McGuireWoods partners Gregory Evans, Makram Jaber and Allison Wood were recognized in the “2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Environmental Lawyers.” This year marks the fifth time Lawdragon has named the McGuireWoods trio among the nation’s go-to lawyers for environmental law matters.
Evans is co-leader of McGuireWoods’ Environmental Litigation Practice Group. He is recognized nationally as a top trial attorney with an unbroken record in complex and important environmental cases. His notable accomplishments include serving as first-chair trial counsel in several CERCLA contribution cases tried to judgment, including Asarco v. Atlantic Richfield Co., where he won two Ninth Circuit appeals and trial for copper mining giant Asarco. Evans has argued environmental cases before the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Second, Fifth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Circuits. His notable current representations include PSEG at river mega sites in New Jersey, and United Launch Alliance on critical environmental issues at space launch centers at Cape Canaveral, Kennedy Space Center and Vandenberg Air Force Base.
Lawdragon also recognized Evans for inclusion in the “2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America.” He has been recognized by several other legal publications including The American Lawyer, National Law Journal and The Wall Street Journal.
Lawdragon honored Jaber for environmental litigation, especially air quality. As co-leader of McGuireWoods’ Environmental Enforcement & Regulatory Counseling Practice Group, he partners with clients to obtain and defend air quality permits for industrial facilities (including multiple power plants), defend enforcement actions and represent their interests in federal rulemaking proceedings and related litigation in the U.S. courts of appeals. His experience includes matters across Clean Air Act programs, with a focus on the New Source Review permitting program and regulation of hazardous air pollutants.
In June 2024, Wood and Jaber led the McGuireWoods team that won a rare U.S. Supreme Court stay in a case involving a challenge to the EPA’s Good Neighbor Plan, a federal program that seeks to regulate ozone-forming emissions from power plants and other industrial sources in 23 states.
Wood was recognized for environmental law and climate change. She guides clients through politically charged, precedent-setting matters, including several landmark cases involving climate change before the U.S. Supreme Court. She also provides guidance and education to clients on compliance issues and on existing and forthcoming laws, prepares comments on proposed regulations, challenges unlawful regulations in court, and defends favorable regulations from attacks by others. She has successfully defended companies from tort suits alleging that greenhouse gas emissions from the companies’ normal business operations contribute to the “nuisance” of global climate change. She also has testified multiple times before Congress on the legal issues surrounding climate change.
In December 2024, Wood argued before the D.C. Circuit in the high-stakes challenge to the Biden administration’s greenhouse gas regulations for power plants, and in January 2025 she successfully argued for a preliminary injunction halting New Hampshire’s abandonment of its vehicle emissions and inspection program that is required under the Clean Air Act.
“Clients rely on Greg, Makram and Allison to help them navigate high-stakes environmental disputes, precedent-setting cases, rulemaking proceedings and compliance challenges,” said Benjamin L. Hatch, chair of the firm’s Environmental & Mass Tort Litigation Department. “They are each very deserving of this honor.”
McGuireWoods’ environmental lawyers are experienced in permitting, enforcement defense, rulemaking, litigation, project development and crisis management and they act as agency liaisons at the federal, state and local levels. The group includes former governmental regulators and lawyers with technical backgrounds in engineering and the natural sciences who work with clients to provide cost-effective ways to solve problems.