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Cameron Mileham Leonard

Senior Counsel

Cameron Mileham Leonard

Cam, a senior counsel in the firm's Environment, Energy & Resources practice, has more than 25 years of experience working in natural resource and environmental law. 

Cameron Leonard represents clients on a wide variety of environmental and natural resource issues, focusing on project development, infrastructure, and permitting for the mining, oil and gas, and energy industries. Cam is an experienced litigator and trial lawyer with a wide range of experience in state and federal courts and before administrative agencies, having first-chaired some of the most significant natural resources cases in the State of Alaska over the past twenty years.

A former assistant attorney general in the Natural Resources and Environmental sections of the Alaska Department of Law, Cam was lead counsel for the State of Alaska in two cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. The first involved a Clean Air Act dispute arising at the Red Dog Mine (see Alaska v. EPA, decision reported at 540 U.S. 461). The second matter was a Clean Water Act case regarding the permitting of the Kensington Mine (see Coeur Alaska v. Southeast Alaska Conservation Council reported at 557 U.S. 261).

In addition to environmental litigation, Cam is experienced in general civil and criminal litigation, including jury and court trial practice. He has held leadership positions with a number of state legal and environmental organizations, including positions as a member of the Alaska Legal Services Board of Directors and as civil law representative to the Western States Hazardous Waste Project as well as past Chair of the Chena Riverfront Commission.

Areas of focus

Education & Credentials

Education

  • UC Berkeley School of Law, J.D., (Boalt Hall), Associate Editor, Ecology Law Quarterly, 1983
  • Cornell University, B.A., History, Phi Beta Kappa, 1979

Bar and Court Admissions

  • Alaska

Related Employment

  • Alaska Department of Law, Fairbanks, AK, Senior Assistant Attorney General
  • Alaska Public Defender Agency, Fairbanks, AK, Trial Attorney
  • California State Public Defenders, San Francisco, CA, Extern

Clerkships

  • Cameron Mileham Leonard > Clerkships, Supreme Court of Alaska

Professional Recognition

  • Ranked by Chambers USA, as “America’s Leading Lawyers," for Natural Resources & Environment, 2014-2024

  • Named "Lawyer of the Year" by Best Lawyers in America, Mining Law, 2020-2022; Natural Resources Law, 2023

  • Listed in The Best Lawyers in America: Mining Law; Natural Resources Law, 2018-2024

Impact

Professional Leadership

  • Alaska Bar Association, Director/Board of Directors
  • Environmental/Natural Resources Law Section of the Alaska State Bar, Member
  • Alaska Legal Services, Board of Directors
  • University of Alaska Fairbanks, Adjunct Professor

Community Involvement

  • Fairbanks Paddlers, Board Member
  • Western States Hazardous Waste Project, Civil Law Representative
  • Chena Riverfront Commission
  • Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Fairbanks, Board of Directors
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