Laurie is a 2001 graduate of Northwestern School of Law at Lewis & Clark College, with a certificate in environmental and natural resource law. During 2001-2002, she served as law clerk to the Hon. Thomas Nelson, US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. During 1992-1998, Laurie worked as a fish and wildlife biologist for the US Forest Service and private consulting firms.
Laurie has been with Advocates for the West since its inception in 2003. She has been the lead attorney on successful efforts protecting threatened salmon and steelhead in the Upper Willamette River from impacts of federal dams; defending bighorn sheep from threats posed by domestic sheep grazing on public lands in Idaho and other western states; preserving quiet open spaces for non-motorized winter recreation and wintering wildlife; and ensuring special places like National Monuments, Wilderness, and critical wildlife habitat are protected from human impacts such as livestock grazing, logging, and motorized recreation.
Laurie heads our Portland, Oregon office where she works with and supervises Staff Attorneys Lizzy Potter, Andrew Missel, and Hannah (Clements) Goldblatt, and manages a broad portfolio of cases protecting public lands and wildlife in Oregon, Idaho and other western states.