Douglas Carstens is the Managing Partner of Carstens, Black & Minteer LLP, a small law firm in Hermosa Beach that practices environmental and land use law throughout the state. He graduated from Cornell University, served as an officer in the Navy for five years, then attended law school at UCLA. After that, he joined the Law Office of Jan Chatten-Brown, which has evolved into Carstens, Black, and Minteer LLP. His law firm has represented petitioners who enforced environmental laws to protect people against proposed oil drilling, preserved important historic and cultural resources, promoted affordable housing, resulted in modifications to sprawl development projects in various parts of the state. He has helped community based organizations create two urban parks in poor communities of color: the State Historic Park of Los Angeles and the Rio De Los Angeles State Park. Mr. Carstens has written various articles about environmental law and co-chaired over a dozen annual Law Seminars International’s CEQA Seminars. He is a past President of the Sierra Nevada Alliance and currently the President of the Board of the Planning and Conservation League.