Energy Law & Policy Project

Lexi is a first-generation Mexican American from Southern California. She grew up in Riverside County, where she saw and experienced firsthand how environmental justice communities on the frontlines of climate impacts are sacrificed through the perpetuation of climate change. These experiences led her to Chapman University in Orange County, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology. She worked for a year and a half with Intersectional Environmentalists to develop educational resources and materials. Lexi also worked for three years at an Orange County climate policy nonprofit, organizing disinvested climate-impacted communities and advocating for the passage of Climate Action Plans and renewable energy policies at the local level. 

During her 1L summer, Lexi worked at the Natural Resources Defense Council on national environmental policy and state-level community involvement in energy policy development. Now, as a 2L, Lexi is an extern at the California Air Resources Board, researching California pollution control programs and policies. 

Rita grew up hunting and fishing in Austin, the Hill Country and heart of Texas. She earned her B.A. in political science, summa cum laude, from the College of Wooster, where she was recognized for academic excellence in sustainability. Growing up with three brothers made her a lifelong hellraiser and led her into a decade-long career as an environmental organizer working with frontline communities. Before enrolling at Oregon Law, Rita spent years protecting standing forests as a Forest Advocate for the Natural Resources Defense Council and leading strategic campaign teams at Dogwood Alliance. This work included regulatory analysis, work in state legislatures, and leading public comment efforts to challenge wood pellet biomass provisions and federal subsidies for false climate solutions. 

Following her first year at Oregon Law, Rita spent her summer interning as a Law & Policy Fellow with Wildlands Network, a nonprofit dedicated to restoring, connecting, and rewilding North America so life in all its diversity can thrive. In this role, she led research and drafted a policy report to support rewilding efforts, explored land-use and habitat-connectivity policy opportunities at the state level, and supported statewide wildlife-crossings coalitions. As a 2L, Rita joins the Oregon Review of International Law as a Staff Editor. 

In her free time, Rita enjoys beekeeping, flower farming, and trail tunning with her partner and blue heeler-aussie shepherd mutt. After graduation, she seeks to use her law degree to serve environmental justice communities.