Our Attorneys

Before becoming one of the major architects of the Clean Air and Water Acts, Tom Jorling started out with a dream when he was 17 years old to be an All American football player at Ohio State, Michigan or Notre Dame. After being named All-State in Ohio in his junior year, he was recruited by major colleges, he attended Notre Dame where, after shattering his knee during his sophomore year, his interest turned to biology and the environment. After earning a graduate degree in Forest Ecology at Washington State University, he attended Boston College Law School.

With his newly minted law degree, Mr. Jorling served with the Solicitor’s office in the US Department of the Interior followed by service in the Counsel’s office of the Smithsonian Institution. From his early days in Cincinnati and family camping trips in the west, Tom was concerned with rapid deterioration of the environment. This continuing concern led him to a position as Minority Counsel to the US Senate Committee on Public Works where he assisted the five Subcommittees in generating their legislative products, especially the Air and Water Pollution Subcommittee. He served in this capacity through the enactment of major environmental legislation. He and Majority Counsel Billings co-drafted the Clean Air of 1970 and the Clean Water Act of 1972, both Acts sponsored by Senators Muskie, Eagleton Cooper and Baker. These laws have formed the cornerstone of national efforts to keep our environment sustainable.

Mr Jorling became a professor of Environmental Studies and the Director of the Center for Environmental Studies at Williams College, positions he held for fifteen years, interrupted by his service in the Carter Administration as assistant administrator for Water and Hazardous Materials at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In this position he was responsible for the implementation of the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and RCRA. From this position he was a major driving force behind efforts to clean up many coastal and waterfront area of the country, including Boston Harbor. His office also formulated the proposal for President Carter that led to the enactment of the Superfund Act.

He was appointed by Governor Cuomo in 1987 as Commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, responsible for the implementation of the environmental and natural resource programs of New York State, including the Adirondack and Catskill Parks and played a key role in the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act.

In 1994 Mr Jorling became the vice president of Environmental Affairs at International Paper Company, responsible for environmental, health and safety programs and forest policy programs of this major manufacturing Company with facilities all across the globe,retiring in 2004. .

Mr. Jorling was the recipient of the inaugural Boston College Law School Public Interest Law Foundation Distinction in Public Service Award in April 2019. He has been active on many non-profit Boards including the Board of the National Ecological Observatory Network where he also served for almost a year as CEO of this National Science Foundation-funded $500 million Observatory. He also travels to top schools throughout the country teaching a seminar in sustainability at such colleges as Williams College, Columbia University, Yale University, the University of Maine, Arizona State University, Grinnell College, Brigham Young University and Boston College.