Catherine Wannamaker
Senior Attorney with a focus on litigation
The Clean Water Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act, and other federal environmental statues are cornerstones for Catherine’s litigation on behalf of SELC. Her expertise is so broad that it can be easiest to define her by what she does not work on: matters related to energy.
Her skills helped SELC stop offshore drilling and seismic testing from beginning off the South Atlantic coast, and more recently, she led SELC’s efforts to curtail the biomedical harvest of horseshoe crabs in protected areas of South Carolina’s coast.
Catherine also mentors younger lawyers in litigation, helps select cases and determine strategy, works on advocacy related to litigation matters in the state legislature and state agencies, and supports partner groups across South Carolina on their key issues.
“I grew up in the South and care deeply about the environment here, which is facing increasing pressures from growth and development every day,” said Catherine, who is from St. Matthews, in the heart of the state, and now lives in the South Carolina Lowcountry she loves.
I’m happy to be working for the pre-eminent organization addressing these issues in an underserved region.
Catherine Wannamaker
“Litigation is very important in our region, where agencies and the politics of environmental issues are not always on our side. The courts are a necessary tool to make sure we protect southern resources the way that the law requires.”
Previous Experience
- U.S. Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division, Attorney General’s Honors Program
- U.S. District Court, District of South Carolina, clerk
- U.S. Senate Committee On Commerce, Science, And Transportation, professional staff
- J.D., Stanford Law School, Stanford Environmental Law Journal
- M.S., North Carolina State University, Walter B. Jones/NOAA Nat’l Excellence Award, John A. Knauss Sea Grant Fellowship
- B.A., Hollins University, with honors
- With SELC since 2008