Deborah Clarke Trejo
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Areas of Practice

Deborah Trejo is a partner in the firm's Environmental, Administrative and Public Law Department, focusing on representing political subdivisions, public institutions and private clients in environmental, water, open government, constitutional, administrative, commercial and litigation matters; in the trial and appellate prosecution and defense of environmental enforcement and agency actions; rulemaking; legislation; water, solid waste and air permitting; and negotiation and mediation in litigation.

Following clerkships with the law firm of Clifford Chance in London, the Texas Office of the Attorney General in Austin, and El Centro Legal Campesino in New Mexico, Ms. Trejo served as an attorney in the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic representing clients in state trial and appellate proceedings and before state and federal administrative agencies. She was part of a special Tulane delegation to Havana where she worked with members of Cuba’s Ministry of Science, Technology, and the Environment to translated Cuba’s Law No. 81 On the Environment. Beginning in 1998, Ms. Trejo worked on the Texas-Mexico border as an Assistant District Attorney for Cameron County, Texas, where she was involved in extensive litigation in state courts.

• Environmental, Administrative and Public Law

Professional Affiliations

• State Bar of Texas - Environmental and Natural Resources Law Section
• Austin Bar Association
• American Bar Association - Section of Environment, Energy and Natural Resources
• Texas Women Lawyers Association
• Travis County Women Lawyers Association
• Hispanic Bar Association of Austin

Bars & Courts

• Texas, 1998
• Western District of Texas, 2007
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, 2008

Education

• Reed College, B.A., 1991
• Southern Oregon State College, Teaching Certification, 1993
• Tulane University Law School, J.D., magna cum laude, Certificate in Environmental Law, Environmental Law Clinic, McCarthy Environmental Law Award for the Outstanding Student in Environmental Law, 1998

Professional and Civic Involvement

Ms. Trejo is the author of several publications on environmental and water law, including a chapter on groundwater conservation districts and subsidence districts in the State Bar of Texas’ Texas Law of Water Resources.

Ms. Trejo is the president of VCFS Texas, Inc. and was responsible for getting the Texas Legislature to pass the first legislation in the world to increase awareness of Velo-cardio-facial syndrome, the second most common genetic abnormality after Down syndrome. Ms. Trejo also serves on the advisory board of the Hill Country Alliance, and is a volunteer with the Down Syndrome Association of Central Texas and the Texas Parent to Parent Network. Ms. Trejo is a member of the Leadership Austin Essential Class of 2008.

Publications

• Identifying and valuing groundwater withdrawal rights in the context of takings claims– a Texas case study, 23 TUL. ENVTL. L.J. 409 (Spring 2010)
• Groundwater Conservation Districts and Subsidence Districts, Texas Law of Water Resources (State Bar of Texas 2009) (co-author)
• Fifth Circuit Holds Adjacent Property Owner Has Standing and Separate Tracts of Former Railroad Site Constitute a Single Facility under RCRA and LEQA, 38 St. B. Tex. Envtl. L.J. 218 (Spring 2008) (co-author)
• Save Our Springs Alliance v. Norton, No. A-05-CA-683-SS, Slip. Op., 2007 WL 958173 (W.D. Tex. Feb. 20, 2007), 38 St. B. Tex. Envtl. L.J. 155 (Winter 2008) (co-author)
• Update on Recent Groundwater and Surface Water Case Law, 2007 Texas Water Law Institute – University of Texas CLE (December 2007)
• Practice Before Conservation Districts, Texas Water Law, Water Law Institute – CLE International (April 2007)
• Liability under CERCLA Held by Fifth Circuit to Be Several, Not Joint and Several: Elementis Chromium L.P. v. Coastal States Petroleum Co., 37 St. B. Tex. Envtl. L.J. 47 (Fall 2006) (co-author)
• Groundwater Regulation “Outside” the Edwards Aquifer Authority – Lorman Education Services (February 2007)
• A Common Sense Reading of the Term “Facility” in RCRA’s Citizen Suit Provision, 36 St. B. Tex. Envtl. L.J. 240 (Summer 2006) (co-author)
• Groundwater Districts and Land Use Regulation - Scope and Limits of Authority Texas Water Law, Water Law Institute - CLE International (September 2005)
• Fifth Circuit Passes on Question of Clean Air Act Contingency Measure Emissions Reduction Counting Toward Both State and Federal Requirements, 35 St. B. Tex. Envtl. L.J. 314 (Winter 2005) (co-author)
• Regulatory and Procedural Aspects of Groundwater Management, The Changing Face of Water Rights in Texas 2005, State Bar of Texas (February 2005)
• Drinking Water, in Texas Practice Series on Environmental Law (West 2005) (co-author)
• The Rule of Capture and the Edwards Aquifer Adjudication, 1 The Water Report 1, (March 2004) (co-author)
• Groundwater Districts- Where Are We Now?, The Changing Face of Water Rights in Texas 2004, State Bar of Texas (co-author)
• Annual Report on Water Resources in Texas, 2003 A.B.A. Sec. Env’t Energy & Res. Rep. (co-author)
• Houston Court of Appeals Decides Private Cost Recovery Issues Under Texas’ Solid Waste Disposal Act, 66 Tex. B. J. 58 (Jan. 2003) (co-author)
• Sierra Club v. City of San Antonio, 11 TUL. ENVTL. L.J. 117 (Winter 1998)
• Cuba’s Law No. 81 (July 11, 1997) (official translation)

Excerpted List