Vickie Patton: 'Why I fight for clean air'

Vickie Patton, EDF’s general counsel, leads our legal battle against those trying to derail life-saving air pollution rules.

Below, Vickie in her own words:

I was born on the outskirts of Tucson, in the Sonoran Desert. My father was a rancher, and I grew up with a really strong connection to the desert.

This was the Sunbelt, where population was booming, and I saw development overtake whole swaths of mountain landscape.

It gave me a sense of the fragility of this place I cared about very deeply.

I decided to become an attorney because I wanted to do something to protect the environment, particularly our air and water.

After passing the bar in 1990, I was hired by the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, DC. That fall, Congress passed a major expansion of the Clean Air Act, which was signed into law by President George H. W. Bush.

For a young attorney, it was just an incredible time. The country had spoken and there was this overwhelming sense of purpose and mission and support for protecting the environment and public health.

In 1998, I moved to EDF, in part because it was very serious about clean air, but also because of its pragmatic, multidisciplinary approach to problems. EDF was always dedicated to getting things done.

There’s no formula for being a good environmental attorney, but I firmly believe that you need the help of really bright, creative colleagues, like those I’m fortunate to work with.

They’re challenging thinkers, who bring fresh ideas to our work and are never afraid to say, “No, Vickie, you’re getting it wrong.”

For a lot of law school students, the dream job is to make partner at a big law firm in New York. For me, this is the dream—to work with dedicated colleagues who care about each other and the fight for a healthier environment.