Amy L Edwards

Practice Areas

Environment | Environmental Transactions | Sustainable Development | Environmental Advocacy | Environmental Litigation | Natural Resources | Water Law | Public Policy & Regulation | Climate Change | Federal Practice | Insurance Disputes - Insurers | Insurance Disputes - Policyholders | D.C. Business | Risk and Crisis Management | Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) | Private Equity | Representations and Warranties Insurance

Career

Amy L. Edwards is the co-chair of the firm's National Environmental Team. She is a partner in the firm's Public Policy & Regulation Group, which has been ranked among the top law and lobbying firms in Washington, D.C., by numerous publications. Ms. Edwards has been recognized as a leading environmental lawyer for several years by Chambers USA, Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers. After holding several other leadership positions, she was sworn in as Chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Environment, Energy and Resources (SEER), the pre-eminent national organization representing lawyers in these fields, in 2018-2019. She was also inducted as a Fellow into the American College of Environmental Lawyers in 2019.

Ms. Edwards has been practicing environmental and energy law for more than 35 years. She routinely counsels developers, lenders and corporations about effective strategies for structuring real estate and corporate transactions to minimize environmental and financial risk. Ms. Edwards has developed leading industry guidance (ASTM E 2091) and publications (ABA Book on Activity and Use Limitations) on institutional controls and was an observer/advisor to the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL ) while it developed a model Uniform Environmental Covenants Act.

Ms. Edwards has represented real estate developers, corporations and financial institutions on environmental issues associated with real estate, including environmental site assessments, environmental insurance, energy benchmarking, carbon offsets, guaranteed fixed price remediation options, environmental indemnification agreements, cleanup requirements (including the use of engineering and institutional controls), renewable energy power purchase agreements (PPAs), vapor intrusion and cost recovery issues. She has provided extensive risk management advice on protective risk-based cleanups at brownfields sites being reused for commercial or residential purposes.

Ms. Edwards was the lead counsel for a real estate developer in litigation against the U.S. Department of the Army concerning damages resulting from burial of chemical and high-explosive munitions on privately owned land in Washington, D.C., which resulted in a multimillion-dollar settlement in favor of her client. She has participated on numerous steering committees for various Superfund sites; conducted negotiations over the appropriate cleanup of a former chromium manufacturing facility in Baltimore under the RCRA Corrective Action program; represented property owners in enforcement actions involving asbestos, underground storage tanks, PCBs and lead-based paint in residential and commercial real estate; and served as special environmental counsel to a trade association.

Ms. Edwards is a frequent author and lecturer on brownfields, sustainability and related environmental topics.