Speakers
Chris Dalbom
Tulane Institute of Water Resources Law & Policy
Christopher Dalbom is a Senior Research Fellow at Tulane University Law School and the Assistant Director of the Institute on Water Resources Law and Policy at the Law School. After graduating from Tulane Law School in 2012 he worked for one year as a Senior Research Fellow at the Tulane Institute on Water Resources Law and Policy.
Christopher has done extensive work on legal and policy issues relating to interstate water compacts, Mississippi River management, the RESTORE Act and other revenue streams associated with the Deepwater Horizon disaster, and coastal and water management. He currently leads Institute efforts to draft a comprehensive water code for Louisiana.
Prior to coming to Tulane, Christopher served in the Peace Corps in El Salvador and studied cultural geography in Louisiana and Virginia. He has a JD from Tulane University, an MA from Louisiana State University, and a BA from the University of Kansas.
Frank Holleman
Southern Environmental Law Center
Frank Holleman is a senior attorney focusing in litigation for the Southern Environmental Law Center. Prior to joining the Center, he was a member of Wyche, Burgess, Freeman & Parham in Greenville, South Carolina. He also served as the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education for the Clinton Administration.
He clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun, graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, and was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. Recently, he was lead counsel on litigation against utility operators responsible for coal ash impoundments that caused pollution of groundwater that then fed into nearby waterways.
Jim Wilkins
Louisiana Sea Grant
Jim Wilkins is a Professor in the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program, where he is the Director of the Sea Grant Law & Policy Program. Jim received his BS in biology from Centenary College, MS from Texas A&M in marine biology, and a JD from the LSU Law Center.
Professor Wilkins teaches a course in Coastal Zone Management in the Dept. of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences and does research on a wide range of legal issues affecting the use and conservation of ocean and coastal resources.
Beaux Jones
Water Institute of the Gulf
Beaux Jones serves as executive counsel for the Water Institute of the Gulf. Prior to joining the institute, Jones served as the environmental section chief for the Louisiana Department of Justice, where he represented the State of Louisiana and its agencies in a wide variety of matters ranging from environmental and coastal law to criminal and appellate law. He most recently worked as an environmental and coastal lawyer for the law firm Baldwin Haspel Burke & Mayer in New Orleans.
Jones has extensive experience representing agencies, companies and organizations inside the courtroom and internally. He has argued cases at every level of state and federal court in Louisiana and has worked on several high-profile cases related to the Gulf Coast and Louisiana. He was on the BP spill litigation team with the Louisiana Attorney General.
Jones earned his bachelor’s from Davidson College and his law degree from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at LSU. He is active in a variety of community and environmental causes. He currently serves as vice chair of the Louisiana State Bar Association-Environmental Section and vice chair for the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana.
Margaret Viator
Phelps Dunbar
Margaret Viator practices in the area of litigation with a focus on commercial litigation. Her experience ranges from helping clients involved in disputes of breach of contract, breach of licensing agreements, tax issues and misappropriation of trade secrets.
While in law school, Margaret served as an extern to The Hon. Shelly Dick, Middle District of Louisiana. She gained legal insight as the Notes and Comments Editor for the Journal of Energy Law and Resources.
Susan Miller Bisong
Modrall Sperling Law Firm
Susan Miller Bisong’s primary areas of interest are in water resources and environmental law, as well as insurance, tort and personal injury litigation.
Susan is the past Chair of Modrall Sperling’s Water Law Practice Group. She has over 15 years of experience providing representation, advice and counsel to businesses, industries, ranchers, farmers and individuals throughout New Mexico with respect to water rights transactions, administrative proceedings with the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer and litigation in state and federal court. Her water law practice involves issues of permitting, purchases and leases of water rights, and litigation. Susan has also represented clients in administrative proceedings before the New Mexico Environment Department on matters of air quality and hazardous waste permitting.
In addition to her water and environmental practice, Susan has significant experience in state and federal court litigation defending healthcare providers in medical malpractice actions and insurance companies in the areas of coverage and bad faith. She has defended many businesses in personal and property damage, contract and commercial disputes. Susan is also experienced in appellate tort practice.
Prior to joining Modrall Sperling, Susan clerked for the New Mexico Court of Appeals. She is Chair of the firm’s Associates Committee and is a shareholder and member of the firm’s Natural Resources and Environment, and Litigation Departments. Susan has achieved Martindale-Hubbell’s AV peer review rating, the highest rating possible.
Stan Millan
Jones Walker
LEED AP-certified by the U.S. Green Building Council, Stan focuses his practice on environmental law, administrative law, and government contracts law, extending to the entire panoply of air, water, and waste regulation. He provides compliance counseling and defense before the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, and federal and state courts. Stan also handles matters related to endangered species and wetland regulation, regularly dealing with the EPA, the US Army Corps of Engineers, the LDEQ, the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Stan advises government contractors, including service contractors and GOCO facility contractors, on small business issues, bid protests, contract dispute claims, and negotiations of equitable adjustments involving the US Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, NASA, Military Sealift Command, and MARAD. He provides advice on proposal preparations, bid protests, and Contract Disputes Act claims.
Stan is a Retired Colonel, JAGC, USAR. He also is a notary public, State of Louisiana, Jefferson Parish, and has practiced law for 48 years.
Elise Henry
Jones Walker
Elise assists clients in a variety of industries, including chemical and manufacturing, with environmental and related legal challenges. She has experience working with companies and governmental agencies to find practical solutions to enforcement and compliance issues.
Before joining Jones Walker, Elise represented title insurance companies, insured lenders, contractors, developers, condominium associations, and individuals in litigation related to title insurance claims and curative actions, construction, landlord/tenant disputes, evictions, purchase agreements, and other real estate and commercial issues.
Brad Finney
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee
Brad Finney is currently a federal law clerk for the Honorable Pamela Reeves, the Chief Judge for the United Stated District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Prior to becoming a clerk, he was an associate in the Houston office of Norton Rose Fulbright, where he worked primarily on commercial litigation and antitrust matters.
Brad earned a degree in accounting before attending law school at the University of Tennessee College of Law, where he earned his JD magna cum laude in May 2018. His published scholarship focuses on topics related to the environment, sustainability, and emerging technologies.
E. Barrett Ristroph
Ristroph Law, Planning, and Research
Barrett Ristroph formed Ristroph Law, Planning, and Research in 2015 to provide services at a reasonable cost to tribes, community members, and others with interests in indigenous sovereignty and social and environmental justice. She also serves as counsel to Gazewood and Weiner, P.C., and as a mediator for the Alaska Superior Court in Fairbanks.
She completed a Ph.D. at the University of Hawaii-Manoa on how Alaska Native Villages are adapting to climate change and how laws and planning help or hinder. Originally from Cajun country in Louisiana, she has gained perspective from living and working in the Northern Mariana Islands, the Philippines, Hawaii, Arctic Alaska and Russia. Through her work, she aims to build bridges between communities in South Louisiana, Alaska, and the Pacific Islands that are struggling with climate change and the need for sustainable development.
Saul Newsome
Newsome International Law
Newsome is the founder of Newsome International Law, LLC. Prior to creating starting his own private practice, he created the international law practice group at Breazeale, Sachse, and Wilson, LLP. He has advised businesses on trade and investment incentives both locally and abroad on importing, exporting, sanction regimes, and assisted clients in pursuing offshore manufacturing, license agreements, sales agreements and other business ventures. He has also advised clients on issues of foreign investment and trade regulations in the United States, including applications to the Committee on Foreign Investments to the United States, export and anti-boycott regulations, international traffic in arms regulations, anti-bribery, asset control regulations and customs regulations. Saul has also successfully released assets and transactions that were incorrectly frozen under foreign assets control regulation, and participated in official bilateral meetings with foreign governments.
He also serves as the Secretary of International Law Section of the Louisiana Bar Association, and participates in the Export Control and Sanctions Committee of the American Bar Association. Saul was also appointed by the Department of Commerce to serve as a member of the Louisiana District Export Council and sits on its outreach committee. He has achieved a Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent peer review rating. In 2016, Saul was named one of Baton Rouge’s Forty under 40.
Newsome earned his Juris Doctor of Civil Law from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at LSU, and his Bachelor of Arts in both International Studies and Modern Languages and Cultures (Spanish) from the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. Newsome is a heritage Spanish speaker. To further immerse himself in the language, Newsome spent a semester of college studying at the University of Havana in Cuba and a semester of law school studying international business law in Bogotá, Colombia. He also worked at the law firm Francisco Reyes & Asociados, where he focused on foreign direct investment transactions and international comparative corporate law.
After graduating college, Newsome commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps and worked as a Human Intelligence Officer. Saul deployed twice to Iraq where the teams he led supported infantry battalions and simultaneously trained the Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police in intelligence operations. While attending law school, Saul transitioned to the Marine Corps Reserve and continued to lead and prepare Marines for intelligence and combat operations. During that time, Newsome also continued foreign military training by deploying to Latin America and Africa.
