A high achieving, team builder, and problem solver, Earl Stockdale has held a variety of positions involving increasingly challenging and demanding responsibilities during a forty- year career in public service -- excelling in each of these assignments. He rose from an entry level position as a law clerk in a Corps of Engineers project office in Pennsylvania to hold two of the Army’s most crucial legal positions in Washington, DC, the Principal Deputy General Counsel of the Army for Civil Works and Environment and later the Chief Counsel of the Corps of Engineers. In these jobs, Mr. Stockdale was responsible for developing the final legal position of the Army on a host of difficult and highly precedential issues involving the Army’s multi-billion-dollar military and construction activities worldwide, often serving as the Army’s principal representative in the related interactions with International, Tribal, State, and local governmental interests or the private sector.
As the Deputy General Counsel for Civil Works and Environment, Mr. Stockdale served as the Army’s senior legal advisor on environmental, natural resources, and real estate law matters. He advised the Secretary of the Army and other senior Army leaders on a wide variety of complex legal and policy issues associated with the Army’s water resources and development programs, environmental compliance program, and management of millions of acres of land and facilities worldwide. He developed agency positions on legislation, monitored and participated in litigation of Army wide significance, and represented the Army in Congressional hearings and discussions with the Department of Defense and other Federal agencies.
In his role as the Chief Counsel of the Corps of Engineers, Mr. Stockdale served as the principal legal advisor to the Commander of the Corps of Engineers, and was responsible for managing and directing the Corps’ legal services system, comprised of over 450 attorneys and administrative personnel worldwide. In this position, Mr. Stockdale oversaw the provision of all legal advice and guidance concerning the Corps’ multi-billion dollar water resources conservation and development, military construction, disaster relief assistance, environmental restoration, real property, and support for others program initiatives.
Most recently, Mr. Stockdale served as a Senior Water Resources Fellow at the Corps of Engineers Water Resources Institute. In this consultant position, Mr. Stockdale was responsible for developing policy options and providing strategic advice to the Corps leadership on a variety of issues associated with the operation of Corps of Engineers reservoirs and the management of water.
Mr. Stockdale possesses a firm command of the Federal authorization, appropriation, and rulemaking processes, and is widely regarded as a skillful negotiator with a keen understanding of the major laws governing the use and development of public land and water resources. He has received many important awards, including the Service to America Award in the Environment, Science, and Technology category for his innovative work in developing the legislative, contractual, and administrative framework to support the $8 billion Everglades restoration effort. He was awarded the Army’s highest medal for civilian service on four occasions, and received awards from four Presidents for his work in support of: implementation of the Panama Canal Treaty; the Hurricane Katrina relief and reconstruction efforts; and development of a ground breaking public-private partnership to improve the supply of Army family housing. He also was one of four Federal employees selected to appear in a national television ad campaign sponsored by the Office of Personnel Management, designed to promote employment opportunities in the government and boast Federal recruiting.
Mr. Stockdale received a B.A. from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania; a JD from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and a LLM in Environmental Law from George Washington University National Law Center in Washington, DC.