2012 Alumna Stands to Make Impact On Environmental Justice

With a steadfast passion for the environment, Class of 2012 alumna and Lifer Rebecca “Becky” Hunter has accepted a role working in the Public Rights Division of the California Department of Justice as a Deputy Attorney General. She recently graduated with her law degree from University of California Berkeley School of Law.

 

As a Deputy Attorney General in the Environment Section, Becky will predominantly be working on environmental health cases that focus on toxics, pollution, pesticides, and public health-adjacent. These cases range from mitigating plastics pollution, remedying contamination of natural resources, and affirmative lawsuits to advance environmental justice in the state. Additionally, she will work with the Bureau of Environmental Justice. The “EJ Bureau” sues on behalf of communities overburdened by negative environmental impacts, such as air and water pollution, or locally unwanted land uses.

 

“My passion for the environment drove me to pursue law,” said Becky. “While working after college, I decided the law was the sharpest and swiftest tool I could use to protect the environment and affect policy change. I am especially excited by the opportunity to work on the groundbreaking climate change lawsuit sponsored by Attorney General Rob Bonta against five of the largest multinational oil and gas companies.”

 

Prior to her current appointment as a Deputy Attorney General, Becky served as the Co-Editor in Chief of Ecology Law Quarterly. The publication is one of the oldest and most renowned environmental law journals, and it is run entirely by law student editors. ELQ publishes four issues of scholarly work per year and predominantly publishes academics such as professors or legal researchers, legal practitioners and non-academic lawyers, and one issue per year of entirely student work.

 

As Co-Editor-in-Chief, Becky was responsible for leading the publication of the journal, which involved editing articles, communicating with authors, scheduling publication, and directly managing a 40-person publishing board. She also had the opportunity to administer scholarships to students and writing awards and create and pass new journal by-laws. She further elaborated that working at ELQ was the highlight of her law school experience.

 

Becky said she has always been partial to the outdoors, mentioning how she and her cousins would catch frogs in Maine, hike or bike at Sleeping Giant State Park in Hamden with her family, watch turtles in her backyard, and spend hours playing in the woods with neighbors growing up. She rode horses for 10 years and spent weekend and evening hours in the barn. But most importantly, her interest in evolutionary biology sparked during an assembly at Hamden Hall. World-renowned ecologists Peter and Rosemary Grant presented their finch speciation research on the island of Daphne Minor in the Galápagos. The presentation left a lasting impression and Becky said she realized her desire to study the strange and exciting subject of evolutionary biology. In college, she spent a summer in the Galápagos.

 

Becky graduated from Colorado College in 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in evolutionary biology and ecology. Following graduation, Becky began working in environmental conservation and field ecology as a field researcher studying flammulated owls in Colorado for two summers before studying wolverines in remote alpine areas in Washington’s Cascade Range. As both flams and wolverines are climate-sensitive species, she was able to see first-hand how these species are being forced to adapt to the burdens a changing climate is imposing on them including reduced habitat by high-intensity wildfire and earlier spring snow melt from global warming. 

 

It was during her time working at Wildlands Network, a conservation non-profit in Seattle, that she learned about environmental law and policy. She led community engagement and outreach for a wildlife habitat connectivity project, which focused on reconnecting large landscapes in the Pacific Northwest. The non-profit had a policy advocacy arm that advocated for wolves in Northeastern Washington. She worked with lawyers and ultimately learned of a lawsuit brought by the Center for Biological Diversity to prevent the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife from issuing kill orders as a form of wolf population management. It was through this work that she was inspired to see how litigation could seek to remedy environmental harm and prevent ongoing injustice. This planted the seed for her to consider a career in environmental law, which she ultimately decided to pursue.

 

As she continues in her career, Becky hopes to stay an environmental law “generalist” for as long as possible. While in law school, she had the opportunity to work on a variety of diverse issues in environmental law as a legal intern in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Earthjustice. Right now, she is especially excited by air pollution, public lands law, and oil and gas work. 

Reflecting on her time under the pines as a Lifer, Becky noted that Hamden Hall was not only a nurturing community but one that benefited her both professionally and personally.

"Hamden Hall prepared me professionally through its excellent, smart teachers who are invested in their students, which sparked my love of learning,” said Becky. “The strong sense of the Hamden Hall family and community made me feel safe, appreciated, and propelled me forward. I always felt comfortable to be myself and take risks because the faculty knew me and cared about me. This has helped me embrace challenges as a student and soon-to-be lawyer.” 

Becky’s favorite memories range from after school ice cream trips with former faculty member Sue Gonnelly, to honing her argumentative spirit while disputing dress code violations with current Upper School Dean of Students John Greenawalt. She said she is especially grateful for learning from standout faculty members including the late Maria Agulian in her AP Statistics class, current World Language Department Chair and teacher Yasmin Haque in her Spanish class, former Curriculum Director Helen Barnstable in her British Literature class, and her father, Bill Hunter, in his AP Literature class.

“Hamden Hall is way cooler than Hopkins (and it always has been),” said Becky.