This is the story of a man brought up on a Connecticut farm who decided to specialize in environmental law.

While attending college and law school, he worked for a tree surgery firm and learned all he could about physiology, anatomy, pathology, and the survival and reproductive strategies of trees. He particularly enjoyed visiting a botanical garden for trees near his school and read as much about trees as he did about law.

After graduating, he was lucky enough to join a firm in White Plains, New York, where he worked on numerous cases involving...