Carrie Apfel is the deputy managing attorney of the Sustainable Food and Farming Program. She is based in Washington, D.C.

Prior to joining Earthjustice, Carrie was a litigation partner at Jenner & Block. One of the more notable cases she worked on was a class action on behalf of Native American farmers and ranchers challenging discrimination in USDA’s farm loan program. The team won an enormous, and unprecedented, settlement for her clients. She also maintained a very active pro bono docket at Jenner. Prior to joining Jenner, Carrie clerked on the Fourth Circuit, and graduated from University of Virginia Law School and Duke University, both with many honors. She also worked for several years at women’s advocacy organizations in DC.

When she is not busy practicing law, Carrie enjoys spending time with her family, running long distances, watching Duke basketball and Nationals baseball, cooking and reading.

Sophia (she/her) leads NSAC’s cross-team policy coordination and strategy efforts. She returned to NSAC after 4 years leading the Food and Agriculture Clinic at Vermont Law School, where she directed a team providing law and policy services to farmers, food entrepreneurs, and food system organizations. During that time, Sophia led the launch of the Vermont Legal Food Hub, a program that connects farmers and local food businesses with free legal assistance. Sophia previously served as a Senior Policy Specialist at NSAC; her DC experience also includes the Center for Food Safety, the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and the federal district court. She holds a BS in Environmental Science from the University of Michigan and a JD from Vermont Law School.

Mary was most recently employed at Harvard Business School as a project coordinator. She has spent most of her public health career at Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital as a database manager and community health worker.

Mary also brings great experience as a crops team member and food entrepreneur. She worked at Drumlin Farm and started her own dried fruit business, aptly named Cut&Dried. She is ecstatic to find a position where she can support individuals who are taking on these challenges themselves.

In her free time Mary enjoys trail running, rock climbing, backpacking, cooking, and baking.

Scott W. Carlson is FLAG’s Executive Director. Raised on a family farm, Scott has maintained life-long connections to agriculture and family farmers. With his personal background and extensive professional experience in state and federal farm policy and complex litigation, Scott brings a deep commitment to protecting family farms and to achieving legal, social, and economic justice for family farmers and their communities.

Scott served as the North Dakota Department of Agriculture Policy and Communications Director under Commissioner Sarah Vogel. He was also U.S. Senator Kent Conrad’s Legislative Assistant for Agriculture, which included staffing Sen. Conrad on the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee. Scott also served as Senior Professional Staff on the U.S. Senate Budget Committee. As a U.S. Senate staff member, Scott worked regularly with Congressional leadership, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the White House on agriculture and food legislation, regulation and public policy. During his career in Washington, D.C., farmers across the country faced numerous and repeated natural disasters. Scott worked to ensure that Congress and the Administration provided fair disaster funding and helped create responsible and responsive public policy to help keep family farmers on the land. Ultimately, Scott served as one of the top U.S. Senate staff negotiators during the conference committee policy negotiations over the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000, which overhauled the federal crop insurance program, expanded it to include new crops and farmers, and set the foundation for modern federal farm risk management programs.

An honors graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School, Scott served as Managing Editor of the Minnesota Law Review. He then practiced law for more than twelve years before joining FLAG. He is rated by Super Lawyers, and was named to the list of outstanding attorneys as a “Rising Star” in 2014. Scott served as trial counsel in In re High Pressure Laminates Antitrust Litigation, a six-week federal trial in the Southern District of New York, and in In re Polyester Staple Antitrust Litigation (W.D.N.C.), a federal antitrust case that settled with the last remaining defendant on the eve of trial, ultimately recovering more than the single damages suffered by the class. Scott has extensive experience in complex litigation, including In re Rail Freight Fuel Surcharge Antitrust Litigation (D.D.C.) (claims alleging conspiracy among major domestic railroads to fix prices for rail freight surcharges); In re Titanium Dioxide Antitrust Litigation (D. Md.) (price-fixing claims against manufacturers of titanium dioxide); In re Lawnmower Engines Horsepower Marketing & Sales Practices Litigation (E.D. Wis.) (alleging consumer fraud, civil conspiracy and unjust enrichment claims against manufacturers of lawn mowers and lawn mower engines); In re AOL Time Warner Securities Litigation (S.D.N.Y.) (securities fraud claims against AOL and Time Warner on behalf of shareholders); In re Guidant Corp. Implantable Defibrillators Products Liability Litigation (D. Minn.) (product liability claims on behalf of patients with implanted defibrillators); In re Monosodium Glutamate Antitrust Litigation (D. Minn.) (price-fixing claims on behalf of business purchasers of MSG); In re Fiber Optic Cable Litigation (N.D. Ill.) (claims on behalf of property owners alleging that telecommunication companies installed facilities within rights of way without consent); and other complex litigation.

Megan joined Democracy Forward after having served eight years at the U.S. Department of Labor, where she most recently was the Associate Deputy Secretary for Policy. In this role Megan led Departmental efforts on regulatory, policy and agency matters such as wage standards, work and family policy, enforcement, immigration and worker safety. Prior to joining the Labor Department, Megan served in the U.S. House of Representatives, working as Legislative Director for a member from Southern California and handling energy, environment, appropriations and transportation matters. In 2005, Megan was named one of the Hill’s top 35 staffers under 35.

Originally from Kansas City, Kansas, Megan has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Political Science and International Affairs from Drake University, and a Master of Arts in International Affairs from George Washington University.

ACLU of North Carolina, deputy legal director
New York City Legal Aid Society, Juvenile Rights Practice, staff attorney
J.D., Notre Dame Law School, London Law Programme
M.A., Central European University, with honors
B.A., Earlham College, with highest honors