Latham & Watkins LLP

Ben Gibson defends corporations in the chemicals, defense, and manufacturing sectors against environmental claims.

Ben helps clients navigate litigation and administrative proceedings involving contaminated properties, as well as regulatory compliance matters concerning water quality, air quality, and hazardous waste. He advises on the full life cycle of environmental issues, including:

• • Cost recovery and contribution litigation under Superfund regulations and state counterparts
  • Site investigation and remediation
  • Environmental litigation
  • Consent decrees
  • Private-party settlements
  • Emerging chemicals, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)
  • Storm water compliance
  • Hazardous waste management
  • Waste water compliance
  • Pre-transaction due diligence
  • Administrative enforcement matters
  • Environmental permitting

He draws on his experience as a public affairs consultant within the environmental space to mitigate regulatory risk and advance clients’ business objectives. Ben combines technical acumen and extensive legal experience to design effective strategies to clients’ most sensitive environmental challenges.

Ben negotiates with supervising agencies, including the US Environmental Protection Agency and state analogs, to identify opportunities to minimize or avoid client liabilities.

Ben’s active pro bono practice in immigration and family law includes representing clients in asylum and guardianship matters, advising nonprofits on compliance and internal governance issues, and developing model language for future African mining laws’ environmental provisions.

While in law school, Ben interned at the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association and served as a student attorney with the Duke Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, where he focused on public trust issues and the Clean Water Act.