JD, University of Iowa College of Law, 2004
BA, Luther College, 2001
Chicago, IL
Senior Attorney
Sean Helle is a senior attorney at ELPC’s Chicago office, focusing on protecting wild places and waters across the Midwest. After graduating from law school, Sean clerked for two federal judges—Judge Diana E. Murphy on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in Minneapolis and Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He later worked as a litigator and a lobbyist at Earthjustice and the Southern Environmental Law Center. He has also had the opportunity to serve as a professor in the environmental law clinics of the University of Colorado and the University of Chicago. For better or worse—better, probably—his last name rhymes with “jelly.”
I’ve been lucky enough to live in Iowa, Minnesota, and Illinois, so my list of favorite Midwest places is pretty long. Since moving back to Chicago, though, I’ve been grateful—every day—for Lake Michigan. It’s beautiful, of course. And it’s also good at reminding me of how small each of us is—how dependent we are on the integrity and good behavior of the natural world.
The environmental fight’s officially existential. It’s a privilege to do such urgent work.