Holland & Hart LLP is pleased to announce the expansion of its Environmental practice with the addition of partners Jim Spaanstra, Doug Benevento, Lynn Kornfeld, and Ann Prouty, in the Denver office. The four partners join the firm from the Denver office of Faegre Drinker Biddle and Reath LLP, where they practiced together for many years. The new partners deepen the firm’s capabilities serving clients on complex environmental permitting, regulatory compliance, and enforcement matters, as well as management of environment risks and mitigation of liability in transactions.
“These four partners are environmental regulatory and compliance rock stars,” said Environmental Practice Group Leader Emily Schilling. “Their individual areas of specialization bring valuable synergies to our Colorado environmental team. Their sophisticated experience advising clients in the energy, industrial, chemical, and waste management industries will enhance the firm’s ability to serve clients in Colorado and across the country.”
Jim Spaanstra, a widely recognized leader in environmental law in Colorado and nationwide explains, “Holland &Hart is the ideal fit for us. The firm has deep roots in environmental and natural resources law and the team has some of the most sophisticated practitioners in the country. We are delighted to join a firm with a strategic commitment to grow this practice area and we’re thrilled to work with the deep bench of talented lawyers across the firm.”
Jim counsels energy and natural resource clients on permitting, compliance, and environmental enforcement matters. He guides traditional energy companies on clean energy opportunities and compliance with ESG requirements. Jim also helps industrial and commercial clients manage the permitting process and the allocation of risk and liability of environmentally challenged and otherwise controversial properties through skillful navigation of the diverse interests of the major project stakeholders.
Doug Benevento is a regulatory attorney who counsels clients on state and federal issues including permitting, enforcement, compliance assistance, and working with state and federal agencies on the development of regulations and policies. Ranked by Chambers USA for Environmental Law, Doug has held high-level leadership roles with federal and state agencies, including: Acting Deputy Administrator and Region 8 Administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. He also worked on the House Agriculture Committee during the reauthorization of the Farm Bill, and as a senior staff to a member of the House of Representatives and the United States Senate. Doug draws on relationships with regulators in the Mountain West and across the country and in Washington, DC to advocate for clients on legal, regulatory, and legislative issues.
Lynn Kornfeld helps clients navigate business-critical environmental compliance and transactional liability issues. Ranked by Chambers USA for Environmental Law since 2010, Lynn has over 20 years’ experience assisting a variety of companies nationwide with complex environmental issues including compliance, permitting, and EPA and state enforcement matters arising under the Clean Air Act (CAA), the Clean Water Act (CWA), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), the Federal Insecticide Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), and the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). She also has extensive experience advising clients in corporate and real estate transactions involving potential environmental liabilities.
Ann Prouty advises clients on routine and complex environmental permitting, compliance, and enforcement issues. She helps clients develop proactive, protective strategies and effective plans of action to withstand judicial scrutiny in enforcement actions. She also provides pre- and post-transactional counsel, identifying potential areas of environmental liability and risk management strategies.
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