What was your path to law school? Did you always want to be a lawyer? When I was a very little girl, I wanted to be a lawyer but the truth was, I didn’t know many lawyers and I didn’t understand what they did. It wasn’t until I lived in Washington D.C. and interned in Capitol Hill in agriculture and …
This is Part 6 of a 6 Part Blog Series on “How to Make a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) Request“. Make sure to read the previous 5 blog posts to get the full picture! Step 6: Review FOIA Request After the agency has received your fees, it will process your request. The agency may send you a written “initial determination” …
This is Part 5 of a 6 Part Blog Series on “How to Make a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) Request“. Please stay tuned for the other blogs for the full picture! Step 5: Pay Fees There is no initial fee to file a FOIA request; however, federal agencies are allowed to request “reasonable standard charges for document search, duplication, …
This is Part 4 of a 6 Part Blog Series on “How to Make a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) Request“. Please stay tuned for the other blogs for the full picture! Step 4: Wait for Government Response Federal governmental agencies are required to respond to FOIA requests within twenty business days, excluding weekends and holidays, beginning from receipt of …
This is Part 3 of a 6 Part Blog Series on “How to Make a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) Request“. Please stay tuned for the other blogs for the full picture! Step 3: Draft and Mail Your Written FOIA Request Letter You cannot make a FOIA request to a federal agency over the telephone. All FOIA requests must be …
This is Part 2 of a 6 Part Blog Series on “How to Make a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) Request“. Please stay tuned for the other blogs for the full picture! Step 2: Choose The Government Agency or Agencies To Request Documents On either the federal or state level, there is not one central office that manages all …
This is Part 1 of a 6 Part Blog Series on “How to Make a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) Request“. Please stay tuned for the other blogs for the full picture! Step 1: Decide If It Is Necessary To File a FOIA Request Not all agency records require a written FOIA request. In 1996, Congress passed the Electronic Freedom of Information …
This presentation on wine and vineyard law was given to the National Business Institute (NBI) last fall. Below is an except from the presentation’s materials found here. The entire lecture from the day-long educational conference can be ordered from NBI here. Under federal law, each type of winery has its own set of documents that must be submitted to …
There has been a lot of talk lately about WOTUS (or “Waters of the United States”). This post gives a brief overview about what the heck is going on… In way of background, the United States government introduced the Clean Water Act (CWA) in 1972 in order to “restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation’s …
[slideshare id=53657806&doc=powerpoint-keynote-151007171431-lva1-app6892] This presentation was given as the keynote at the Tennessee College of Law’s Agriculture Law & Policy Symposium a few weeks ago. It covers a myriad of food and agriculture law topics including Veterinary Feed Directive, Waters of the United States, Syngenta Litigation, GMO Labeling, Country of Origin Labeling, Raw Milk, Food Safety Modernization Act, Idaho’s Ag Gag …
I have been asked to be an Alumni Ambassador for Pace University, School of Law to students at Texas A & M University. I’m a proud Fightin’ Texas Aggie Class of 2002 – I received my B.S. in Animal Science (on the west side of the railroad tracks!). If you are a student at Texas A & M University and …