Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP is pleased to welcome accomplished environmental lawyer Laura Whiting as a partner in the Firm’s Dallas office.

Ms. Whiting joins Gardere’s environmental practice group where she will assist clients with all aspects of compliance and permitting for heavily regulated industry and real estate development. For all businesses, she anticipates more state, federal and citizen enforcement, incident investigations, regulatory advocacy, and product stewardship requirements, as well as the ongoing need to conduct thorough due diligence and cost-effective remediation and cost recovery.

She brings more than 27 years of experience in the chemical manufacturing, power generation, airline, and oil and gas industries. Ms. Whiting joins the Firm from Occidental Chemical Corp. where she served as senior counsel for the company’s environmental, health, safety, process safety, product stewardship, quality assurance and security functions.

Ms. Whiting began her legal career at Gardere before joining the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1992 as an assistant regional counsel and enforcement attorney for Region 6. While at the EPA, she represented the government in multimedia, hazardous waste, federal facility and release reporting enforcement cases, regulatory development and policy matters. Prior to joining Occidental, she was a partner at Hunton & Williams LLP and also practiced environmental law at Winstead PC.

“We are excited that Laura is rejoining Gardere as a partner in our environmental practice group,” says Gardere Chair Holland N. O’Neil. “Laura’s extensive environmental background, including her experience in the chemicals industry, will further enhance our expertise in this practice area.”

Ms. Whiting currently serves on the board of directors with the Dixon Water Foundation, an organization dedicated to ensuring that present and future generations of Texans have the water resources they need. She is also a Texas state trustee for The Nature Conservancy and previously chaired the Environmental Health Commission for the City of Dallas, as well as the Dallas Nature Center, now Audubon’s Cedar Ridge Preserve.

“It is a great pleasure to rejoin the Firm where I started my career,” says Ms. Whiting. “Gardere’s environmental attorneys are among the most respected in their field, and I am honored to join this highly regarded group of professionals.”

Gardere’s environmental practice group represents a broad cross-section of industries in a variety of contexts, ranging from air and water permitting for new and modified facilities, project development, and the defense of administrative, civil and criminal enforcement actions. The group also represents clients in incident investigations, remediation, environmental due diligence and negotiation of environmental representations, warranties and indemnities in mergers and acquisitions, regulatory interpretation and development, compliance reviews, product stewardship and litigation in state and federal courts.

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