Views from the Chair

For many people, the holiday season offers a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the past year and set meaningful goals for the year ahead. The key to successful new year’s resolutions is starting with realistic and achievable objectives. The real challenge, however, is staying committed to those resolutions beyond January 2!

One of my overarching goals for the year is to let you know about the important work of Section leadership and ask you to participate. That’s why in December we provided to you on LinkedIn and Instagram eight key takeaways from the SEER Fall Council Meeting. 

This year, I look forward to collaborating with you on various Section “resolutions” aligned with our strategic plan. Listed below are the eight goals of our strategic plan, along with the corresponding resolutions designed to help us achieve them.

1. Attract and retain members of all experience levels.

• Enhance member benefits by offering a variety of free programs, such as the SEER Chair Fireside Chat Series. During the December’s chat, we heard from Brenda Mallory, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

2. Drive and sustain diversity across our membership and the practice.

• Continue engagement of law students with a focus on increasing engagement and involvement of law students from historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and minority serving institutions.

3. Provide opportunities for the next generation of Section leaders.

• Explore how we can help law students continue membership after they graduate law school.
• Support the use of the middle school curriculum to inspire the next generation of SEER leaders.

4. Support members' opportunities for personal and professional growth.

• Support existing leadership development programs, such as LDP and MDEP while also encouraging Section members to get participate in one of our 24 substantive committees.

5. Sustain excellent programs and publications.

• Refocus committee leadership training and support to provide practical and tangible outcomes and clarify responsibilities.

6. Collaborate with local, national, and global partners.

• Support Section outreach efforts to collaborate with ABA and non-ABA entities.

7. Ensure the Section's fiscal sustainability.

• Collaborate with the SEER Budget Taskforce to increase transparency regarding our Section budget and identify opportunities for investing in membership retention/engagement opportunities.

8. Provide thought leadership on critical environmental, energy, and resources law issues.

• Stay tuned for more details about projects related to
  •  1. tracking SEER-related changes due to the Trump administration and 
  • 2. implementing various SEER-led resolutions, including the recent Sustainable Development Resolution.

As we start 2025, I look forward to working with you all on these Section resolutions! If you have other suggestions for Section resolutions, please feel free to email me.