DONNA DOWNING
Faculty Advisor
Donna Downing is the Senior Legal Policy Advisor at the Association of State Wetland Managers (ASWM). Prior to coming to ASWM in December 2020, Donna was a policy analyst and attorney at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and served as Jurisdiction Team Leader in EPA’s Office of Water for fifteen years. Donna works on a variety of issues, with a focus in recent years on which waters are protected by the Clean Water Act (CWA) in light of the U.S. Supreme Court decisions. Donna previously worked for the U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment, and in private law practice. She has a BA from Harvard University magna cum laude, a MPP from the University of California at Berkeley, a JD from Georgetown University cum laude, and a LLM in Environmental Law summa cum laude from George Washington University. Donna teaches environmental law as an adjunct professor at George Washington University Law School, and was awarded the Distinguished Adjunct Faculty Award in 2012. In what’s left of her time, Donna moonlights as a professional potter and an unprofessional horse trainer.
