Rachel James is an Associate Attorney in the Charlottesville, Virginia office of the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC). As an Associate, Rachel participates in case development, conducts legal research and writing, and applies her expertise in utility policy and energy justice across cases.

In 2022, Rachel moved to Virginia from Hawai‘i. As a Staff Attorney at the Hawai‘i Public Utilities Commission, she worked on the integration of energy justice into energy planning processes, distributed energy resources, electrification of transportation, energy efficiency, and grid service purchase agreements.

During law school, Rachel also worked full-time as a project manager focusing on projects that converted vehicles’ internal combustion engines to hydrogen fuel cells. She worked for a small solar developer after law school.

Since joining the ABA in 2022 as a part of the Membership Diversity Enhancement Program (MDEP), Rachel has enjoyed the excellent articles and publications offered on topics that are both of general interest and of immediate importance to the work she undertakes at SELC. She has found a wonderful community of support amongst the MDEP members and enjoys the webinars offered by various sections of the ABA.

Rachel currently serves as Co-Chair of the Section’s Special Committee for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging. Jogging, hiking, learning guitar, reading, and gathering with family and friends are activities Rachel regularly makes time to enjoy.