LexisNexis Practice Guide: Georgia Environmental Law

Patricia Barmeyer. Ms. Barmeyer is a senior counsel in King & Spalding’s Environmental, Health and Safety Practice Group specializing in the environmental permitting of controversial projects and the litigation that is often part of the process of bringing those projects to completion. Ms. Barmeyer has handled matters in all environmental media, but her recent work has focused on cases involving water and air permits and coastal development projects.

Lewis Jones. Mr. Jones is a partner in King & Spalding’s Environmental, Health and Safety Practice Group specializing in water, natural resources, and infrastructure development. He advises water utilities on water supply and wastewater issues, environmental compliance, permitting, and fee setting; helps clients obtain and defend permits to build infrastructure; and assists with a wide range of issues relating to the civil works and regulatory programs of the United States Army Corps of Engineers.

Les Oakes is a partner in King & Spalding's Environmental, Health and Safety Practice Group and works with clients on negotiations, litigation, permits and compliance concerns in a variety of environmental matters, including transactions. Mr. Oakes advises clients in a wide range of environmental matters, including Resource Conservation and Recovery Act compliance and corrective action; Superfund cleanup matters and Brownfields limitations of liability; air and water permits; and environmental audits and transactions. Previously, Mr. Oakes was an environmental engineer with the Environmental Protection Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. In more than 11 years with the EPD, he worked in the air, hazardous waste and water branches, conducting compliance inspections, writing permits and participating in enforcement proceedings.

Adam Sowatzka.. Mr. Sowatzka is a partner in King & Spalding’s Environmental, Health and Safety Practice Group and has handled matters in all environmental media—from water, to air, to waste issues. He has particular expertise in water and stormwater cases, having resolved some of the largest Clean Water Act enforcement matters in country. He manages complex, multiparty Superfund matters, including one of the largest Superfund sites in the Southeast. Mr. Sowatzka is also often called on for his crisis management expertise in areas including accidents, explosions, derailments, spills, and responding to criminal and civil inspections and investigations. Before entering private practice, Mr. Sowatzka was an Associate Regional Counsel with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Southeastern Regional Office, and Vice President and General Counsel of a manufacturing and services subsidiary of Axel Johnson, Inc.

Randy Butterfield. Mr. Butterfield is a partner with King & Spalding’s Environmental, Health and Safety Practice Group where he concentrates his practice on environmental, toxic tort, and product liability matters. Since joining the firm in 1999, he has handled numerous individual, mass joinder, and class action cases, both at the trial and appellate levels. Together, these cases have involved nearly every major piece of environmental legislation as well as the entire spectrum of common law tort claims.

John Fortuna. Mr. Fortuna is a counsel with King & Spalding's Environmental, Health and Safety Practice Group and represents clients in complex environmental matters in federal and state court, as well as state administrative proceedings. He has substantial experience permitting and defending water rights and water supply projects for municipal and industrial clients, and in the defense of government enforcement actions and citizen suits under both the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act. Mr. Fortuna also frequently litigates cases and advises clients on Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act issues.

Douglas Henderson. Mr. Henderson is a partner in King & Spalding’s Trial and Global Disputes Practice Group with a national practice in environmental litigation, toxic and mass tort litigation, and property rights litigation. Doug has tried numerous cases to verdict involving chemical exposure, groundwater contamination, wastewater discharges, waste disposal, air emissions, personal injury, stormwater, endangered species, and property rights. Doug also has litigated cases involving water rights, reservoirs, mining, pipelines, and powerlines.

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Jeanna Murphy, Managing Editor.. Ms. Murphy is an associate in King & Spalding’s Environmental, Health and Safety Practice Group concentrating on regulatory environmental matters. Working with clients to achieve environmental compliance, she has experience with both state and federal laws, including the Clean Air Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and Toxic Substances Control Act. Ms. Murphy also focuses on emerging areas of focus for regulatory agencies such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), climate change, and environmental justice.