FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ENR

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 1995 (202) 514-2008

TDD (202) 514-1888

JUSTICE FILLS OUT ENVIRONMENT DIVISION MANAGEMENT TEAM

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of Justice announced today the

appointment of three Deputy Assistant Attorneys General for the
Environment and Natural Resources Division.
Lois J. Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General in charge of
the Division, named Jim Simon, Nancy Firestone and John Cruden as
her new deputies.
Simon, who has served recently as Acting Deputy, will
oversee the Environmental Crimes Section and the Indian Resources
Section. Prior to joining the Division in January, 1994, he was
a staff attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council. A
graduate of Yale College and Harvard Law School, Simon also
worked with the New York City Corporation Counsel.
Firestone returns to the Division -- where she worked for 13
years -- from the Environmental Protection Agency. She was EPA's
Associate Deputy Administrator and a judge on the Environmental
Appeals Board. Her new duties will include the Appellate
Section and the Environmental Defense Section. She graduated
from Washington University and the University of Missouri Law
School.
Cruden, chief of the Environmental Enforcement Section since
1991, will be responsible for the Land Acquisition Section, the
Environmental Enforcement Section and the Administrative Office.
He was special counsel in the Civil Division in 1987-88. He also
worked for the Department of Defense and as Chief Legislative
Counsel at the Department of the Army. Cruden is a graduate of
West Point and the University of Santa Clara Law School. For the
Environmental Enforcement Section, Joel Gross and Bruce Gelber
will rotate as Acting Section Chief.
In other personnel actions, Schiffer designated Jim
Kilbourne, a department veteran, to run the Division's Appellate
Section. He moves over from the Wildlife Section, where he has
been chief since 1989. Kilbourne joined the Division in 1979 as
an Honor Graduate. He graduated from the University of Montana
and the University of Montana Law School. Eileen Sobeck, current
Assistant Chief in the Wildlife Section, becomes the Acting
Section Chief.
Jim Clear will now head the Indian Resources Section. An
Assistant Section Chief since 1986, Clear has been with Indian
Resources for 20 years. Before coming to the Department, Clear
was with the Division of Indian Affairs at the Department of
Interior's Solicitor's Office. He is a graduate of Georgetown
College and Georgetown Law School.
In addition, Kalyn Free joins the Indian Resources
management team as Senior Counsel. One of her focuses will be to
supervise cases related to pollution on Indian lands. She moves
over from the Environmental Enforcement Section where she has
been since 1987. She graduated from the Southeastern Oklahoma
State University and the University of Oklahoma Law School. Free
is an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.
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