Daniel Jacobs

Daniel Jacobs embarked on writing BP Blowout while serving as the founding director of the first interdisciplinary graduate program in sustainability management in a U.S. business school -- at American University in Washington, D.C. He led American to a #1 national sustainability specialty ranking by Bloomberg Businessweek.

In addition to his work in sustainability, Jacobs' expertise includes environmental law, business law and ethics, compliance, risk management, and negotiations (including mediation). He teaches, consults, and speaks on these subjects in the U.S. and abroad. He has appeared on BBC World News television, and regularly in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Financial Times, and Guardian. He has lectured on five continents.

Jacobs relocated to Los Angeles following distinguished public service in Washington, D.C. As an award-winning Trial Attorney at the Justice Department, he was lead counsel in high-profile environmental and civil rights cases across the country. As an Office Director and Senior Negotiator in the State Department's Economic, Energy, and Business Bureau, he led major diplomatic initiatives. While serving in the State Department's Office of the Legal Adviser, he won an award for his work in international arbitration.

During his academic career, Jacobs has taught executives, professionals, grad students, and undergrads. He has been a faculty member at Loyola Marymount University, American University, George Washington University, and Middlebury College; Senior Counsel in UC Irvine Law School's Environmental Law Clinic; and a visiting scholar at UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. He has served for two decades as an instructor for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy.

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A graduate of Middlebury College (B.A.), Cambridge University (M. Phil.), and Duke University (J.D.), Jacobs began his professional career as a law clerk to a U.S. Court of Appeals judge.

An avid fitness buff and international traveler, Dan has studied three languages (French, Spanish, and German) at the university level.