Snell & Wilmer Expands Environmental Group

PHOENIX (July 10, 2014) – Snell & Wilmer is pleased to announce the addition of seven attorneys and a policy advisor to the firm’s environmental and natural resources group in Phoenix. These additions significantly expand Snell & Wilmer’s existing practice group to over 40 attorneys across its multiple offices throughout the western United States. The group joins the firm from Polsinelli, where it was recognized by notable industry publications such as Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and The Best Lawyers in America^®.

“We are thrilled to have this exceptional group of professionals join Snell & Wilmer,” said Matthew Feeney, a partner in Snell & Wilmer’s Phoenix office and a member of the firm’s executive committee. “Environmental and natural resources concerns impact businesses and government agencies in virtually every industry. With the expansion of this practice group, we are able to enhance our collective substantive knowledge and extensive experience throughout our geographic footprint and beyond to provide our clients with superior environmental and natural resources-related legal services.”

Snell & Wilmer welcomes the following individuals to the firm:

Lucas Narducci has more than 27 years of experience in environmental and natural resources law. Narducci regularly guides clients through administrative hearings, litigation and other forms of dispute resolution, striving to protect their assets and keep their business goals in mind. He has extensive experience in acquisitions, divestments, expansions, mergers, ventures, operational compliance, employee workspace safety, workplace and third-party toxic exposures, audits, risk reductions and control methods. He also advises on policy and legislative developments that affect or could impact his clients and their businesses. He has been a lead counsel in the divestment, acquisition, operation, curtailment, reclamation and closure of several copper, gold, coal and uranium mines. Narducci’s practice has taken him across the United States, as well as to Canada, Mexico and several countries in South America. He participates in many significant business, industry and manufacturing associations in order to advance the interests of those associations and his clients, and to influence rule-making, regulatory, policy and legislative processes. He earned his J.D. from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law.

Mitchell Klein has more than 30 years of trial experience across a wide variety of environmental and natural resources legal issues. He has extensive experience working with many state and federal agencies in all areas of natural resources and environmental law, and has litigated matters pursuant to the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, Hazardous and Solid Waste regulations, and Superfund liability. Klein was previously an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Arizona for nearly 10 years, during which time he served as chief counsel for the Civil Unit of the Environmental Enforcement Section and was responsible for all environmental enforcement actions taken by the state. Klein earned his J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law.

John Burnside has more than 15 years of experience in environmental and natural resources law. His experience extends to and beyond Superfund cost recovery and defense, air and water quality permitting and enforcement, environmental insurance coverage placement and claims, environmental forensics, toxic tort defense and the contractual allocation of environmental liabilities. Burnside has also addressed corporate transactions involving extensive environmental due diligence and has ushered the transacting parties through the transfer of environmental permits and authorizations to the satisfaction of regulatory authorities. With respect to environmental insurance matters, he has assisted with evaluation, litigation and resolution of multi-site environmental insurance claims. Burnside earned his J.D. from Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. 

Michael Ford has more than 15 years of experience working with clients ranging from religious orders to global corporations in navigating the complex web of environmental issues impacting industrial operations and commercial transactions. Ford focuses his practice on helping industrial and commercial entities on regulatory compliance, enforcement defense and transactional risk mitigation issues. He has helped clients efficiently resolve their government enforcement issues using voluntary disclosures, administrative settlement agreements and judicial consent decrees. Ford has worked extensively on issues impacting hardrock mines, including groundwater and surface water permitting and compliance, chemical reporting, release response and closure operations. He also has considerable experience in mobile source emissions compliance and enforcement defense under the Clean Air Act. His experience in Brownfields development includes project feasibility analysis and due diligence, contract negotiation, voluntary cleanup programs, tax credit qualification, remediation oversight and consultant management, environmental insurance and obtaining regulatory closure approval. Ford earned his J.D. from Washington University School of Law. 

Maribeth Klein concentrates her practice in the areas of environmental and natural resources law and environmental litigation. Klein’s transactional practice involves addressing various matters relating to mining, such as U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management procedures, requirements and permitting as well as permit transfer and amendment requirements for uranium mining licenses issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. She has assessed the permitting needs for several renewable energy projects including multiple utility-scale wind projects in Kansas and Oklahoma and planned biomass facilities on the East Coast. Klein served as in-house counsel on an interim basis for an international diversified natural resources company where she monitored proposed federal energy legislation and assessed the constitutionality of various proposals, counseled clients regarding technology license agreements and engineering services contracts, and assisted with a response to a Senate inquiry. Klein also has a broad range of experience in air quality matters on the county, state and federal levels in assisting clients with the permit process and in related compliance issues. She earned her J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School.

Margaret LaBianca focuses her practice on a broad range of strategic considerations and regulatory compliance issues. For more than 15 years, she has counseled on transactions, from due diligence and negotiations to drafting and effectuation, as well as operations and development. Among other areas of law, LaBianca’s practice encompasses water rights and water supply issues, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), protected and endangered species, Section 404 permitting and public land use. She has devoted a significant amount of her practice to working with clients on issues presented by operating on or near land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service or the state. Her clients include miners, ranchers, developers, landowners and energy businesses. LaBianca earned her J.D. from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law.

Amanda Reeve most recently served in the Arizona House of Representatives, where she was also chair of the House environment committee. Her experience ideally positions her as a key member of Snell & Wilmer's environmental and natural resources team. Reeve provides public policy services to clients through stakeholder identification and organization, the regulatory process and reform, and the legislative process. She is well known for her ability to develop public policy and craft bipartisan support to advance bills of significant importance to Arizona businesses. She is extensively involved in numerous policy and regulatory processes impacting various media, including air, on the local, state and federal levels. Reeve earned her M.S. in Technology - Environmental Management from Arizona State University.

Megan Tracy counsels domestic and international clients on regulatory compliance and environmental contamination matters. She represents clients in federal and state forums, as well as before regulatory agencies on a full range of environmental matters, including environmental response, compensation and liability, as well as the Clean Air Act, the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, and the Toxic Substances Control Act. Tracy has extensive experience with the mining industry, including assisting clients with compliance matters involving domestic and international mining laws, remediation of abandoned mines and defense against enforcement actions. Tracy has also counseled clients on matters involving federal railroad regulations and Occupational Safety and Health Administration compliance. In addition, her litigation experience includes defending clients against claims of infectious disease outbreak and insurance recovery for environmental liability. Tracy earned her J.D. from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law.

About Snell & Wilmer

Founded in 1938, Snell & Wilmer is a full-service business law firm with more than 400 attorneys practicing in nine locations throughout the western United States and in Mexico, including Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona; Los Angeles and Orange County, California; Denver, Colorado; Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Los Cabos, Mexico. The firm represents clients ranging from large, publicly traded corporations to small businesses, individuals and entrepreneurs. For more information, visit www.swlaw.com.