Counsel on Environmental Quality to advise high-ranking officials on policy and litigation risks associated with the environmental and natural resource laws.

She has personally argued cases in three U.S. Courts of Appeals, and multiple district courts, and served as the lead or co-lead counsel in district court litigation defending agency regulations, approvals, and permits related to oil and gas operations and other energy extraction projects.

Her roles in government have given her a unique perspective into the decision-making processes in the federal government.

In the private sector, Corinne counsels clients on environmental compliance across a variety of industries, including energy, chemical, manufacturing, and mining sectors. In the transactional context, she assists in the drafting and negotiating of the environmental terms in purchase and sale agreements, lease agreements, credit agreements, and disclosures for debt and equity offerings and public filings. She has also drafted comments on behalf of clients to agencies on proposed rules with significant implications for the oil and gas industry.

Corinne Virginia Snow

Partner, Vinson & Elkins

Biography

Corinne principally practices in environmental law, with an emphasis on litigation, regulatory compliance, internal investigations, and defense against government investigations and enforcement actions.

Corinne draws on wide experience at the U.S. Department of Justice, including serving as Senior Counsel in the Office of the Associate Attorney General, which oversees all civil litigation on behalf of the United States, and as Counselor in the Office of the Attorney General.

Corinne most recently served as Counsel and Chief of Staff in the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where she assisted in managing a 600-person division that included 400 lawyers. In this role she helped manage the Division’s civil and criminal litigation arising under more than 150 environmental and natural resources laws.

She also worked closely with the General Counsel’s Offices for multiple federal agencies, including the EPA, Departments of Interior, Defense, Energy, Commerce, and Agriculture, as well as the White House and Counsel on Environmental Quality to advise high-ranking officials on policy and litigation risks associated with the environmental and natural resource laws.

She has personally argued cases in three U.S. Courts of Appeals, and multiple district courts, and served as the lead or co-lead counsel in district court litigation defending agency regulations, approvals, and permits related to oil and gas operations and other energy extraction projects.

Her roles in government have given her a unique perspective into the decision-making processes in the federal government.

In the private sector, Corinne counsels clients on environmental compliance across a variety of industries, including energy, chemical, manufacturing, and mining sectors. In the transactional context, she assists in the drafting and negotiating of the environmental terms in purchase and sale agreements, lease agreements, credit agreements, and disclosures for debt and equity offerings and public filings. She has also drafted comments on behalf of clients to agencies on proposed rules with significant implications for the oil and gas industry.

Varu Chilakamarri

Partner, K&L Gates

Biography

Varu Chilakamarri is a partner in the K&L Gates Environment, Land, and Natural Resources practice group. Her practice focuses on litigation services, particularly in appellate matters and in administrative, environmental, and energy law. Varu also counsels clients on government-facing matters, which often involve strategic analysis of legal risks and opportunities presented by statutory and regulatory frameworks.

Varu joined K&L Gates after a 17-year career at the US Department of Justice, where she was a successful federal district and appellate court litigator and held various senior leadership roles. Most recently, she served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the DOJ's Civil Division. In this role, Varu was the head of the Torts Branch, an office of over 230 litigators and staff who defend the United States in a wide range of suits for monetary damages—including toxic tort cases arising out of environmental regulatory actions, constitutional tort cases, and cases brought under unique statutory compensation programs.

Before that, Varu was an appellate attorney in the Environment and Natural Resources Division, serving as lead counsel in complex civil and criminal appeals. These included facial challenges to the constitutionality of federal laws and regulations, and challenges to the validity of federal permitting and land use decisions (e.g., cases involving the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Clean Water Act). She also litigated enforcement cases, including those involving violations of substantive environmental laws, recordkeeping requirements, and various Title 18 provisions. She argued cases before the US Court of Appeals for the Third, Fifth, Ninth, Tenth, D.C., and the Federal Circuit, and she has practiced in several other federal appellate and district courts. Varu was previously appointed as the Division's first counselor for animal welfare matters and served as Chief of Staff to the Assistant Attorney General in DOJ's Environment and Natural Resources Division. Varu's work at the DOJ often centered on novel legal challenges arising from a broad suite of federal statutes, including two preemption lawsuits that went to the US Supreme Court.

Varu joined the DOJ in 2006 through the Attorney General's honors program as a trial attorney in the Civil Division's Federal Programs Branch, and during her tenure, also worked in the office of the Associate Attorney General as Acting Deputy and served on detail to the White House Counsel's Office. Before joining the DOJ, Varu clerked for Judge R. Guy Cole in the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and Judge Timothy B. Dyk in the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Robert L. Levy

Executive Counsel - Issues and Advocacy, Exxon Mobil Corporation Law Department

Biography

Robert Levy serves as Executive Counsel at ExxonMobil, where he leads the company’s legal strategy on advocacy and civil justice reform. His work includes representing ExxonMobil in state and national organizations dedicated to improving the legal system and the rule of law, coordinating amicus support on key policy and litigation matters, and advising on data privacy and information governance. He previously oversaw the company’s eDiscovery compliance and cybersecurity law initiatives.

Robert currently chairs the Board of the American Tort Reform Association and previously served as President of the Civil Justice Reform Group. He is Treasurer of Lawyers for Civil Justice (LCJ), chairs its Discovery Committee, and serves on its Amicus Committee. He is also actively involved with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform and Litigation Center and sits on the Executive Committee of the Texas Civil Justice League. Additionally, he is an active member of the Federalist Society and its In-House Counsel Network.

A long-standing member of the Texas Supreme Court Advisory Committee, Robert has served for over 14 years and currently chairs one of its subcommittees. He also sits on the Advisory Councils of the Atlantic Legal Foundation, the Center for Law & Public Policy, and the Mountain States Legal Foundation. In recognition of his leadership, LCJ awarded him with the Al Cortese Award for his contributions to civil justice reform. Texans for Lawsuit Reform and the Texas Civil Justice League have honored Robert for his years of service to TCJL and Texas civil justice reform.

He has also been deeply engaged in community and bar activities, serving for over a decade on the board of Houston Volunteer Lawyers and on the board of the Houston Jewish Federation. He is a former Chair of the Board of Robert M. Beren Academy, where he was honored with the Dena and Baruch Brody Award for his leadership and service. Additionally, he served as President of United Orthodox Synagogues, reflecting his longstanding commitment to faith-based and civic leadership.

Robert is a frequent speaker at legal conferences and continuing legal education (CLE) programs. Early in his career, he served as a briefing attorney for the Honorable Judge Robert Parker of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. He has practiced law for over 39 years and earned his J.D. with honors from the University of Texas School of Law in 1986.

Before joining ExxonMobil, Robert was a partner at Haynes and Boone, LLP for over 14 years, where he practiced in the Business Litigation Section. He also held positions at Johnson & Gibbs and Weil, Gotshal & Manges.

Robert and his wife Barbara reside in Houston, Texas, where they raised four children and now enjoy their role as proud grandparents to three grandchildren.

Mario Loyola

Senior Fellow for Law, Economics, and Technology, The Heritage Foundation; Professor, Florida International University

Biography

Mario Loyola is a Senior Fellow for Law, Economics, and Technology at The Heritage Foundation.

Loyola served in the Trump Administration as Associate Director for Regulatory Reform at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. In that role, he was one of the principal drafters of the One Federal Decision policy, which helped to streamline the permitting and environmental review of large infrastructure projects. While at CEQ, he was a member of the U.S. delegation to the USMCA free trade negotiations with Mexico and Canada, as well as the United Nations conference on biodiversity on the high seas. Loyola initially joined the White House in February 2017 as a Presidential Speechwriter, employing his expertise in many areas of foreign and domestic policy.

After beginning his career in M&A and corporate finance law, Loyola served in the Bush 43 Administration as a special assistant to the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy. He left that position to start writing on national defense issues in magazines such as National Review and The Weekly Standard, reporting from the front lines of the war on terrorism in Lebanon, Israel, and Iraq. He finished the Bush Administration as Foreign and Defense Counsel to the U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee, then under the chairmanship of Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas. He subsequently moved to Texas and joined the Texas Public Policy Foundation, where he specialized in energy, environment, and federalism.

Loyola is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, National Review, and The Atlantic, among others. He teaches environmental and administrative law at Florida International University, where he is Founding Director of the Environmental Finance and Risk Management program in FIU’s prestigious Institute of Environment. He received a bachelor’s degree in European history from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a J.D. from Washington University School of Law.

Corinne Virginia Snow

Partner, Vinson & Elkins

Biography

Corinne principally practices in environmental law, with an emphasis on litigation, regulatory compliance, internal investigations, and defense against government investigations and enforcement actions.

Corinne draws on wide experience at the U.S. Department of Justice, including serving as Senior Counsel in the Office of the Associate Attorney General, which oversees all civil litigation on behalf of the United States, and as Counselor in the Office of the Attorney General.

Corinne most recently served as Counsel and Chief of Staff in the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where she assisted in managing a 600-person division that included 400 lawyers. In this role she helped manage the Division’s civil and criminal litigation arising under more than 150 environmental and natural resources laws.

She also worked closely with the General Counsel’s Offices for multiple federal agencies, including the EPA, Departments of Interior, Defense, Energy, Commerce, and Agriculture, as well as the White House and Counsel on Environmental Quality to advise high-ranking officials on policy and litigation risks associated with the environmental and natural resource laws.

She has personally argued cases in three U.S. Courts of Appeals, and multiple district courts, and served as the lead or co-lead counsel in district court litigation defending agency regulations, approvals, and permits related to oil and gas operations and other energy extraction projects.

Her roles in government have given her a unique perspective into the decision-making processes in the federal government.

In the private sector, Corinne counsels clients on environmental compliance across a variety of industries, including energy, chemical, manufacturing, and mining sectors. In the transactional context, she assists in the drafting and negotiating of the environmental terms in purchase and sale agreements, lease agreements, credit agreements, and disclosures for debt and equity offerings and public filings. She has also drafted comments on behalf of clients to agencies on proposed rules with significant implications for the oil and gas industry.

Jim Wedeking

Counsel, Sidley Austin LLP

Biography

JIM WEDEKING is an environmental litigator, representing large companies in the defense of criminal and civil enforcement actions, toxic tort defense, and complex civil litigation. A key aspect of Jim’s practice includes developing an involved understanding of how a client’s facilities and operations function, given the complex scientific and technical issues that are typically the subject of litigation. These clients have included large companies in the oil and gas, electric power, chemical manufacturing, mining, and automotive industries.

Selected representations include:

Defending an international pest control company on federal criminal charges as well as related civil actions by an Attorney General and private plaintiffs alleging tort claims and violations of racketeering statutes.
Representing a natural gas pipeline company in multi-forum Clean Water Act and NEPA litigation related to the construction of an interstate natural gas pipeline.
Representing an aftermarket parts company in an EPA investigation into Clean Air Act Title II compliance.
Represented an electric power company in a federal criminal investigation into coal ash discharges and NPDES permit violations.
Lead counsel for a commodities trading company in toxic tort litigation involving alleged MTBE contamination in California, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Jim has significant experience aiding clients in criminal and civil investigations, including responses to grand jury subpoenas and federal agency information requests. This experience helps reduce the burden of response for clients while targeted internal investigations aid in resolving potential compliance issues. Jim’s work on environmental litigation has earned him recognition as a Rising Star in environmental litigation in 2014 and 2015 by Washington D.C. Super Lawyers magazine.

Akhil Reed Amar

Sterling Professor of Law, Yale Law School

Biography

Akhil Reed Amar is Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University, where he teaches constitutional law in both Yale College and Yale Law School. After graduating from Yale College, summa cum laude, in 1980 and from Yale Law School in 1984, and clerking for Judge (later Justice) Stephen Breyer, Amar joined the Yale faculty in 1985 at the age of 26. He is Yale’s only living professor to have won the University’s unofficial triple crown — the Sterling Chair for scholarship, the DeVane Medal for teaching, and the Lamar Award for alumni service.

Amar’s work has won awards from both the American Bar Association and the Federalist Society, and he has been cited by Supreme Court justices across the spectrum in more than 50 cases — tops among scholars under age 70. According to both Fred Shapiro’s landmark 2021 study of lifetime scholarly citations and Heinonline’s most recent tabulation of lifetime law-review citations, Amar is America’s second most-cited legal scholar still under age 70. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has written widely for popular publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Time, and The Atlantic. He was an informal consultant to the popular TV show The West Wing and his scholarship has been showcased on many broadcasts, including The Colbert Report, Morning Joe, AC360, Velshi, Fox News @ Night with Shannon Bream, Fareed Zakaria GPS, Erin Burnett Outfront, and Constitution USA with Peter Sagal.

He is the author of more than a hundred law review articles and several books, including The Bill of Rights (1998 — winner of the Yale University Press Governors’ Award), America’s Constitution (2005 — winner of the ABA’s Silver Gavel Award), America’s Unwritten Constitution (2012 — named one of the year’s 100 best nonfiction books by The Washington Post), and The Constitution Today (2016 — named one of the year’s top ten nonfiction books by Time magazine). The first volume of his ambitious trilogy on American constitutional history from the Founding to the present, The Words That Made Us: America’s Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840, came out in May 2021. The second volume, Born Equal: Remaking America’s Constitution, 1840-1920, will be published in September 2025 and is already available for pre-order. All together, his nonfiction books have won two starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and three starred reviews from Kirkus—tops, it is believed, among legal scholars under age 70. Together with Vikram David Amar (YLS ’88), he has a bi-weekly column on the Supreme Court on the distinguished website SCOTUSblog. Along with Andy Lipka, he co-hosts a popular and free weekly podcast, Amarica’s Constitution, whose listeners are eligible for CLE credit in most American jurisdictions. A wide assortment of his articles and op-eds and video links to many of his public lectures and free online courses may be found at akhilamar.com.

Corinne Virginia Snow

Partner, Vinson & Elkins

Biography

Corinne principally practices in environmental law, with an emphasis on litigation, regulatory compliance, internal investigations, and defense against government investigations and enforcement actions.

Corinne draws on wide experience at the U.S. Department of Justice, including serving as Senior Counsel in the Office of the Associate Attorney General, which oversees all civil litigation on behalf of the United States, and as Counselor in the Office of the Attorney General.

Corinne most recently served as Counsel and Chief of Staff in the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where she assisted in managing a 600-person division that included 400 lawyers. In this role she helped manage the Division’s civil and criminal litigation arising under more than 150 environmental and natural resources laws.

She also worked closely with the General Counsel’s Offices for multiple federal agencies, including the EPA, Departments of Interior, Defense, Energy, Commerce, and Agriculture, as well as the White House and Counsel on Environmental Quality to advise high-ranking officials on policy and litigation risks associated with the environmental and natural resource laws.

She has personally argued cases in three U.S. Courts of Appeals, and multiple district courts, and served as the lead or co-lead counsel in district court litigation defending agency regulations, approvals, and permits related to oil and gas operations and other energy extraction projects.

Her roles in government have given her a unique perspective into the decision-making processes in the federal government.

In the private sector, Corinne counsels clients on environmental compliance across a variety of industries, including energy, chemical, manufacturing, and mining sectors. In the transactional context, she assists in the drafting and negotiating of the environmental terms in purchase and sale agreements, lease agreements, credit agreements, and disclosures for debt and equity offerings and public filings. She has also drafted comments on behalf of clients to agencies on proposed rules with significant implications for the oil and gas industry.

Andrew Mergen

Emmett Visiting Assistant Clinical Professor of Law in Environmental Law, Harvard Law School

Biography

Andrew Mergen is a Visiting Assistant Clinical Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Emmett Environmental Law & Policy Clinic. Prior to joining the Harvard Law School faculty, Andrew Mergen served in the Appellate Section of the Environment & Natural Resources Division (ENRD) at the United States Department of Justice. Professor Mergen began his career at the Justice Department in the Honors Program and concluded his career as Chief of ENRD’s Appellate Section. He has presented oral arguments in all 13 federal courts of appeals, including two en banc courts, and before several state intermediate and supreme courts. He has also worked on over a dozen merits cases in the Supreme Court of the United States. In addition, in 2009, Professor Mergen assisted the Office of White House Counsel on the confirmation of the Honorable Sonia Sotomayor as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. During his career at the Justice Department, Professor Mergen received the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service three times. He also received ENRD’s Muskee-Chafee Award, honoring his work’s significant contribution to protecting the environment.

Before entering clinical teaching, Professor Mergen taught at several law schools including, Harvard Law School (Advanced Environmental Law), the University of Michigan Law School (Natural Resources Law) and the William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawaii-Manoa (Administrative Law). Professor Mergen has written about federal water rights in “A Misplaced Sensitivity: The Draft Opinions in Wyoming v. United States” (68 Colo. L. Rev. 683 (1997), with Sylvia F. Liu); energy development on public lands in “Surface Tension: The Problem of Federal Private Split Estates” (33 Land & Water L. Rev. 419 (1998)); climate change and the Endangered Species Act in “The Role of Climate Change in ESA Listing Decisions” (53 Rocky Mt. Min. L. Fdn. 67 (2016), with Murray Feldman) and the accommodation of Native American sacred sites on federal land in “Finding the Path Forward for Indigenous Sacred and Cultural Spaces on Federal Public Land,” 68 Nat. Resources & Energy L. Inst. 32-1 (2022). Professor Mergen is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin—Madison and the George Washington University Law School.

Corinne Virginia Snow

Partner, Vinson & Elkins

Biography

Corinne principally practices in environmental law, with an emphasis on litigation, regulatory compliance, internal investigations, and defense against government investigations and enforcement actions.

Corinne draws on wide experience at the U.S. Department of Justice, including serving as Senior Counsel in the Office of the Associate Attorney General, which oversees all civil litigation on behalf of the United States, and as Counselor in the Office of the Attorney General.

Corinne most recently served as Counsel and Chief of Staff in the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where she assisted in managing a 600-person division that included 400 lawyers. In this role she helped manage the Division’s civil and criminal litigation arising under more than 150 environmental and natural resources laws.

She also worked closely with the General Counsel’s Offices for multiple federal agencies, including the EPA, Departments of Interior, Defense, Energy, Commerce, and Agriculture, as well as the White House and Counsel on Environmental Quality to advise high-ranking officials on policy and litigation risks associated with the environmental and natural resource laws.

She has personally argued cases in three U.S. Courts of Appeals, and multiple district courts, and served as the lead or co-lead counsel in district court litigation defending agency regulations, approvals, and permits related to oil and gas operations and other energy extraction projects.

Her roles in government have given her a unique perspective into the decision-making processes in the federal government.

In the private sector, Corinne counsels clients on environmental compliance across a variety of industries, including energy, chemical, manufacturing, and mining sectors. In the transactional context, she assists in the drafting and negotiating of the environmental terms in purchase and sale agreements, lease agreements, credit agreements, and disclosures for debt and equity offerings and public filings. She has also drafted comments on behalf of clients to agencies on proposed rules with significant implications for the oil and gas industry.

Corinne Virginia Snow

Partner, Vinson & Elkins

Federalism on Trial: Can Local Governments Regulate Global Climate Policy through Tort Law?

Hawaii Lawyer Chapter

Energy Dominance and Environmental Law

Chicago Lawyers Chapter

Energy Emergency: Executive Power and the Future of U.S. Energy

Regulatory Transparency Project

Energy Transition or Energy Dominance: How environmental law can hurt and help

Houston Lawyers Chapter

Green Laws, Red Tape: How Environmental Law Effects Energy Transistion

Michigan Student Chapter

Energy Emergency: Executive Power and the Future of U.S. Energy

DC-Wide FedSoc Rupe Debate: Is the Wealth Tax Constitutional?

Breakout Panel 5 - Environmental Law and the Constitution: Exceeding the Limits

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Hawaii Lawyer Chapter

Chicago Lawyers Chapter

Regulatory Transparency Project

Houston Lawyers Chapter

Michigan Student Chapter