Adam G Sowatzka

Practice Areas

Adam is currently the co-lead of both the Environmental Regulatory and Incident Response Practice Groups at McGuireWoods. Fortune 500 companies turn to Adam when they face major legal and reputational risk in environmental, health, and safety proceedings. With more than 25 years of experience as an EPA enforcement attorney, a general counsel with an international manufacturing company and a private practice lawyer, he has helped clients manage bet-the-company environmental matters in all media, including air, water and waste.

Adam also leads the response and investigation of catastrophic accidents, fires, explosions, and spills, and he handles environmental crisis management matters such as criminal and civil inspections and investigations. He defends clients in government inquiries following a crisis, such as investigations by the EPA, OSHA, ATF, the Chemical Safety Board, and state and local regulatory agencies.

He also counsels on matters involving emerging contaminants, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (e.g., PFAS). Adam was the lead attorney in one of the first major regulatory matters involving PFAS contamination from a manufacturing facility that impacted a municipal wastewater treatment plant.