Key Contacts
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Contaminated Sites and Natural Resources Damages
For decades, WilmerHale has counseled clients through complex legal issues involved in the management of hazardous and non-hazardous waste streams and the cleanup and restoration of contaminated sites.Learn More -
Environmental Justice
Our team helps businesses navigate the current focus on environmental justice and related corporate governance, ethics and compliance, environmental enforcement, project development and permitting, and litigation issues.Learn More -
Environmental Litigation and Mass Torts
Clients trust us to guide them through complex, high-stakes environmental disputes.Learn More -
Native American Lands
WilmerHale partners with Native American tribes to navigate complex regulatory issues related to tribal sovereignty and self-governance, land use, and resource and recreation development.Learn More -
Natural Resources
Legal and strategic issues related to land use and natural resources can be difficult to navigate, with competing priorities, multiple permits and a wide range of stakeholders involved. We offer comprehensive representation related to the use and protection of our natural resources and public lands, from oil and gas to renewable energy sources to water to wildlife.Learn More -
Real Estate and Corporate Transactions
WilmerHale's energy and environmental lawyers provide strategic counsel on commercial and regulatory issues related to a range of real estate and corporate transactions.Learn More
Tommy Beaudreau, Former Deputy Interior Secretary, Joins WilmerHale as EENR Co-Chair
Attorney NewsESG Epicenter
WilmerHale’s Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) team is a cross-disciplinary group that advises clients in navigating the rapidly evolving legal, policy and corporate governance responses to climate change, social justice and political issues. Our team includes former directors of the Division of Enforcement and the Division of Corporation Finance at the US Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as members of Fortune 100 corporate boards, and authorities in environmental law, bank regulatory law, corporate disclosure and enforcement, investment management regulatory requirements, public policy, anti-discrimination, human rights law, strategic response, and top-notch litigators and trial lawyers. This blog, ESG Epicenter, provides key legal updates and the team’s insight and analysis on this rapidly evolving area.
Experience
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Helping clients develop, enhance and audit corporate compliance programs, providing guidance related to voluntary self-disclosures under applicable federal and state audit policies when appropriate.
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Advising companies in closely regulated industries, including pharmaceuticals, on a variety of environmental permitting, compliance and enforcement issues in connection with research, manufacturing and laboratory operations, including the redevelopment of a 1.5-million-square-foot campus.
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Advising renewable energy companies in the development, financing and operation of solar generation, onshore and offshore wind generation, and biofuel production facilities throughout the United States. We have secured federal, state and county land use approvals for nearly 4,000 megawatts of wind energy, including more than 1,000 megawatts in eastern Colorado.
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Representing clients in connection with licensing and permitting to construct, operate, expand and decommission publicly controversial facilities in the nuclear energy, waste management, retail and recycling sectors.
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Representing ski areas across the United States as public lands, National Environmental Policy Act, federal regulatory and land use counsel.
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Representing seven national, state and local environmental and conservation groups as parties to the successful mediation and settlement of the 30-year-long Black Canyon of the Gunnison water rights litigation.
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Representing several state entities in energy and environmental regulatory issues in connection with the proposed conversion of that state’s existing generation fleet from oil-based fuels to natural gas, compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency’s mercury and air toxics standards, and the proposed construction of a liquefied natural gas import facility.
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Defending a financial services company against electric market manipulation charges asserted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
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Representing clients in numerous Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and analogous state-led enforcement proceedings throughout the United States, including the defense and prosecution of cost-recovery claims and designation as common counsel at numerous multiparty sites.
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Representing clients in diverse matters relating to hydraulic fracturing, including monitoring and advocating in federal and state regulatory proceedings, defending personal injury and property damage claims, and evaluating risk associated with waste management and disposal.
Recognition
- U.S. News - Best Lawyers®—Included WilmerHale on its 2023 and 2024 “Best Law Firms” list in the first tier for environmental law nationally and in Boston and San Francisco.
- Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business—Ranks the practice as well as practice leader Peggy Otum and partner Davina Pujari in Environment – California. One client notes Ms. Otum's “robust command of the law and the nuances, as well as the political dimensions of negotiations.” Others praise her ability to “handle matters with strength and diplomatic skill.”
- Best Lawyers in America—Many of the practice’s lawyers are regularly selected by peers for recognition as premier environmental lawyers.
- American College of Environmental Lawyers—This prestigious organization selected Peggy Otum and Rachel Jacobson for membership in 2020.
- The Legal 500 United States—Has recommended WilmerHale in the areas of Environment: Regulatory and Environment: Litigation in 2023 and 2024.