Lajuana Wilcher

LaJuana Wilcher is a Partner at English Lucas Priest & Owsley LLP (ELPO). She began working with NACWA (then AMSA) in 1989, when she was nominated by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as EPA's Assistant Administrator for Water. In that position, she was responsible for national water policy, and promulgated stormwater, biosolids, and TMDL regulations, among others. She also convened and worked closely with the FACA group that developed the 1994 CSO Policy.

LaJuana worked on environmental law issues in Washington, D.C., for almost 20 years. She was a Partner in the DC offices of Winston & Strawn and LeBoeuf, Lamb Greene and MacRae LLP, where she served as legal counsel for NACWA and numerous municipalities in federal CWA litigation, permitting and enforcement matters. She has also served as a group facilitator, expert witness and legislative counsel on various CWA matters.

Returning to private law practice in her home state of Kentucky in 2002, LaJuana was a partner at ELPO until being tapped by Kentucky's Governor to be Secretary of Kentucky's Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet from 2003-2006, here she orchestrated a novel Consent Decree strategy with Louisville Metropolitan Sewer District.

LaJuana has developed and taught environmental law and policy courses at Vermont Law School and Vanderbilt University Law School. She was awarded NACWA's Special Recognition Award in 1993 and State Public Service Award in 2006. She has been selected as a Lifetime Honorary Member of American Water Works Association and has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America every year since 2009. She speaks frequently throughout the country on environmental law and leadership issues.

LaJuana was a founding Board Member of America's Clean Water Alliance (now the U.S. Water Alliance) and Friends of Mammoth Cave National Park, and is a Supervisor of the Warren County Conservation District.

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District of Columbia

District of Columbia Bar

Since 1997

Kentucky

Partner

English, Lucas, Priest and Owsley, LLP

2007 - Current

Special Assistant to the General Counsel

U.S. Department of Agriculture

1983 - Current

Secretary

Kentucky Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet

2003 - 2006

Assistant Administrator for Water

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

1989 - 1993

Assistant to the Deputy Administrator and Special Assistant to the General Counsel

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

1983 - 1986

Salmon P. Chase College of Law, Northern Kentucky University

J.D. (1980)

1980

Western Kentucky University

B.S. (1977)

1973 - 1977

Honors: Magna Cum Laude

State Public Service Award

National Association of Clean Water Agencies

2006

Gold Medal

Salmon P. Chase College of Law Alumni Association

2005

Housing Hero Award

Home Builders Association of Kentucky

2004

Lifetime Honorary Membership

American Waterworks Association

1993

Best Lawyers in America listing

The Best Lawyers in America

Listed for 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Currently listed in Environmental Law and Litigation - environmental.

Kentucky State Bar  # 76893

Member

Current

Notoriously Unclear: the Ebb and Flow of the Jurisdictional Reach of the Clean Water Act, webinar

Stealth Regulation: A Mountain or Molehill?, National Clean Water Law Seminar

Waters of the U.S., Kentucky Chamber Environmental Conference

Kentucky Chamber of Commerce

Getting and Complying with your Stormwater Permit, Kentucky Chamber Environmental Permitting and Reporting Conference

Kentucky Chamber of Commerce

What Does Stewardship Mean to Kentucky Agriculture, Kentucky Ag Summit

Kentucky Agricultural Council