Partner, Briscoe Prows Kao Ivester & Bazel LLP
Tony Francois is experienced in Water and Real Property Law, Land Use and Zoning, Environmental Regulation, Natural Resources Development, Agricultural Law, and Constitutional Law. He has represented homeowners, builders, farmers and ranchers, trade associations, and water districts in administrative, civil, and criminal proceedings before state and federal administrative agencies and state and federal trial and appellate courts. He is a member of the California State Bar and the Northern, Eastern, and Central Districts of California and the Districts of New Mexico and North Dakota, and has litigated cases in federal courts in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia, as well as the Sixth, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuit Courts of Appeals. He has appeared before the Supreme Courts of California, Idaho, Nevada, and the United States.
Prior to attending law school, he served as an infantry officer in the United States Army, and was stationed in the former West Germany during the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Tony was an Attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation from 2012 to 2021. He was a lobbyist for 10 years, first with California Farm Bureau Federation from 2003 to 2007, and then with KP Public Affairs from 2007 to 2012. He was an attorney at McQuaid, Bedford & Van Zandt in San Francisco from 1999 – 2003.
Senior Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation
Damien Schiff is a senior attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation. He leads its environmental practice group, a unique initiative that draws broadly from PLF’s expertise and success in property rights and separation of powers litigation. Over the years, Damien has represented hundreds of landowners and property rights advocates to defend their liberties against heavy-handed and unwarranted environmental and land-use regulation. His litigation experience includes Sackett v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a groundbreaking decision in which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the right of landowners to challenge Clean Water Act compliance orders issued by EPA, and Contoski v. Norton, PLF’s successful effort to force the federal government to make good on its promise to delist the bald eagle from the Endangered Species Act.
Besides litigation, Damien has written academic articles on a variety of subjects, including the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, greenhouse gas torts, the duty to rescue, and international water law. He has appeared on a variety of television and radio programs and has been quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Harper’s Magazine, and The Economist, among other publications.
He obtained his law degree magna cum laude from the University of San Diego School of Law, and his undergraduate degree magna cum laude from Georgetown University. While at USD, he was a research assistant for Professor Bernard Siegan, a leading constitutional theorist and advocate for property rights and economic liberty. Immediately prior to joining PLF, Damien clerked for Judge (and former PLF attorney) Victor Wolski of the United States Court of Federal Claims. Damien credits the mentoring and examples of Professor Siegan and Judge Wolski for his decision to pursue a career in liberty-based public interest litigation.
Damien lives in Sacramento with his wife, two young sons, four chickens, and a cat named Princess. In his off hours he enjoys stamp collecting, Gregorian chant, and martinis—preferably at the same time.
Senior Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation
Reed Hopper is a Senior Attorney in PLF’s Environmental Law Practice Group. He oversees the Foundation’s Endangered Species Act Program that is designed to ensure that species protections are balanced with individual rights, the rule of law, and other social values. Reed also oversees PLF’s Clean Water Act Project that targets illegal federal regulation of local land and water use.
Reed has always had a strong patriotic spirit and a desire to serve his country. Before joining PLF in 1987, Reed served as an Environmental Protection Officer and Hearing Officer in the U.S. Coast Guard where he gained a love for the law. He also loves our constitutional way of life and cannot tolerate injustice. PLF affords him the opportunity to rectify unjust actions perpetrated by overreaching government. He enjoys getting up each morning to fight for a just cause.
Reed has litigated and won precedent-setting environmental and land use cases at all levels of the state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. He has published numerous articles and testified before Congress as an expert witness.
Reed graduated from the University of California, Davis, with a Bachelors Degree in German and major work in biochemistry. He also did graduate business studies at California State University and Tulane University and earned his Juris Doctor Degree from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law.
Senior Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation
Damien Schiff is a senior attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation. He leads its environmental practice group, a unique initiative that draws broadly from PLF’s expertise and success in property rights and separation of powers litigation. Over the years, Damien has represented hundreds of landowners and property rights advocates to defend their liberties against heavy-handed and unwarranted environmental and land-use regulation. His litigation experience includes Sackett v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a groundbreaking decision in which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the right of landowners to challenge Clean Water Act compliance orders issued by EPA, and Contoski v. Norton, PLF’s successful effort to force the federal government to make good on its promise to delist the bald eagle from the Endangered Species Act.
Besides litigation, Damien has written academic articles on a variety of subjects, including the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, greenhouse gas torts, the duty to rescue, and international water law. He has appeared on a variety of television and radio programs and has been quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Harper’s Magazine, and The Economist, among other publications.
He obtained his law degree magna cum laude from the University of San Diego School of Law, and his undergraduate degree magna cum laude from Georgetown University. While at USD, he was a research assistant for Professor Bernard Siegan, a leading constitutional theorist and advocate for property rights and economic liberty. Immediately prior to joining PLF, Damien clerked for Judge (and former PLF attorney) Victor Wolski of the United States Court of Federal Claims. Damien credits the mentoring and examples of Professor Siegan and Judge Wolski for his decision to pursue a career in liberty-based public interest litigation.
Damien lives in Sacramento with his wife, two young sons, four chickens, and a cat named Princess. In his off hours he enjoys stamp collecting, Gregorian chant, and martinis—preferably at the same time.
Senior Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation
Reed Hopper is a Senior Attorney in PLF’s Environmental Law Practice Group. He oversees the Foundation’s Endangered Species Act Program that is designed to ensure that species protections are balanced with individual rights, the rule of law, and other social values. Reed also oversees PLF’s Clean Water Act Project that targets illegal federal regulation of local land and water use.
Reed has always had a strong patriotic spirit and a desire to serve his country. Before joining PLF in 1987, Reed served as an Environmental Protection Officer and Hearing Officer in the U.S. Coast Guard where he gained a love for the law. He also loves our constitutional way of life and cannot tolerate injustice. PLF affords him the opportunity to rectify unjust actions perpetrated by overreaching government. He enjoys getting up each morning to fight for a just cause.
Reed has litigated and won precedent-setting environmental and land use cases at all levels of the state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. He has published numerous articles and testified before Congress as an expert witness.
Reed graduated from the University of California, Davis, with a Bachelors Degree in German and major work in biochemistry. He also did graduate business studies at California State University and Tulane University and earned his Juris Doctor Degree from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law.
Senior Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation
Damien Schiff is a senior attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation. He leads its environmental practice group, a unique initiative that draws broadly from PLF’s expertise and success in property rights and separation of powers litigation. Over the years, Damien has represented hundreds of landowners and property rights advocates to defend their liberties against heavy-handed and unwarranted environmental and land-use regulation. His litigation experience includes Sackett v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a groundbreaking decision in which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the right of landowners to challenge Clean Water Act compliance orders issued by EPA, and Contoski v. Norton, PLF’s successful effort to force the federal government to make good on its promise to delist the bald eagle from the Endangered Species Act.
Besides litigation, Damien has written academic articles on a variety of subjects, including the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, greenhouse gas torts, the duty to rescue, and international water law. He has appeared on a variety of television and radio programs and has been quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Harper’s Magazine, and The Economist, among other publications.
He obtained his law degree magna cum laude from the University of San Diego School of Law, and his undergraduate degree magna cum laude from Georgetown University. While at USD, he was a research assistant for Professor Bernard Siegan, a leading constitutional theorist and advocate for property rights and economic liberty. Immediately prior to joining PLF, Damien clerked for Judge (and former PLF attorney) Victor Wolski of the United States Court of Federal Claims. Damien credits the mentoring and examples of Professor Siegan and Judge Wolski for his decision to pursue a career in liberty-based public interest litigation.
Damien lives in Sacramento with his wife, two young sons, four chickens, and a cat named Princess. In his off hours he enjoys stamp collecting, Gregorian chant, and martinis—preferably at the same time.
Will We Soon Have Clarity on Navigable Waters?: How the Supreme Court’s October 2017 Term Set the Stage
Tony Francois
Note from the Editor: This article discusses the longstanding legal battle over the meaning of...
Topics
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes Co.
Background Imagine you own a plot of land. You may want to build a house...
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes Co., Inc.: Wetlands Jurisdictional Determinations and the Right of Federal Judicial Review
Damien Michael Schiff
Note from the Editor: This article discusses U.S. Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes, a...
The Rapanos Decision
M. Reed Hopper, Damien Michael Schiff
The Supreme Court has ruled in consolidated cases that the assertion of jurisdiction under the...
Rapanos V. United States
M. Reed Hopper, Damien Michael Schiff
The Supreme Court has ruled in consolidated cases that the assertion of jurisdiction under the...
Why Government Is Bad For Ducks
John Povejsil
Environmental policy invariably seems to be created in a melodramatic world of good-guy government officials...