Xiao Recio-Blanco
Director. Ocean Program
(202) 939-3863
recio-blanco@eli.org

Xiao Recio-Blanco is a Staff Attorney and Director of the Ocean Program. He has conducted legal research on the regulation of small-scale fisheries in developing nations, the implementation of Marine Spatial Planning, the negotiation of maritime boundaries agreements, the creation of transboundary Marine Protected Areas, and the regulation of ocean renewable energy.

Before joining ELI, Xiao was an attorney at Banco Santander in Madrid (Spain), and an Associate Professor of International Law at CIDE (Mexico City). He was also a Visiting Attorney at Earthjustice in the District of Columbia. He holds a J.D. from the Complutense University of Madrid, and a S.J.D. from Duke University School of Law.

Jay Austin
Senior Attorney
(202) 558-3103
austin@eli.org

Jay Austin, Senior Attorney, has been at the Environmental Law Institute since 1992. He has worked extensively on the Institute’s water and ocean projects, including studies of ecosystem-based management, coastal and marine spatial planning, wetland mitigation, nonpoint source pollution, and Western water issues. He graduated with honors from the University of Virginia School of Law, and and served as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Michael Boudin in US District Court for the District of Columbia.

 
Rebecca Kihslinger
Science and Policy Analyst
(202) 939-3812
kihslinger@eli.org

Rebecca Kihslinger has worked at ELI as a Science and Policy Analyst since 2006. Rebecca’s research centers on local, state, and federal wetlands law and policy, with a focus on compensatory mitigation policy. She has worked with local and regional land trust to improve their capacity to take on the long-term stewardship of wetland mitigation sites. Rebecca’s work also addresses the intersection of conservation science and land use planning. She is currently working with planners and conservation biologists throughout the country to help integrate biodiversity protection principles into local planning efforts.