Marianne Cufone is an environmental attorney and long time conservation and healthy affordable food advocate. She works in natural resources management, focused on threatened species, oceans, fisheries, food and farming. Over the past 17 years she has challenged and helped write and pass many significant federal, state and local policies and laws. She’s litigated major environmental cases and worked for various non-profit groups through her company, Environment Matters, which provides legal, policy and communications support.

Marianne runs an environmental policy lab at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, in which her students work on social justice cases for non-profit or community clients. She appears in print, television, radio, and other media, is published in various magazines and professional works and testified before Congress. Marianne is the founder and Executive Director of the Recirculating Farms Coalition, an organization that promotes building innovative, eco-efficient farms that use naturally-cleaned, constantly recycled water in addition to or in place of traditional soil-based farming to grow affordable, fresh food. She is a graduate of Boston College and the University of Miami and is a member of the Florida Bar, and the Middle District of Florida, the Louisiana Bar and the Middle and Eastern Districts of Louisiana, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Licensed in: Florida, Washington DC, Louisiana

Alexander “Sascha” Bollag is an attorney in New Orleans, Louisiana. His extensive civil rights and social justice experience began as an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where he worked as a student labor organizer with campus workers, in addition to other local social justice activities. Prior to law school, Sascha spent several years in Washington, DC, first with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) and then Food & Water Watch, a non-profit consumer advocacy organization, where he served as a community organizer and legislative coordinator, working to shape legislation on Capitol Hill and in various states.

During law school at NYU, Sascha held several intern positions, including with the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI) and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR). He also participated in two clinics during law school, the Global Justice Clinic at NYU and Loyola University of New Orleans Law School's Social Justice Clinic, where he worked on various housing issues, including fair housing cases with the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center (GNOFHAC). Since 2013, Sascha has worked for GNOFHAC, where now as a staff attorney, he represents clients in housing discrimination cases, through the administrative process as well as litigation. He also collaborates with GNOFHAC's policy team on various related issues. Sascha received his BA from UNC – Chapel Hill and his law degree from NYU School of Law.

Licensed in: Louisiana

Shawn “Pepper” Bowen is an Environmental, Food, and Water attorney and the Founding Director of Culinaria Center for Food Law, Policy, and Culture. She is also chair of the New Orleans Food Policy Advisory Committee, Trustee on the CrescentCare board, member on the Living School Board of Directors, and a Steering Committee member of Value Louisiana’s Regional Sustainability Committee.

Pepper holds a BS in Computer Information Systems from Tulane University; an MS in Computer Information Technology with a concentration in eCommerce; and a JD with certificates in both Environmental and International Laws. Her writings focus on remediation of invasive species, food systems, and environmental impacts on food.

Licensed in: Louisiana

Emily Posner received her J.D. from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law in 2013. Her main practice areas of expertise are in high-level criminal defense, civil rights and environmental justice. Prior to her solo practice, she worked for two years as the Policy and Legislative Counsel for the Recirculating Farms Coalition, in New Orleans. There, Emily coordinated various policy initiatives related to food, agriculture and fisheries issues. While at Loyola she was awarded the 2013 Public Service Award from the Gillis Long Poverty Law Center and the 2010 Roger Baldwin Award from the Maine Civil Liberties Union. She earned a B.A. from Colby College in Latin American Studies.

Licensed in: Louisiana