What is the ELC?
The ELC is a not-for -profit law firm dedicated to representing the public interest in environmental and land use matters, with offices in Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. For over a decade, under our previous name – the Environmental and Land Use Law Center, and, since April 2006 as the Everglades Law Center, our work as lawyers and advocates has focused on restoring the Everglades and the Keys and to helping special places like Martin County prevent growth from ruining what makes them special.
The ELC's mission is to use advocacy, negotiation and litigation to protect and restore the South Florida ecosystem. We pursue an aggressive agenda based on adherence to the scientific requirements and economic and social realities of development impacts on the people and ecosystems of south Florida. From the Treasure Coast (where Martin County is considering increased development in its western lands that are critical to the restoration of the Indian River watershed) to the Florida Keys (where we are fighting to preserve enough upland habitat to ensure the survival of that ecosystem) development pressures threaten to overwhelm South Florida. Our expertise and advocacy in land use and development permitting before local, state and federal courts and administrative bodies is part of a concerted effort to protect and sustain this region’s unique and irreplaceable ecosystems and communities.
Over the last decade, we have won some of the most important land use legal victories in Florida including the Florida Keys “Environmental Carrying Capacity” and Ambrose vested rights cases, Homestead Air Force Base, Pinecrest Lakes in Martin County and most recently the Scripps Biotechnology Campus case. Our hard work in the Keys has improved habitat protection, although further improvement is a must. In Miami-Dade County, we and our partners in the Hold the Line campaign have significantly broadened the constituency for strong growth management, and helped result in only one of ten proposed Urban Development Boundary expansions being approved.
The ELC also manages a public interest legal clinic along with its partner, the Shepard Broad Law Center at Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, where General Counsel Richard Grosso is also an Associate Professor. Through that clinic, law student interns learn how to practice both the basics and on the cutting edge of environmental and land use law, while providing invaluable legal support to the ELC’s four attorneys and our clients.
We've Changed Our Name -
The Environmental and Land Use Law Center is now The Everglades Law Center.
Click here to read more.