James Watson Conrad is an American lawyer whose career has focused on environmental, administrative, energy, homeland-security, and science-policy matters. He worked at major Washington law firms, served as assistant general counsel of the American Chemistry Council, and later founded Conrad Law & Policy Counsel.
Background
James Watson Conrad was born on December 13, 1958, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to James Watson Conrad and Margaret Foxall Clement Conrad. His family background connected him with the Pittsburgh region, a major American industrial and scientific center during the twentieth century.
Conrad later made Washington, D.C., the base of his professional life. His work has centered on the legal and policy questions created by environmental regulation, chemical safety, energy policy, and the use of scientific evidence in governmental decision-making.
Education
Conrad received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Haverford College in 1981. Haverford, founded in 1833 in Pennsylvania, is a Quaker-founded liberal-arts college known for its emphasis on academic inquiry, personal responsibility, and the Honor Code.
He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the George Washington University Law School in 1985. Located in Washington, D.C., the law school provides professional legal education in close proximity to the federal courts, Congress, executive agencies, and the regulatory institutions that became central to Conrad's career.
Conrad began his legal career in Washington, D.C., as an associate at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton from 1985 to 1988. The firm was an established international practice whose work included complex corporate, regulatory, and litigation matters. He then served as an associate at Davis, Graham & Stubbs from 1989 to 1993, continuing his development in legal practice involving business and public-policy issues.
From 1993 to 2007, Conrad was assistant general counsel of the American Chemistry Council, a national trade association representing companies in the chemistry sector. His work there involved environmental, health, safety, homeland-security, and regulatory-policy matters, including issues arising under federal chemical, air, waste, workplace-safety, and security programs.
In September 2007, Conrad established Conrad Law & Policy Counsel, where he served as principal. The practice provided legislative and regulatory representation to businesses, associations, and coalitions in environmental, health and safety, homeland-security, and science-policy matters. His work included advocacy before federal agencies and Congress, regulatory analysis, and representation concerning chemical-facility security and the quality and use of scientific information in regulation.
Conrad has also appeared in federal policy proceedings and congressional testimony. In 2018 he testified before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce's Subcommittee on Environment concerning the Chemical Facilities Anti-Terrorism Standards program on behalf of the Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates. His professional work has placed him at the intersection of administrative law, industrial regulation, chemical safety, and public policy.
Achievements
Conrad developed a legal and policy practice focused on environmental regulation, chemical safety, homeland security, energy, and the evaluation of scientific information used by government agencies.
He testified before the United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce's Subcommittee on Environment in 2018 concerning the Chemical Facilities Anti-Terrorism Standards program, representing the Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates.
He organized and chaired an executive seminar on the science of environmental law, bringing legal and scientific questions in environmental regulation into professional discussion.
(A letter published in Science addressing the importance o...)
2015
Politics
Conrad is identified with the Democratic Party, one of the two major political parties in the United States. In the fields of environmental, energy, and administrative law in which his career developed, Democratic policy traditions have generally emphasized federal regulatory authority, public-health protections, environmental safeguards, and the use of scientific information in government decision-making.
Views
Conrad's professional writings and public statements emphasize the importance of transparent, reliable, and appropriately evaluated scientific information in regulatory decision-making. His work treats administrative law as a framework for reconciling industrial activity, public health, environmental protection, national security, and democratic oversight.
He has argued that scientific evidence used in regulation should be examined through clear standards and good-faith debate. His perspective combines legal analysis with attention to the institutional responsibilities of agencies, regulated industries, courts, and Congress.
Membership
Conrad has participated in professional and civic organizations connected with environmental law, administrative law, chemical standards, and public service. His memberships included the American Bar Association, the District of Columbia Bar, the Maryland State Bar Association, and ASTM International, a standards organization that develops voluntary technical standards for materials, products, systems, and services.
He also served as chair of the City of Alexandria Environmental Policy Commission. His American Bar Association involvement included work in administrative-law and environmental, energy, and natural-resources sections, including service as chair of the Administrative Law Section.
Chair
City of Alexandria Environmental Policy Commission
,
United States
1988 - present
Participated in administrative-law and environmental, energy, and natural-resources sections; served as chair of the Administrative Law Section.
American Bar Association
,
United States
Voting member
American Society for Testing and Materials
,
United States
1991 - present
Participated in the Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Section.
District of Columbia Bar
,
United States
Participated in the Environmental Law Section.
Maryland State Bar Association
,
United States
Personality
Conrad has described himself as strongly interested in public-policy questions, especially energy and the environment. In a professional interview, he characterized legal practice as a way to engage directly with practical policy problems and said that he preferred addressing difficult disputes through law and public institutions.
Quotes from others about the person
A professional colleague described Conrad as a capable business lawyer and a good human being.
Interests
Conrad has expressed a longstanding interest in energy and environmental policy and in the relationship between science and government regulation.
Connections
Conrad married Kathy Prager on June 8, 1985. They have two daughters, Elizabeth Clement Conrad and Caroline Prager.
His parents were James Watson Conrad and Margaret Foxall Clement Conrad. Margaret Conrad later lived in the Alexandria, Virginia, area and died in 2023.
Avvo, James W Conrad Jr Profile
Professional profile documenting Conrad's education, bar admission, law-firm positions, American Chemistry Council service, and work as principal of Conrad Law & Policy Counsel.
