Environmental Enforcement & Regulatory Counseling

We represent clients before Congress, state legislatures, and environmental and natural resources agencies. Team members have decades of experience and deep contacts with regulatory agencies — including the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Justice, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, among others.

The team comprises administrative and courtroom litigators working together, as needed, with the firm’s environmental litigators for civil enforcement matters and white collar litigators for criminal matters, as well as regulatory compliance counselors and seasoned transactional practitioners. McGuireWoods defends environmental enforcement proceedings and counsels clients on environmental compliance, advises on development of contaminated property, closes deals and participates in the administrative process. Lawyers also coordinate with colleagues from lobbying and public affairs subsidiary McGuireWoods Consulting to facilitate greater access to decision-makers in legislative bodies and administrative agencies.

How We Help

Clients turn to McGuireWoods for guidance on environmental law matters through counseling, negotiations, enforcement and litigation. We assist clients with permitting new projects, complying with complicated and evolving technical regulatory requirements, auditing and environmental management systems for operating facilities, and defending state and federal enforcement matters and citizen suits. The team counsels clients from the investigative stage to resolution, whether by settlement or vigorous defense in litigation. Lawyers advise companies on matters involving remediation and site closure, the rulemaking process and related litigation, crisis management, and support and due diligence for commercial, energy and real estate transactions.

We apply complicated environmental law principles in the context of challenging technical and engineering concepts, and draw on lawyers’ technical backgrounds to find practical solutions to environmental problems and explain difficult concepts to clients in easy-to-understand terms. The team helps facilities maximize flexibility while meeting legal requirements, thereby protecting business interests and the environment at the same time.

Our Strengths Include