Wm. Robert Irvin

Bob Irvin "leads Defenders’ conservation programs, including field conservation, conservation policy, international conservation, and litigation. He oversees a staff of more than 60 policy experts, scientists, and lawyers dedicated to the conservation of wildlife and wildlife habitat. He is an expert in biodiversity conservation, wildlife law, the Endangered Species Act, marine conservation, international wildlife conservation, and global warming and wildlife.

"Before joining Defenders of Wildlife in 2005, Bob served as Director of U.S. Conservation for World Wildlife Fund; Vice President for Marine Wildlife Conservation and General Counsel for the Center for Marine Conservation; Senior Counsel for Fish and Wildlife on the Majority Staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works; Counsel and Director of the Fisheries and Wildlife Division, National Wildlife Federation; Trial Attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice; and was in private legal practice in Portland, Oregon. He has written and lectured extensively on biodiversity conservation issues. He is the co-editor, with Donald C. Baur, of the American Bar Association’s deskbook on the Endangered Species Act, ESA: Law, Policy, and Perspectives (2002). He co-authored, with Michael J. Bean, the chapter on the Endangered Species Act and marine species in Ocean and Coastal Law and Policy (American Bar Association 2008). He was a member of the IUCN’s Red List Criteria Review Working Group which revised the standards for listing threatened species globally. He teaches Biodiversity Protection at Vermont Law School and has taught at the University of Maryland School of Law.

"Bob graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. degree in Forest Science from Utah State University in 1980. He earned a J.D., Order of the Coif, in 1983 from the University of Oregon School of Law. He has served as co-chair of the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Section of the District of Columbia Bar and is on the board of directors of the Environmental Law Institute."