Pillsbury today announced that Matthew Morrison has joined the firm’s Washington, D.C. office as a partner in the Environment, Land Use & Natural Resources practice. He has almost 25 years of experience in this area, most recently serving as Deputy Director of the Office of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics, and Training at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and as the prior Acting Director and Associate Director of the Air Enforcement Division of EPA’s Office of Civil Enforcement. Prior to that, Morrison served for over a dozen years as a trial and then supervising attorney in the environmental enforcement office at the U.S. Department of Justice.
Commended over 20 times by both the Justice Department and EPA for his exceptional and outstanding service, Morrison has served as a manager of EPA’s criminal enforcement program and, prior to that, EPA’s civil enforcement programs under the Clean Air Act pertaining to renewable fuels, mobile sources, and coal-fired power plants. At the Justice Department, he served as lead counsel in litigating the largest contiguous Superfund site in the country—the Clark Fork River Basin in Montana. He secured a multi-billion dollar settlement to resolve Clean Water Act violations against one of the nation’s largest municipal water systems. And, he acted as lead counsel on several electric utility cases under the Clean Air Act, including six cases in which he negotiated settlements from start to finish through to judicial consent decrees.
With his resulting command of several federal environmental statues, notably the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), and with national recognition for his expertise on enforcement and complex air quality issues, Morrison will focus on advising clients on making effective compliance decisions and guiding them on permitting, regulation, and enforcement across major energy and manufacturing sectors.
“Matt greatly enhances Pillsbury’s enforcement counseling and defense capabilities in the environmental field, bringing insights and experience gleaned from a long and distinguished career at EPA and the Justice Department,” said Pillsbury Chair James Rishwain, Jr. “We look forward to Matt helping us expand especially our air quality practice both regionally in Washington, D.C., Texas, and California and across key industries, including energy, utilities, and chemical manufacturing.”
“Matt’s frontline experience with civil and criminal enforcement and his insights into the direction of government regulation and enforcement will be a great asset for clients looking for guidance in these areas,” said Chris McNevin, leader of Pillsbury’s Environmental Section. “Our clients will especially appreciate that Matt was a Lehigh-educated chemical engineer with three years of on-the-job training before he embarked on a legal career. With that practical experience in his formative years, and many subsequent years of distinguished government service, Matt is remarkably well-positioned to give outstanding service to our clients.”
“I am very pleased to be joining Pillsbury’s environmental practice. It enjoys an excellent reputation, a national footprint, a substantial presence in Washington, D.C., and well-recognized strengths in the energy sector,” Morrison said. “I’m thrilled to begin working with my new colleagues to help existing clients and to identify and pursue new opportunities for growth.”
Morrison earned his J.D. from the Fordham University School of Law and his M.B.A. from the Fordham University Graduate School of Business. He received his B.S. in chemical engineering from Lehigh University’s Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar Association. Morrison also teaches Clean Air Act law and policy as an Adjunct Professor at George Washington University’s School of Law.
