Conservation & Preservation Counsel, L.L.C. has a constantly updated library of model conservation easements to meet a diverse array of land protection goals. Conservation & Preservation Counsel is located in Eugene, Oregon, near the University of Oregon School of Law and has access to the law school resources. The University of Oregon School of Law Environmental and Natural Resources Program, ranked among the top six in the nation, stays on the cutting-edge of land conservation and preservation law through its Conservation Trust Project.
Conservation & Preservation Counsel attorney Jim Olmsted is a regular attendee of the University of Oregon School of Law Public Interest Environmental Law Conference. The PIELC is the premier annual gathering for environmentalists worldwide, and is distinguished as the oldest and largest of its kind. Now in its 26th year, the Conference unites more than 4,000 activists, attorneys, students, scientists, and concerned citizens from over 50 countries around the globe to share their experience and expertise. The four-day Conference includes over 125 panels, workshops, and multi-media presentations addressing the entire spectrum of environmental law and advocacy. In addition to regularly attending the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference, Jim has also been a speaker on panels addressing land trust and conservation easement issues. Jim’s participation in the 2006 PIELC was particularly exciting as he was not only a panelist and speaker at the PIELC but also organized two panels which addressed conservation easement issues and included a number of today’s leaders in the land trust community. Jim also participated the 2007 PIELC through Conservation & Preservation Counsel's sponsorship of three panels addressing conservation easement issues. In addition to sponsoring these three panels, Jim participated in a special panel of scientists and attorneys which addressed how the the land trust community can best counter the anti-biodiversity effects of global warming and global climate change. The year 2008 also got off to a good start with Jim participating in the 2008 PIELC. For 2008, Jim assembled two major panels with panelists from the Sierra Business Council, the Nature Conservancy, the Oregon State Legislature, the Oregon Governor's office and the University of Oregon Law School faculty. Both panels focused on global warming and what our responses should be to mitigate its effects. Shortly after the 2008 PIELC ended Jim traveled to Japan to meet with Japanese scholars and attorneys working on carbon offset programs as a means to fighting global warming.
In addition to his PIELC presentations, Jim also participates in an number of other conferences and seminars. Jim spoke on conservation easement issues at the Land Trust Alliance sponsored 2006 Northwest Land Trust Conference held on April 6-8, 2006, in Bend, Oregon. On July 26, 2006, Jim spoke on conservation easements at a conference of attorneys, appraisers and real estate professionals in Eugene, Oregon. On September 14, 2006, Jim traveled to Mammoth Lakes, California, to give a presentation on conservation easements to the Sierra Cascade Land Trust Council. Jim was equally busy in 2007. On January 23, 2007, Jim was on a panel of attorneys speaking on issues relating to zoning, subdivision and land development in Oregon. On October 3-6, 2007, Jim attended the Land Trust Alliance 2007 Rally in Denver, Colorado. While at the Rally, Jim participated in a one day, invitation only, discussion group, which addressed conservation easements in the age of global warming. On October 19, 2007, Jim was a speaker in the University of Oregon School of Law Global Warming Symposium sponsored by the Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation (also known as "JELL").
Jim also publishes articles on land conservation and land use issues. One of his publications, "Handling the Land Use Case: A User's Manual for the Public Interest Attorney," was the lead article in Volume 19(1) of the Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation, (also known as "JELL") which was published in the Spring of 2004 by the University of Oregon School of Law. (JELL is the most widely cited environmental law journal in the nation.) More recently, Jim published an article entitled "Capturing the Value of Appreciated Development Rights on Conservation Easement Termination." This article appears in Volume 30, No. 1 of the University of California at Davis School of Law publication Environs Law and Policy Journal. Jim's most recently published article is entitled "The Global Warming Crisis: an Analytical Framework to Regional Responses" and appears in JELL. This article reviews regional responses to global warming on a national level and also contains a case study of Oregon global warming legislation. As of August of 2008 Jim has three more law review articles in press. The first article addresses conservation easements and global warming and is entitled "Climate Surfing: A Conceptual Guide to Conservation Easement Drafting in the Age of Global Warming." This article will be published in the St. John's Journal of Legal Commentary. Jim's second article, entitled "Carbon Dieting: Latent Ancillary Rights to Carbon Offsets in Conservation Easements," will be published in the Journal of Land, Resources & Environmental Law, a journal of the S.J. Quinney College of Law of the University of Utah. Jim's third article in press is entitled "Paradoxical Conservation and the Tragedy of Multiple Commons," to be published in the Tulane Environmental Law Journal. To access the printed articles, they can either be downloaded from the links above or at the site: http://works.bepress.com/james_olmsted/.
On the law practice front, Jim has recently been working on one of the major carbon offset programs in California. As this is an area of both professional and academic interest to Jim, he has found this project to be especially gratifying. CPC also welcomes two new land trusts to its family of clients, namely the Blue Mountain Land Trust (based in Washington State) and the Tri-State Steelheaders (also based in Washington State).
Conservation & Preservation Counsel is a Professional Partner with the Land Trust Alliance and CPC attorney Jim Olmsted regularly attends the annual LTA Rally, a comprehensive series of seminars, workshops and classes addressing virtually all aspects of land protection and preservation. Jim also participates in numerous listserves and discussion groups involving land conservation and land use issues. Conservation & Preservation Counsel has adopted a high-tech approach to its law practice. As a result, it is easy to communicate with Conservation & Preservation Counsel 24/7 and to exchange documents by email (using word processing or PDF files) or fax. Using Conservation and Preservation Counsel's subscription to GoToMeeting, CPC clients and their staff can even teleconference with a CPC attorney while editing documents that appear on all conference participants' computer monitors simultaneously. Conservation & Preservation Counsel's technology allows CPC to offer its clients very fast turn-around times for document review and revision.
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