Ramin Pejan

Senior Attorney International Program

pejan_ramin-800

Media Inquiries

Kathryn McGrath
Public Affairs and Communications Strategist
(202) 516-6932
kmcgrath@earthjustice.org

Bar Admissions

NY

Ramin Pejan is a senior attorney with the International Program in San Francisco, CA.

Ramin was born in Iran and grew up in Vancouver, Canada. He was an undergraduate at Duke University and received his law degree from American University, Washington College of Law. He also received an LLM from McGill University in Montreal, focusing on international environmental law and human rights law.

Prior to coming to Earthjustice, Ramin worked for the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the United Nations Environment Programme on the links between human rights and environmental issues.

From 2005–2010, Ramin worked at the New York City Law Department’s Environmental Law Division as an Assistant Corporation Counsel and then as Senior Counsel, where he was engaged in a wide variety of environmental litigation, advocacy, counseling and compliance work in areas of federal and state law. Highlights include being a member of the trial team that won a $100 million judgment in City of New York v. Exxon Mobil Corporation and serving as lead counsel defending against challenges in state and federal courts to the city’s efforts to require hybrid taxicabs. His Exxon Mobil trial team was a finalist for Trial Lawyer of the Year awarded by Public Justice in 2010. From 2010–2012, Ramin worked in Bushbuckridge, South Africa as legal counsel for the Association for Water and Rural Development (AWARD), a non-profit focusing on water resource management issues in rural South Africa.

The Latest from Ramin Pejan

February 2, 2024

In the News: KRBD

Alaska Native Tribes pressure Canada for rights in Unuk River mining project

“The ownership of the Unuk River and the territory and the use of that river is integral to their culture, to their subsistence. It goes back thousands of years before these borders were in place.”
December 9, 2021

South Africa’s Youth Take on Coal and the Climate Crisis

A new lawsuit seeks to prevent the expansion of coal generation in South Africa.
An aerial view of Secunda Power Station, one of the coal-fired plants that pollutes the air and water in South Africa's Mpumalanga province.
August 21, 2020

Winning the Fight Against Coal Projects in South Africa

Earthjustice's South African partners shut down a proposed 600 MW coal power plant in the Mpumalanga province, sending a message to the country's biggest polluters.
A mineral sand deposit on the west coast of South Africa, where Mineral Resources Commodities wants to mine.
July 2, 2020

An Attempt to Silence Environmental Activism in South Africa

This mining company's defamation suit is a classic example of a strategic lawsuit against public participation.
Kendal Power Station in South Africa's Mpumalanga Highveld, where the air is heavily polluted by coal-fired power plants.
July 8, 2019

A Fight for the Right to Breathe Begins in South Africa

South African environmental justice advocates are suing the government to force it to clean up the air in the country’s Mpumalanga Highveld region.
The Stikine River runs through Wrangell, Alaska. Mining operations nearby threaten to poison fish in the Stikine watershed and destroy the traditions and livelihoods of Southeast Alaskan Tribes.
December 7, 2018

Canada As Ugly Neighbor: Mines in B.C. Would Devastate Alaskan Tribes

Southeast Alaskan Tribes have brought a human rights petition against Canada to protect the fish at the center of their cultures.
As Bangladeshis step up their efforts to stop a harmful coal-fired power plant, the government is clamping down on their human rights.
November 22, 2016

Environmental Defenders Are Under Threat in Bangladesh

As Bangladeshis step up their efforts to stop a harmful coal-fired power plant, the government is clamping down on their human rights.
March 14, 2016

¿Quién Protege a los Protectores Como Berta Cáceres?

El asesinato de Cáceres no es un problema aislado en Honduras, ni en el mundo entero. Los defensores ecológicos y agrarios se encuentran entre los grupos de personas más amenazados de la Tierra.
Berta Cáceres on the banks of the Gualcarque River in the Rio Blanco region of western Honduras. / Goldman Environmental Prize
March 14, 2016

Who Protects the Protectors like Berta Cáceres?

The brutal murder of Honduran indigenous and land rights defender Berta Cáceres brings into focus the dangers that activists face worldwide.