DARIA E. NEAL

Daria E. Neal is Senior Counsel for the Environmental Justice Project at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in Washington, D.C. The Environmental Justice Project works with the private bar to represent and advocate on behalf of communities of color challenging environmentally discriminatory conditions and decisions. The Environmental Justice Project seeks justice for people of color who are fighting to clean up contamination in their community or who are fighting to stop environmentally harmful activities from occurring in their neighborhoods.

Ms. Neal is responsible for identifying, developing and litigating important environmental justice cases. Additionally, Ms. Neal monitors federal and state legislative policies on environmental justice issues. Ms. Neal represents communities subjected to discriminatory zoning resulting in the concentration of industrial plants and pollution in communities of color. Ms. Neal is currently involved in matters in Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, Arizona and North Carolina involving the discriminatory provision of public services to communities of color and the contamination of soil and water sources on and near reservation lands.

Ms. Neal also coordinated the National Commission on Environmental Justice on the Gulf Coast to examine the impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on minority and low-income communities. She has brought litigation on behalf of these communities to ensure compliance under the Clean Water Act and the National Environmental
Policy Act.

Ms. Neal is a graduate of the University of California Los Angeles, School of Law and received her undergraduate degree from Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia. During law school, Ms. Neal served as a law clerk for a law firm representing individuals exposed to toxic substances in the workplace. Prior to joining the Lawyers' Committee, Ms. Neal worked for a prominent civil rights law firm as well as a national law firm in the District of Columbia. Ms. Neal is licensed to practice in the District of Columbia, Virginia and California. .

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