The American Bar Association (ABA)'s Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources (SEER) awarded B&D's Kate Tipple (Associate, San Francisco) its Committee Phoenix Award for her leadership of SEER's Mining and Mineral Extraction Committee. Based on nominations by SEER members and leadership, the Phoenix Award recognizes outstanding effort to improve a committee’s performance over previous years. Kate accepted the award, along with her co-chair Almira Moronne, at the virtual ABA Fall Conference.

When Kate began her role as Committee Co-Chair in 2019, participation in the Committee was low. In order to drive engagement, Kate and Almira began hosting monthly member calls with informal presentations featuring Committee members and discussions on topics including the Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act. Since then, membership has increased, more members are participating in programming as attendees and presenters, and the Committee has been able to offer timely and exciting topics, which garnered notice and recognition by ABA SEER leadership.

"Given the many issues facing the hardrock and coal mining industry, such as sustainable development and climate change, I saw the potential for the Mining and Mineral Extraction Committee to serve as resource for lawyers focused on these issues to discuss developments and share ideas," Kate said. "It has been a pleasure working with Almira to reinvigorate the Committee and deliver value to our members."

"B&D congratulates Kate on this well-earned recognition,” said Jamie Auslander, a leader of B&D’s Mining & Metals practice. “Kate’s efforts to promote inclusion and enhance the value of the Mining and Mineral Extraction Committee will benefit lawyers practicing in this field and the clients they serve.”

To become a member of the Mining and Mineral Extraction Committee click here, or contact Kate with to learn more. To read more about SEER's awards, please click here.