Environmental Law Program
Alumni Profile: Shana Campbell Jones
Shana Campbell Jones ('03) is currently the Executive Director for Center for Progressive Reform (CPR). Before her current appointment, Shana was a law clerk for The Honorable Robert Doumar, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and The Honorable Lynne Battaglia, Maryland Court of Appeals. Shana went on to work for McGuire Woods at their Norfolk office. For the past two years at CPR, Shana has been working on a series of projects related to improving Chesapeake Bay environmental accountability. CPR's recommendation that the Bay have an "independent evaluator" was included in President Obama's Executive Order on the Bay in May 2009.
Shana's professional interest in the Chesapeake Bay began in the Environmental Law Clinic interviewing members of the poultry industry for the Frosh Report. The clinic, then under the direction of Professor Rena Steinzor, made a yearly Frosh Report to Maryland State Senator Brian Frosh. Shana was assigned to the Chesapeake Bay and nutrient pollution. "As part of the report, we interviewed various stakeholders, including state officials, environmentalists, and industry representatives. I interviewed the head of the Maryland Farm Bureau."
Shana values the law school's small size and low faculty to student ratio: "The professors are very hands-on. They know you. I really feel like I had several professors who cared about me and wanted to see me succeed. Maryland's size and its commitment to teaching is a real advantage." Shana, along with many alumni, remains an active part of the law school's Environmental Law Program. In April 2010 the Maryland state legislature considered cuts to the Environmental Law Clinic funding due to the clinic's suit against the poultry industry. Shana joined current students and alums to object: "law schools are often the only places that citizen groups can go to in order to receive representation. Maryland's commitment to its clinic sets an example for the rest of the country."
