This document provides a summary of Eric Bilsky's experience and qualifications. It outlines his experience advocating for environmental causes related to sustainable fishing, endangered species protection, and opposing offshore oil exploration. It also details his litigation experience managing environmental cases, experience providing legal counsel for non-profits, and teaching law students. Bilsky is currently the Assistant General Counsel and Senior Litigator at Oceana, Inc.

1. Eric A. Bilsky Environmental Lawyer
9503 Midwood Road
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Home Phone: (301) 589-1321
Cell Phone: (240) 723-5025
Email: eabilsky@gmail.com
Advocacy Experience
• Advocating for sustainable fishing, including implementing the key conservation
provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act
o Preventing overfishing and rebuilding overfished species
o Establishing annual catch limits and measures to enforce them
o Monitoring and minimizing bycatch
o Identifying and protecting essential fish habitat
• Protecting marine species listed under the Endangered Species Act and the Marine
Mammal Protection Act, including sea turtles and right whales
• Fighting for fair and transparent consideration of environmental issues under the
Administrative Procedure Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Freedom
of Information Act
• Incorporating marine conservation into international trade agreements, including
prohibiting subsidies for overfishing
• Advocating for seafood traceability through the supply chain to prevent seafood fraud
• Opposing offshore oil exploration and development
• Protecting the oceans from global climate change impacts, including impacts on marine
shipping and on sea turtles
• Controlling water pollution from industrial sources
• Enforcing the clean up of hazardous waste sites
Conservation Litigation
• Led litigation to promote sustainable fishing, protect marine wildlife and habitats, and
fight ocean pollution
• Managed all phases of litigation from establishing the record before government
agencies, to developing claims, through to summary judgment and appeal
In-House Counsel
• Enabled creation of affiliates in Canada, Brazil, and Philippines by establishing legal
foundation and engaging with local counsel
• Developed cause marketing promotions while ensuring compliance with diverse state
regulations
• Managed revision of retirement plan ensuring consistent treatment of employees and
compliance with regulatory changes
• Overhauled insurance portfolio to address risk management needs, such as coverage of
special events and marine expeditions

2. Public Policy
• Develop legal strategy to campaign for policy change to protect the environment
• Brief Congress and key agencies on marine conservation and related international trade
and environment issues
• Successfully advocated to member countries for inclusion of marine conservation
provisions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement
Administration and Management
• Manage domestic and international legal compliance, risk management, and business
transactions
• Advise president, CEO, and staff on non-profit corporation law, intellectual property,
employee benefits, and human resource matters
• Supervise team of senior counsel, paralegal, post-graduate legal fellow, and legal interns
Presenting and Teaching
• Present on marine conservation and international trade and the environment to
professional and academic audiences
• Create and deliver training for staff on organizational policies, procedures, and legal
compliance
• Taught legal research and writing classes at University of Michigan Law School and
taught philosophy class sections as a teaching assistant at UCLA
Selected Presentations
• Eric Bilsky, Marine Conservation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Conservation
Initiatives in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Wilson Center Program on America and the
Global Economy, Washington, D.C. (December 2011)
• Eric Bilsky, Fisheries Issues in TPP, Snowball in the Pacific: The Gathering Momentum
of TPP, The Global Business Dialogue, Washington, D.C. (December 2011)
• Eric Bilsky and Michael LeVine, Protecting the U.S. Marine Habitat: The Story of a
Public Interest Campaign, Marine and Freshwater Conservation Law and Governance,
Towards a Sustainable 21st
Century, Newkirk Center, University of California, Irvine
(May 2010)
• Eric Bilsky, Technical Commentary on the Prohibitions and Exceptions in the Chair’s
Draft Text, WTO Disciplines on Fisheries Subsidies: Elements of the Chair’s Draft,
UNEP, Geneva, Switzerland (January 2008)
• Conservation Objectives of the 2006 Reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act,
Magnuson-Stevens Act (“MSA”) Aspirations of the Reauthorization of the MSA, ABA
Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, Quick Teleconference Program (May
2007)

3. • Sustainable Fisheries, Protecting Our Oceans: Legal and Policy Responses to Declining
Marine Ecosystems, ABA Standing Committee on Environmental Law, University of
Maryland School of Law (June 2004)
Research and Writing
• Published articles concerning marine conservation and international trade and the
environment
• Authored numerous briefs, legal memoranda, formal comment letters, and other
advocacy documents
Publications
• Leslie Delagran and Eric Bilsky, Marine Fisheries and CITES: Breaking the Cycle of
Overexploitation, 4 BioRes Review 1 (2010)
• Eric Bilsky, Conserving Marine Wildlife Through World Trade Law, 30 Michigan
Journal of International Law 599 (2009)
• Eric Bilsky, International Cold-Water Coral Conservation: A Review, ABA Section of
International Law International Environmental Law Committee Newsletter 8 (Fall 2007)
• Eric Bilsky, Conserving Marine Habitats, Sustainable Development Law & Policy 67
(Fall 2006)
• Metaphysical and Ethical Skepticism in Legal Theory, 75 Denver University Law Review
187 (1997)
WORK EXPERIENCE
Assistant General Counsel and Senior Litigator Oceana, Inc., Washington, D.C.
February 2008 – Present
Senior Attorney Oceana, Inc., Washington, D.C.
August 2001-February 2008
Attorney Ocean Law Project, Earthjustice, Washington, D.C.
May 1999 – August 2001
Clinical Assistant Professor University of Michigan Law School, Ann Arbor, MI
1996-1999
Associate Terris, Pravlik & Wagner, Washington, D.C.
1993-1996
Associate Miller, Balis & O'Neil Washington, D.C.
1991-1993

4. EDUCATION
J.D., magna cum laude Harvard Law School Cambridge, MA
1988-1991
John M. Olin Fellow in Law and Economics
M.A., Philosophy University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
1985-1987
University Fellowship
B.A., Philosophy, magna cum laude Yale University, New Haven, CT
1981-1985
Distinction in Philosophy
ADMITTED TO PRACTICE
United States Supreme Court, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
Circuit, United States District Court for the District of Columbia
Member, District of Columbia Bar