Debevoise & Plimpton LLP hosted its Alumni in Environmental Law panel, the first installment of a new speaker series focused on sustainability. The panel brought together three accomplished Debevoise alumni who have each developed a unique career on areas such as environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, innovative conservation finance strategies and the development of renewable energy sources. The panelists included:

• Lauren Boccardi, a senior attorney at The Nature Conservancy where she supports its impact investment portfolio. Before joining the Conservancy, Lauren spent seven years at the U.S. Agency for International Development and prior to that, worked at Debevoise as a corporate associate focusing on energy and environmental work.
• Max Friedman, assistant general counsel at RWE Renewables where he focuses on onshore and offshore wind and solar energy, battery storage, and energy services sectors.  He was previously a corporate associate in the M&A group at Debevoise working on environmental, energy & natural resources and private equity transactions.
• Bethany Davis Noll, executive director of the State Energy & Environmental Impact Center at the NYU School of Law where she focuses on supporting the state attorneys general in promoting clean energy policies. She previously worked as assistant solicitor general in the New York AG’s Office and as a commercial litigation associate at Debevoise.

The panel covered the environmental regulatory developments that business leaders can expect under the Biden administration, the latest legal issues that renewable energy developers need to be aware of, and how impact investing is being used as a vehicle to achieve environmental objectives.