Environmental Group Picks Historic Leader

The State reported S.C. Coastal Conservation League named Faith Rivers James as executive director. South Carolina’s highest profile environmental group chose the Ivy League-educated attorney to lead the organization. The organization focuses on environmental protection.

Founded in 1989, the Coastal Conservation League has more than three dozen staff members and a multi-million dollar endowment that has allowed it to weather economic downturns through the years. The league, headquartered in Charleston, employs specialists on energy, agriculture, coastal development, road-planning, water quality and other environmental issues. It has branch offices in Beaufort and Georgetown counties, as well as one in Columbia that monitors and lobbies at the Legislature.

James is a 57-year-old Daniel Island resident who grew up in Mt. Pleasant. She is the first African American director of the league. James has an extensive legal resume. She recently has headed The Citadel’s leadership studies department. From 1998-2004, she served as director of the S.C. Bar Foundation. She also has served as an associate dean at the Elon (N.C.) University School of Law and has taught law at Wake Forest University, the Vermont Law School and the University of South Carolina.

Educated in Charleston at the Porter-Gaud school, she graduated from law school at Harvard in 1990 and received her undergraduate degree from Dartmouth in 1986.