Prior to forming EMS, Sean Skaggs practiced in the Solicitor’s Office of the Department of the Interior from 1991-1997, where he advised the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on all aspects of the Endangered Species Act and other federal and international wildlife laws. Beginning in 1998, he served as Counselor to the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, where he advised the Assistant Secretary on wildlife conservation issues. While at the Department of the Interior, Sean was responsible for a number of significant priorities, including promulgation of several endangered species regulations and policies, and negotiations concerning reauthorization of the Endangered Species Act.  

 

Sean specializes in counseling public and private clients, including local governments, corporations, private landowners, and Native American tribes, on a wide range of environmental and natural resource protection laws. He received his law degree in 1991 from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law, College of William and Mary, where he was a founding editor of the William and Mary Journal of Environmental Law. Sean graduated with Highest Honors from Macalester College in 1987, and prior to entering law school worked as an endangered species biologist in Florida.

 

Several public and private entities have recognized Sean’s outstanding achievements in the field of natural resources and wildlife conservation. He is a frequent lecturer and author on these issues and served for five years as the Editor of the American Bar Association's endangered species newsletter.