Practice focuses on energy and environmental litigation, regulation, and counseling before Federal, state, and administrative courts, involving water, solid and hazardous waste, nuclear materials, wetlands, endangered species, sustainability, and environmental transaction issues, especially in the energy and manufacturing sectors. Experience in negotiating permits and settlements, compliance counseling, and advising on environmental risks in complex business and real estate transactions. Representative clients include water districts, developers, electric utilities, investors, chemical manufacturers, and paper mills. Founder and director of the Firm's Water Policy Institute, seeking innovative sustainable solutions to water supply and quality issues.
Relevant Experience 
- Representing intervenors in 9th Circuit, 10th Circuit, and federal district court cases regarding water issues and the Endangered Species Act.
- Advising developer on wetlands and Endangered Species Act issues on over 6,000-acre development in Florida involving the Florida panther.
- Filed amicus brief in S.D. Warren v. Maine BEP before the United States Supreme Court regarding issues under the Clean Water Act.
- Advised real estate developer on wetlands permitting issues on redevelopment of the Meadowlands in New Jersey.
- Represented individual clients at NPL-listed Superfund site involving 100 miles of river in Michigan with PCB-contaminated sediment.
- Represented individual clients at 250 square mile NPL-listed Superfund site in California on contaminated groundwater issues.
- Litigated Superfund contribution claims in federal district court on several contaminated groundwater sites.
- Advised electric utility on CWA 316(a) and (b) issues in negotiating permit conditions related to cooling water intake structures.
- Advised individual clients on regulatory matters including permitting, waste storage, waste disposal, internal auditing and reporting requirements.
- Litigated licensing of a nuclear power plant in New York.
- Advised investors, sellers and buyers on environmental risks in business transactions from the bid process through closing, including corporate restructuring to manage risks.
Background
- Law Clerk, Hon. Glen M. Williams, U.S. District Court, Western District of Virginia
Membership
- Member, New York State Bar
- Member, Virginia State Bar
- Admitted to practice: United States Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth and Tenth Circuits, U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York
- Fellow, American Bar Foundation (elected 1997)
- Member, ABA Section on Environment, Energy and Resources; co-chair of Section programs at ABA Annual Meeting, July 2000
- Member, ABA, Sustainable Development, Ecosystems, and Climate Change Subcommittee
- Chair, Association of the City Bar of New York, Environmental Law Committee, 2008-2011
- Chair, Association of the City Bar of New York, Disaster Preparedness and Environmental Response Subcommittee
- Member, Advisory Board, BNA's Environmental Due Diligence Guide
- Member, Board of Directors and co-founder, Women’s Network for a Sustainable Future ("WNSF"), Chair of Board 2006-present
- Member, Board of Directors, Environmental Law Institute (ELI), 2007-present
Education - J.D., University of Virginia School of Law
- B.A., University of Texas, Plan II Interdisciplinary Honors Program
Languages
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