January 2004

Ruth Holmes recently celebrated her first anniversary with Johannessen & Associates, a small environmental firm in Seattle. Working mainly with Washington's Model Toxics Control Act and its federal counterpart, CERCLA, Ruth represents parties in suits against corporations or other entities for improper disposal and cleanup of hazardous waste. Over the last year, she has found herself in David and Goliath type cases and trials against major oil companies and international construction firms battling over responsibility for hazardous and toxic waste. She also spends a good portion of her time advising clients who have entered into voluntary agreements with Washington's Department of Ecology and the EPA in performance of toxic clean-ups.

Most of her outside of work time is spent fixing up a 1940s era house less than a mile from Puget Sound, trail running, kayaking (only when it's warm) and moving up the ranks in karate. Although the private practice of law does not typically afford anyone the freedom to pursue too many outdoor activities, she is determined to nevertheless explore and enjoy the lure of the Pacific Northwest to its fullest extent.

Ruth's favorite extracurricular activities at Miami Law were moot court, mock trial and Dean's Cup football. As a 3L, her team won the UM moot trial competition, finished runner-up to another UM team in the state competition, and she was the vice president of the Miami Moot Court Board. During law school she did a clinical with the State Attorney's Office in Miami and she clerked for a commercial litigation firm in Coral Gables. While in law school, her favorite job was a summer clerkship with the U.S. Coast Guard. "They really gave the summer clerks a lot of freedom to choose cutting edge assignments. I jumped into the environmental area and was able to sit in on dispositions of criminal ocean dumping cases with the U.S. Attorney's Office, I met a lot of great, down to earth attorneys, and composed an official Coast Guard memorandum on Florida's 1995 Ban on Net Fishing."

After law school, Ruth worked for the State Attorney's Office in Fort Lauderdale, where she tried approximately fifty criminal trials. As a prosecutor, she enjoyed criminal law, but developed a burgeoning interest in environmental law which could not be satisfied in Broward County at that time. She left the State Attorney's Office after three years to pursue an environmental law career with the South Florida Water Management District in West Palm Beach. During her two year tenure, South Florida was experiencing a severe draught and Ruth was the lead attorney for water shortage enforcement and various Everglades permitting and restoration projects. Although the Pacific Northwest has fed her desire for connecting to the outdoors, her ultimate goal is to combine her criminal and environmental law background, wherever that may take her next.

Ruth's hometown is Merritt Island, Florida. She earned her bachelor's degree in political science, with a minor in philosophy, from Kennesaw State College in 1993.