BOSTON – In December 2013, Heather Govern joined NELC as a staff attorney in NELC’s Boston office. Heather graduated from Amherst College in 2002 and earned her JD degree from Northeastern University School of Law and her Master of Environmental Law & Policy from Vermont Law School in 2013. During law school, her pro bono project for the Conservation Law Foundation on the application of the public trust doctrine to Boston waterfront development was honored as the American Bar Association’s Law Student Environment, Energy, and Resources Project of the Year.
While a law student, Heather served as an intern with the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, where she prepared recitation memoranda, assessed cases for direct and appellate review, and worked on access to justice issues. Heather also interned with the Environmental Enforcement Section of the United States Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., the public defenders of Massachusetts at the Committee for Public Counsel Services, and the Boston law firm of Sugarman, Rogers, Barshak & Cohen.
Since coming to NELC, Heather has worked as part of the litigation team preparing memoranda and exhibits for the Clean Air Act lawsuit against ExxonMobil. After spending a month in Houston for the Exxon trial, she is now convinced there is no better way to get to know one’s colleagues (including all their traits and quirks) than to work 312 hours with them and eat 70 meals with them over the course of one legal proceeding.