Cassandra McCrae is a senior attorney with the Clean Energy Program. She specializes in energy law, with much of her time spent working with partners in midwestern and Appalachian states.

Cassandra joined Earthjustice in 2017, after working as a Staff Attorney at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid’s El Paso office, where she was part of the environmental justice and housing practice groups. Before becoming an attorney, Cassandra spent several years organizing in coalfield communities. As an AmeriCorps VISTA with the Appalachian Coal Country Watershed team in western Maryland, she focused on identifying and remediating acid mine drainage from long-abandoned coal mines and supporting economic development initiatives. Cassandra next spent several years working as a Campaign Organizer for the Center for Coalfield Justice in southwestern Pennsylvania, working to educate and empower coalfield residents, and to improve policy, regulation, and enforcement of fossil fuel extraction in the region.

Cassandra received her B.A. in anthropology from the University of Florida, her M.A. from the University of Chicago, and her J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law. After law school, she clerked for Judge Robert C. Chambers of the Southern District of West Virginia and at Texas’s First Court of Appeals for Justice Rebeca Aizpuru Huddle, now on the Supreme Court of Texas.

Cassandra lives in Philadelphia, PA, with her family.