Lizzy Potter

Advocates for the West

For the past fifteen years, Lizzy Potter has advocated for conservation and community interests on behalf of dozens of clients in cases throughout the West. She joined Advocates for the West, a nonprofit environmental law firm, as a staff attorney in 2015, and has since focused on federal litigation to protect public lands, fish and wildlife, and waterways from harmful activities such as dam operations, oil and gas activities, commercial livestock grazing, fighter jet training, aerial pesticide applications, and more. Her work across the West has stretched from the coast of California to the western slope of Colorado and from the northern border in Washington to the southern border in Arizona. Prior to joining Advocates for the West, she worked at a public interest law firm based in Seattle, where she handled federal citizen suits, state permit challenges, land use appeals, and open government disputes focused on water quality, wildlife, and fossil fuel issues. Lizzy graduated from Lewis and Clark Law School, where she also received an LL.M in Environmental & Natural Resources Law, and earned her B.A. from Denison University in Environmental Studies. During law school, Lizzy spent a summer in Chapel Hill helping the Southern Environmental Law Center fight coal fired power plants, so she is thrilled to return to North Carolina for this retreat.