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| Affiliation | Democratic |
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| Name | Ray Vaughan |
| Address |
Montgomery, Alabama , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | http://vote4ray.net/ |
| Born |
Unknown
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| Contributor | User 490 |
| Last Modifed | User 490
May 09, 2006 10:38pm |
| Tags |
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| Info | Biography
EMPLOYMENT EXPERIENCE:
Founder & Executive Director: March 1997 B Present. WildLaw, Montgomery, Alabama. Head of nation=s fastest growing non-profit environmental law firm handling cases for non-profit organizations, community groups and small businesses. Handle cases involving National Forest protection, water pollution, hazardous wastes and Superfund sites, water quality and rivers protection, permits for industry and small businesses, endangered species, NEPA, NFMA, coastal zone management, air pollution, environmental justice, forestry practices, dams, the Freedom of Information Act, and constitutional rights. Represent more than 100 national, regional and local environmental organizations throughout the eastern United States with offices in Alabama, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina and Utah. For more information, see www.wildlaw.org, which Ray maintains.
Sole Practitioner: August 1991 B March 1997. Handled a general practice and environmental law cases. Represented individuals, groups and small corporations in state and federal courts and agency proceedings. Cases concentrated on NEPA, water pollution, landfills, hazardous wastes and CERCLA/Superfund. Lobbied Congress and Alabama Legislature for clients. Also handled probate, estates and trusts, discrimination, and criminal cases and did contract legal research for firms. Also provided computer training for Lawyers Cooperative Publishing to other attorneys on CD-ROM research software databases (for a year-and-a-half, 1995-96).
Associate: December 1990 B August 1991. Beasley, Wilson, Allen, Mendelsohn, Jemison & James, P.C., Montgomery, Alabama. Practiced environmental law, representing individuals and environmental organizations in trials and appeals involving toxic torts, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, NEPA, the Endangered Species Act, environmental constitutional law and civil rights, hazardous waste, garbage landfills, admiralty, and state and federal regulatory agency hearings. Lobbied the Alabama Legislature for clients. Also handled products liability, worker's compensation, wrongful termination, and court-appointed criminal cases.
Adjunct Instructor: February 1990 B August 1990. Jones School of Law, Faulkner University, Montgomery, Alabama. Taught environmental law class giving overview of federal and state statutes, cases, and regulations with an emphasis on how Alabama has been affected by them.
Staff Attorney: August 1988 B Nov. 1990. Senior Associate Justice Hugh Maddox, the Supreme Court of Alabama. Supervised work of the Judge's law clerks and secretary, researched cases, prepared bench memoranda and draft opinions, and advised Judge on other justices' draft opinions. Assisted Judge in the preparation of his book on criminal procedure. Worked on appellate restructuring and Court internal rule changes.
Assistant Attorney General: May 1987 B July 1988. The State of Alabama. Handled civil and criminal cases and administrative actions in the area of environmental law: including hazardous waste, water, solid waste, asbestos, oil and gas, NEPA, wilderness, endangered species, and pesticides. Coordinated actions between AG's Office, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, the State Health Department, and the U.S. EPA. Drafted proposed legislation in the environmental area and prepared environmental programs and speeches for the AG.
Law Clerk: August 1986 B May 1987. Chief Justice C. C. Torbert, Jr., the Supreme Court of Alabama. Researched cases, drafted proposed opinions and prepared bench memoranda.
PUBLICATIONS:
BOOKS:
Endangered Species Act Handbook (March 1994), published by Government Institutes.
Essentials of Environmental Law (September 1994), published by Government Institutes.
Environmental Law in Alabama (November 1993), published by Earth Seven Press.
Birder's Guide to Alabama and Mississippi (January 1994), published by Gulf Publishing Company of Houston, Texas.
LEGAL ARTICLES:
"Environmentalists and Forest Landowners: Why We Must Work Together," 18 J. Land Use & Envtl. Law 409 (Spring 2003) (www.law.fsu.edu/journals/landuse/vol18_2/vaughan.pdf.)
"Environmentalists and Forest Landowners: Why We Must Work Together," 3 Vermont J. Env. Law (2001‑02) (www.vjel.org/articles/articles/vaughan.html). (Different version, with photos.)
"Proof of Contamination in Toxic Tort Cases Through Expert Testimony," 39 Am. Jur. Proof of Facts 3d 539 (1996).
"Necessity and Sufficiency of Environmental Impact Statements under the National Environmental Policy Act," 38 Am. Jur. Proof of Facts 3d 547 (1996).
"Proof of Standing in Environmental Citizen Suits," 35 Am. Jur. Proof of Facts 3d 493 (1996).
"Proof of 'Prohibited Takings' Under the Endangered Species Act," 27 Am. Jur. Proof of Facts 3d 421 (1994).
"Water Pollution: Proof of Water Quality Under the Clean Water Act," 26 Am. Jur. Proof of Facts 3d 395 (1994).
"Liability For Dioxin Contamination," 25 Am. Jur. Proof of Facts 3d 473 (1994).
"State of Extinction: The Case of the Alabama Sturgeon and Ways Opponents of the Endangered Species Act Thwart Protection for Rare Species, " 46 Ala. L. Rev. 569 (No. 2, Winter 1995).
"Trials Over Arbitration Clauses in Securities Broker Contracts," 61 Am. Jur. Trials 357 (1996).
"Saving the Endangered Species Act," 15 Bird Watcher's Digest 72 (Mar./Apr. 1993).
"Toxic Destiny: Changing Alabama's Future As a Hazardous Waste Dumping Ground," 43 Ala. L. Rev. 75 (Fall 1991).
"Walking On The Water: Citizen Suits in Alabama Under the Clean Water Act," 21 Cum. L. Rev. 245 (No. 2, 1990-91).
"The Hawk Outside the Judicial Building: Recent Environmental Cases in Alabama," 51 Ala. Law. 220 (July 1990)(reprinted in the Mississippi/Alabama Sea Grant Consortium 10 Water Log 3 (No. 3, 1990)).
"Constitutional Issues: Limiting Disposal Of Out-Of-State Hazardous Waste" (1990); on Westlaw Hot Topics database. Written with Greg Allen.
EDUCATION:
LL.M. Taxation. The University of Alabama School of Law. Done through the University=s interactive television system (the only accredited distance learning law degree program in the nation), December 1999.
J.D. The University of Alabama School of Law, May 1986.
HONORS: Judge Gewin Best Brief Award (Campbell Moot Court Competition), Third Place Team B Campbell Competition, Bench and Bar legal honor society, Moot Court Board, Order of Barristers.
ACTIVITIES: Taught first year moot court, Manager B Jessup International Law Moot Court Team, Environmental Law Society B President, International Law Society.
B.A. The University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, May 1983. QPA = 11.1/13.0.
HONORS: Phi Beta Kappa, Graduated Magna cum Laude, Order of Gownsmen, National Merit Scholar, Wilkin's Scholar
COMMUNITY AND PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES:
Appointed by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns to the Roadless Area Conservation National Advisory Committee. This 13-member committee provides advice and recommendations on implementing the state petitions for Inventoried Roadless Area Management Rule adopted by USDA in May of 2005. Ray is the only person from the South on this Advisory Committee.
1992 and 1998 Alabama Environmental Attorney of the Year Awards (presented by the Univ. of Alabama School of Law).
Board Member of the following groups: I-85 Corridor Alliance, Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition, and The Kelley Bartlett Conservancy.
Have given speeches on environmental law at Lewis & Clark School of Law, University of Oregon Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (keynote speaker 2003), and more than a dozen other universities and at scores of various civic groups.
Have taught Continuing Legal Education courses in environmental law for state bar and several local bar associations in both Alabama and Georgia. Participant in environmental law seminars for businesses put on by Government Institutes Inc. and the Cambridge Institute.
CASES AND LEGAL WORK
· Ray has extensive experience in virtually all aspects of environmental law. Ray's cases have stopped illegal and improper logging on more than 325,000 acres of public forests, reduced pollution levels in scores of southern rivers, forced more than 60 major corporations to clean up their facilities, stopped development on one of the last wild stretches of barrier island in the middle Gulf Coast, and many other things befitting the environment of the South. His work has drawn nation-wide media attention, being featured on CNN and the CBS Evening News and in newspapers and magazines like The Wall Street Journal, Mother Jones, The New York Times, Sports Afield, Forest, Outside, Defenders, The Philadelphia Enquirer, Grist and more.
· Throughout his legal career, Ray has had many successes in court and in administrative actions:
o Stopping illegal logging on more than 325,000 acres of public land.
o Protecting more than 190,000 acres of wild, roadless areas from illegal activities.
o Winning favorable settlements in two salvage rider cases that forced the U.S. Forest Service to not cut green and healthy trees, to reduce the planned salvage area by 30,000 acres, to protect stream side zones and buffers zones around ponds, to conduct salvage logging according to a list of mitigation measures that helped protect endangered species and rare wiregrass habitat, and to set aside areas for future research into the effects of wind storms on longleaf pine forests.
o Another third salvage rider action stopped the Forest Service from conducting salvage operations in Alabama's last remaining roadless areas.
o Winning dozens of Freedom of Information Act challenges that made available tens-of-thousands of documents that numerous federal agencies had tried to hide from the public.
o Stopping the Forest Service from overusing herbicides where they had been using up to 19 times the legal limit and making them institute a herbicide program that conforms to the best science on minimizing herbicide usage.
o Preventing the destruction of thousands of acres of wetlands.
o Getting stronger state water quality standards adopted in Alabama.
o Filing the lawsuit that forced Alabama to start cleaning up hundreds of miles of rivers and streams that did not meet Clean Water Act standards.
o Forcing more that 60 corporations to end violations of their water pollution permits and spend tens-of-millions of dollars on better equipment and compliance measures.
o Stopping landfills sited in minority communities.
o Getting compensation for citizens damaged by hazardous waste contamination.
o Protecting private forests from illegal logging.
o Forcing companies to clean up illegally disposed of asbestos.
o Making state agencies comply with open meetings laws.
o Saving taxpayers $4,250,000 by getting an ill-conceived road plan through public lands dropped.
o Forcing state and federal agencies to protect rare wildlife. His cases have defended more than 100 species of the rarest wildlife in the world.
o Getting dismissed government prosecutions designed to harass community leaders.
o Filing lawsuits that sought protection of hundreds of private landowners’ property rights against unbridled eminent domain condemnation.
· In addition to the most extensive environmental law experience of any attorney in Alabama, Ray has also handled cases and issues dealing with local, state and federal taxes, estate planning, and several criminal cases.
PERSONAL INTERESTS and INFORMATION:
· Married with three children. Wife: Louise LaGrave. Two sons: Ned (12) and Trey (10). Daughter: Beth (7). Attend Holy Spirit Catholic Church.
· Bird watching, hiking, camping and fishing.
· Photography and computer art.
· Collecting wildlife and space art.
· Writing.
· Building and playing musical instruments.
· Dominoes, chess, and poker.
· 1984 Colorado Mountain Dulcimer Champion
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