Daniel E. Estrin - Waterkeeper
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Daniel E. Estrin

General Counsel and Legal Director

Since 1/4/16

Daniel E. Estrin serves as Waterkeeper Alliance’s General Counsel and Legal Director, a role he assumed in January 2016 after representing the organization as outside counsel for many years in numerous lawsuits against polluters and government agencies. In these roles, Daniel oversees all of the Alliance’s respective internal and external legal work.

Daniel was born in New York City and grew up in the Hudson Valley. He has lived almost all of his life within a few miles of the Hudson River estuary, and insists that its waters flow in his veins.

With over 30 years of litigation and environmental law experience, Daniel has spent the majority of his legal career working to protect waterways, ecosystems, and communities from pollution. Before moving in-house at Waterkeeper Alliance, Daniel spent a decade as a clinical law professor at Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, where he continues to teach doctrinal courses as an Adjunct Professor of Law. Before that, Daniel was Special Counsel to a public interest law firm and worked in private practice. He is admitted to practice before all New York State courts, as well as before the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Second, Sixth and Eleventh Circuits, and the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.

Daniel lives in Fairfield County, Connecticut with his family, including Oli, their precocious budgie. In his spare time he enjoys live music, hiking, swimming, paddling, cooking, and visiting national parks across the country.


“As a teenager and young adult I spent many days and nights hiking, fishing, swimming, and floating in and around the streams, swimming holes, and waterfalls of the Catskill Mountains – places like Platte Clove, Peekamoose, and Otter Falls – and I still return to those beautiful and restorative waters whenever I can. Recreating in and around clean, cool natural waters is a tonic for my soul, and I firmly believe that those early experiences were the roots of what has grown into a lifelong passion of environmental conservation and protection.”

Daniel E. Estrin's Articles

Waterkeeper Alliance Responds to the Congressional Spending Bill’s Extension of Polluter Loopholes for Industrial Animal Agriculture

  • March 14, 2022
  • By: Daniel E. Estrin
  • News | Pure Farms, Pure Waters

Daniel E. Estrin, General Counsel and Advocacy Director of Waterkeeper Alliance, released the following statement: The omnibus spending bill recently signed...

Act Now: Our Toxic Coal Ash Legacy

  • October 26, 2020
  • By: Daniel E. Estrin
  • Climate And Safe Energy | News

Coal-fired power plants are by far the single largest contributor of toxic pollutants such as arsenic, cadmium, and lead to waterways across the United...

Tell your Members of Congress: Pass a “clean” budget!

  • June 29, 2020
  • By: Daniel E. Estrin
  • Clean Water Defense | News

As Congress prepares to negotiate budget appropriations amid the COVID-19 pandemic and long overdue demands for racial justice, we must ensure that our...

    Staff

    • Isaiah Back-Gaal

      Climate and Safe Energy Campaign Manager

    • Larry Baldwin

      Campaign Coordinator
      Pure Farms, Pure Waters
      North Carolina

    • Christian Breen

      Movement Building Manager

    • Patience Burke

      Campaign Manager
      Pure Farms, Pure Waters

    • Colin Campbell

      Database and Marketing Analysis Manager

    • Shameika Collins

      Communications and Marketing Coordinator

    • Rachel Cook

      Chief Finance and Operations Officer

    • Jacki Esposito

      Advocacy Director

    • Daniel E. Estrin

      General Counsel and Legal Director

    • Kelly Hunter Foster

      Senior Attorney

    • Lori Harrison

      Communications and Marketing Director

    • Kate Hudson

      Advocacy Coordinator
      Climate and Energy

    • Thomas Hynes

      Communications and Marketing Manager

    • Sharon Khan

      Institutional Giving Officer

    • Brian Klausner

      Accountant

    • Chelsea McDonald

      Clean Water Defense Campaign Manager

    • Bart Mihailovich

      Waterkeeper Membership Services Director

    • Kerri Murdy

      Human Resources Manager

    • Mary Beth Postman

      Deputy Director

    • Marcelle Prescott

      Office Administrator

    • Nadia Rivera

      Special Assistant to the CEO

    • Marc Yaggi

      Chief Executive Officer

    • Min Zheng

      Waterkeeper Membership Services Manager

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