Biography

A leading environmental litigator, Deborah A. Sivas ’87 is director of the highly regarded Environmental Law Clinic, in which students provide legal counsel to dozens of national, regional, and grassroots nonprofit organizations on a variety of environmental issues. Professor Sivas’s litigation successes include challenging the Bush administration’s gas mileage standards for SUVs and light trucks and holding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency accountable for regulating the discharge of invasive species in ship ballast water. Her current research is focused on the interaction of law and science in the arena of climate change and coastal/marine policy and the ability of the public to hold policymakers accountable. She is a frequent speaker on these topics.

Prior to assuming the clinic directorship in 1997, Professor Sivas was a partner at Gunther, Sivas & Walthall, an attorney with Earthjustice (formerly Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund), an associate in the environmental practice group at Heller Ehrman, and a law clerk to Judge Judith N. Keep of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. She currently serves as chair for the board of directors for the Turtle Island Restoration Network. In recognition of her work on behalf of the environment, California Lawyer magazine named Professor Sivas one of its 2008 Attorneys of the Year.

Key Works

• Deborah A. Sivas and Margaret R. Caldwell, A New Vision for California Ocean Governance: Comprehensive Ecosystem-Based Marine Zoning, 27 Stanford Environmental Law Journal 209 (January 2008).

In the News

• Emotional Ceremony Dedicates New Law School Professorship
  Stanford Report, October 29, 2009
• Homepage - Announcements: Stanford Director Wins Key Sea Turtle Protections
  San Jose Mercury News, October 29, 2009

Courses & Programs

Courses

• Advanced Environmental Law Clinic
• Environment and Energy Workshop
• Environmental Law Clinic

Programs

• Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy Program (ENRLP), Professor of Law
• Environmental Law Clinic, Director

Publications & Cases

• Deborah A. Sivas, Testimony [Before the California State Assembly Committees on Natural Resources and Utilities and Commerce , Joint Informational Hearing on Once-Through Cooling, Air Emissions Credit and Electrical Generation. March 2, 2009.].
• Deborah A. Sivas and Margaret R. Caldwell, A New Vision for California Ocean Governance: Comprehensive Ecosystem-Based Marine Zoning, 27 Stanford Environmental Law Journal 209 (January 2008).
• Meg Caldwell, Peter Morgan, Deborah Sivas, and Alicia Thesing, Local Initiatives to Implement the Endangered Species Act: The Challenge of Developing Habitat Conservation Plans, in The Endangered Species Act and Federalism: Innovative Uses of States and Local Governments for Species Conservation, Kaush Arha and Barton H. Thompson, eds., Washington, DC: Resources for the Future, forthcoming.
• Deborah A. Sivas, If Court Won't Act, Congress Must Tackle Climate Change, San Jose Mercury News, December 4, 2006.

Affiliations & Honors

Professional Affiliations

• President, American Environmental Safety Institute
• Legal Chair, Board of Directors, Turtle Island Restoration Network