Bradley Arant Boult Cummings Attorney Kelly R. Blackwood Named Mississippi Nature Conservancy Board Chair

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP is pleased to announce that Kelly R. Blackwood, a senior attorney in the firm’s Jackson office, has been named Chair of the Board of Trustees of The Nature Conservancy in Mississippi.

Ms. Blackwood has been a board member for The Nature Conservancy’s Mississippi chapter since 2011. Governing boards advise state Nature Conservancy chapters on strategic issues, assist in setting goals, and subject the chapters’ work to additional critical thinking. The Nature Conservatory is the leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people.

“We congratulate Kelly on this appointment,” said Firm Chairman Beau Grenier. “We know she will contribute significantly to The Nature Conservancy through her leadership.”

A member of the firm’s Environmental and Litigation practice groups, Ms. Blackwood focuses her practice on regulatory and litigation work. She has a wide range of experience in environmental permitting and enforcement matters and works regularly with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Ms. Blackwood has represented clients before Mississippi state courts, the Mississippi Commission on Environmental Quality and the Mississippi Environmental Quality Permit Board. She has served as lead counsel in negotiating numerous enforcement settlements, and has routinely assisted with obtaining construction and operating permits and advising clients on associated compliance matters. Ms. Blackwood’s environmental practice also has included property acquisitions, due diligence matters, contaminated properties, brownfield redevelopment, natural resource damages, remediation and restoration, and wetlands assessments. Ms. Blackwood also has taught environmental law as an adjunct professor at the Mississippi College School of Law.

Ms. Blackwood holds a J.D. from the Mississippi College School of Law. She also has a B.B.A. from the University of Mississippi.