The William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law and Career Services Office recently hosted Colette Pichon Battle, founder and executive director of the Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy, as the fall 2020 “Lives in the Law” speaker. Pichon Battle’s talk, “Climate Justice as Racial Justice,” examined the relationship between structural racism and environmental degradation and climate change.
A lawyer and community advocate based in Slidell, Louisiana, Pichon Battle focuses on equitable disaster recovery, global migration, community economic development, climate justice and energy democracy. She works with local communities, national funders, and elected officials on Hurricane Katrina/BP disaster recovery. She was a lead coordinator for Gulf South Rising 2015 – a regional initiative around climate justice and just transition in the South. In addition to developing advocacy initiatives that intersect with race, systems of power, and ecology, she manages her organization’s legal services in immigration and disaster law.
The “Lives in the Law” speaker series, hosted by the Justice Center and Career Services Office, focuses on the work and lives of lawyers who strive to improve the lives of others through litigation, advocacy, and public service. Pichon Battle’s talk was co-sponsored by the Center for Women in Law, the Public Interest Law Association, and the Thurgood Marshall Legal Society. Kelly Haragan, director of the Texas Law Environmental Clinic, facilitated the question and answer portion of the event.
The video recording (UTEID Required) of Pichon Battle’s talk is available to the University of Texas at Austin community through the end of 2020.