Director, Land Use and Sustainable Development Law Clinic, West Virginia University College of Law
Photo by WVU College of Law.
By Blair Dowler
Growing up right outside of Kansas City, MO, Katherine Garvey’s life was shaped by a rural environment surrounded by clean, swimmable water, productive farms and healthy forests.
“I’ve always had an appreciation for the natural environment and believe it is important to protect those resources for future generations,” she says.
Today, Garvey is doing her part to protect the Mountain State’s resources as the director of the Land Use and Sustainable Development (LUSD) Law Clinic at West Virginia University (WVU) College of Law, which provides legal and planning services to conserve land and water, supports local land use planning and offers educational opportunities for both law students and the citizens of West Virginia.
Her journey to the LUSD began at Webster University in St. Louis, MO, where she earned her undergraduate degree in international business. She then went on to earn her Juris Doctor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) in 2004, followed by her Masters of Law degree, or LLM, in environmental law at Vermont Law School in South Royalton, VT, in 2010.
While Garvey enjoyed being involved on campus, including serving as president of UMKC School of Law’s Environmental Law Society, law school was challenging for her. She knew she did not want to litigate, and she found her evidence and criminal and civil procedure courses to be particularly brutal. It was then that she decided to pair her passion for the environment with her education to find a career path through which she could affect real, immediate change.
“During law school, I was really interested in international environmental law and federal environmental law, specifically the Clean Water Act,” she says. “After attending several international conferences and working for the federal government, I was eager to find work where change had a more immediate impact, which led me to local government work.”
It was during the summers in law school that Garvey began to hone her passion for public interest.
“The summer after my 1L year, I applied to be an official observer at the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa and was awarded a grant to cover travel expenses,” she says. “The summer after my 2L year, I was awarded a $600 public interest fellowship. With the small stipend, I was able to afford a flight to Caracas, Venezuela, where I lived with a host family and worked at a nonprofit conservation agency.”
The environmental enthusiast went on to live out her dream of serving the public interest and making a great impact on many communities. She began her career as a law clerk and an environmental specialist for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 7 in Kansas City, KS, in the National Agricultural Compliance Assistance Center and with the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics. There, she developed additional skills for which she credits her supervisor, Ruben McCullers.
“On many occasions, he allowed me the opportunity to present and negotiate in scenarios where he clearly could have done a better job,” Garvey recalls. “He allowed me the opportunity to fail, gave constructive feedback and encouraged me to try again. In one situation, we were negotiating terms with a major military installation. He allowed me, as a 23 year old, to negotiate with an Army colonel in a room full of military officers. He took the time to grill me on the important points to help me prepare instead of taking the easy way out and just doing the negotiation himself.”
Garvey transitioned her career from federal to local government in 2006 when she began working on environmental permitting and land use issues as the environmental coordinator for the City of Lee’s Summit, MO. Then, moving on to a fellowship position at Vermont Law School’s Land Use Clinic, which was one of the only land use clinics in the country, she had the opportunity to work with local governments on environmental and land use issues such as protection of agricultural soils, flood recovery and historic preservation.
And then Almost Heaven came calling.
“Moving to West Virginia to help start the WVU Land Use and Sustainable Development Law Clinic was a great fit,” she says. “My husband and I were considering a move closer to the Midwest but still hoped to find space in a mountainous state. I took the Colorado bar exam, thinking we would head to the Rockies, but then I received a call from West Virginia University. At the time, I knew little about the Mountain State and the motto montani semper liberi. We have now lived here for six years, and we are thrilled to call this beautiful state home.”
In her role today as the director of the LUSD clinic at WVU, Garvey oversees activities to support the clinic’s land use planning, land conservation, flood recovery, dilapidated building and wastewater projects. She supervises a team of six attorneys, two certified land use planners and up to 12 third-year law students who work on projects serving more than 50 local government and nonprofit clients.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the team we have built at the land use clinic,” she says. “The core values, work ethic and character of the people in our office are beyond compare. The dedicated folks in our office share the work load, travel burden and supervision responsibilities. We would not have accomplished all we have accomplished in such a short amount of time without such an amazing group firing on all cylinders.”
The clinic is an asset to West Virginia, helping many communities and governments throughout the state plan for the future and helping each area overcome challenges and maintain certain resources. The clinic is also an asset for WVU College of Law students.
“As a clinical program, the greatest value to students is the ability to apply legal knowledge in a real-world context,” says Garvey. “Students attend and participate in client interviews, negotiations and public meetings and are also introduced to the substantive law and policy pertaining to land use, water conservation and protection, land use planning and sustainable development principles. In addition to professional skills, I hope students develop an appreciation for public interest work.”
It is evident that Garvey is committed to helping communities around the world through pro bono work. She has dedicated most of her time to organizations that support clean water initiatives or the alleviation of poverty, and she serves on several boards, including the board for the Northern West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Center. She is the co-founder of the West Virginia Alternative Wastewater Treatment Coalition and was also recently appointed to the board of the Center for Community Progress, a national nonprofit.
“This organization is the only nonprofit specifically dedicated to building a future in which vacant, abandoned and deteriorated properties no longer exist,” she says. “Although the organization has typically worked in urban environments, it is expanding its efforts to rural environments close to my heart,” she says.
Although she is not a native of West Virginia, Garvey is a true Mountaineer. When fellow West Virginians in the southern part of the state were in need of help after the devastating June 2016 flood, she and the LUSD clinic answered the call.
“After the flood, the land use clinic was approached by several local governments to assist in long-term recovery efforts,” she says. “We had been working in the City of Richwood on a comprehensive plan that was adopted only days before the flood. Our primary work has been assistance in long-term planning and assistance with property law matters.”
The LUSD clinic has since continued efforts to support communities impacted by the summer floods of 2016 and 2017, including developing comprehensive plans for the City of White Sulphur Springs and the Town of Clendenin and rendering various legal services on behalf of the Town of Hundred, the City of Richwood and the Appalachia Service Project for flood-impacted properties in Rainelle.
Under Garvey’s direction, the LUSD clinic has helped many other communities and governments and achieved much success over the last six years, such as protecting over 15,000 acres of iconic West Virginia landscape, facilitating more than 500 public meetings to encourage stakeholder engagement in local planning efforts and training 87 students in real estate and land use law.
“Working with over 50 local governments, we have an opportunity to travel across the beautiful state of West Virginia,” she says. “Every community is different, but we consistently hear about Mountaineer pride, community parks, natural features and historic gems. I love introducing my family and friends to these special places.”
There is no threat of Garvey’s work in public interest going stagnant, thanks to the inspiration she finds in those around her, including her father, who taught her to work hard and take risks. She also finds motivation in the students and volunteers she works with on a daily basis.
“I am constantly inspired by the students and AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers who work in our office,” she says. “Our clinic works on some of the most challenging issues faced by communities in the U.S. Their optimism helps challenging work seem less daunting.”
