CONSERVATION PARTNERS - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Office Administrator
• Office Administrator / Paralegal

Anne joined Conservation Partners as Office Administrator following a 15-year career in education, which included roles in teaching, materials development, instructional design, program coordination, and grant writing. She currently manages billing and accounts as well as all administrative needs at Conservation Partners. As a lifelong lover of nature and the outdoors, and because of increasing urgency due to climate change, she is very excited to be working in the field of conservation now.

Job Titles:

• Contracted Counsel

Courtney's legal practice focuses on working with a broad variety of nonprofit organizations and joint ventures on entity formation, complex operational, tax, governance and planning matters, board disputes and mergers and dissolutions. She also represents donors with complex charitable gift planning. Courtney previously worked as nonprofit tax counsel at Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass and Farella Braun + Martel. She was awarded the "Outstanding Volunteer" Award from the SF Bar Association's Volunteer Legal Services Program from 2009-2011.

Job Titles:

• Partner

Eileen enjoys all aspects of real estate transactions, from the simplest license to complicated, multifaceted projects and her heart lies in conservation work. Her extensive experience in these areas allows her to serve clients with creative problem solving and reasoned advice.

Job Titles:

• Partner

Ellen's experience in the fields of tax, real estate, nonprofit governance, and alternative dispute resolution allows her to counsel her clients in all aspects of their work. Prior to beginning her legal career, Ellen worked for several nonprofit environmental organizations, including serving as founder and Executive Director of the Humboldt Watershed Council. Ellen Fred is licensed to practice both in California and Michigan and actively practices in both states and nationwide. Ellen is also a certified mediator. Prior to establishing her solo practice and becoming Principal at Conservation Partners, Ellen was with the San Francisco law firm of Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass, LLP, where she practiced for four years in its land conservation section. While in law school, Ellen externed for the Honorable Marilyn Patel, Chief Judge for the Federal District Court, Northern District of California, and Justice Carlos Moreno of the California Supreme Court, and prior to joining the Coblentz firm, she served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Melvin Brunetti of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Reno, Nevada. For several years before attending law school, Ellen worked in the environmental movement in Northern California, including co-founding the Humboldt Watershed Council and acting as its Executive Director; serving on the board of directors of a local land trust; producing educational materials; and participating in environmental and property rights litigation. Raised in Traverse City, Michigan, Ellen returned to the area in 2008 after beginning her legal career in California. Ellen lives on a small farm with her family, where they raise dairy goats and chickens and tend fruit trees, a vegetable garden, and a small vineyard. Her family and their land partners donated a conservation easement on the farm to the Leelanau Conservancy in early 2009. Despite living in Michigan, Ellen visits California on work-related matters regularly, with special trips as needs arise.

Job Titles:

• Adjunct Professor of Law for a Real Property Course at Mitchell Hamline School of Law
• Contracted Counsel

Jocelyn Walters-Hird's practice has focused on conservation and environmental law, providing her with expertise in conservation easement drafting and enforcement and working with land trusts, with further experience in environmental law litigation. Jocelyn has served as Adjunct Professor of Law for a Real Property course at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, volunteered with the University of St. Thomas School of Law and Alliance Francaise-MSP, and, when not working, enjoys road trips, surfing, tennis, the great outdoors, yoga, creative non-fiction, farmers markets, fashion, and French pastries.

Job Titles:

• Partner

Misti focuses her practice on conservation transactions and regularly provides guidance to property owners and land trusts regarding the structuring, negotiating, and closing of conservation easements, purchase agreements and options, and carbon projects. She has particular experience representing landowners with respect to the myriad legal issues arising for rural land holdings and representing land trusts with respect to nonprofit governance and tax-exempt gifts.

Job Titles:

• Editor - in - Chief, Hastings Law Journal / University of California

Bill Hutton is one of the nation's leading authorities on the tax and financial aspects of land conservation transactions, and is widely recognized as an expert in nonprofit and tax law. He has acted as counsel to both national conservation organizations and to local and regional land trusts. He has also advised individuals and corporations on the full range of income and estate tax consequences of conservation transactions, as well as on the tax and legal issues that confront nonprofit charitable organizations and their directors.