Tom Lotterman handles a wide variety of litigation matters, including environmental, toxic tort, and commercial disputes. He counsels clients before federal and state courts from Alaska to Florida. Tom has handled large, multiparty cases in Alabama, Florida, New York, and North Carolina, and has conducted numerous arbitrations before the AAA and other associations. His clients include large oil and natural gas companies, international utilities, national trade associations, and manufacturing companies.
Tom recently defended a client in the lawsuit brought by the federal government concerning the Deepwater Horizon blowout and spill. The government sought billions of dollars in penalties; the case was resolved for a fraction of that amount.
Tom handled the first trial under the Superfund Recycling Equity Act amendments to Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), and one of the first arbitrations under the Telecommunications Act of 1996. He has obtained injunctions halting implementation of state regulations, banning the sale of products containing misappropriated trade secrets, and enforcing non-compete agreements. Tom has defended clients in high-profile enforcement actions brought by the federal government and the New York Attorney General’s Office involving the Clean Air Act, CERCLA, and RCRA. Additionally, he has conducted confidential, internal whistleblower investigations for several large Fortune 50 corporations.
In the 1980’s, Tom was a trial attorney with the US Department of Justice, where he successfully defended the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) national effluent guidelines for the placer mining industry in a legal challenge before the Ninth Circuit. He also defended federal facilities in environmental cases and spearheaded a federal task force that challenged the constitutionality of state regulatory fees.
Tom contributes a significant portion of his time to pro bono matters. He served as general counsel to the Project on National Security Reform, a nonpartisan initiative funded by Congress to recommend improvements to the US national security system. The Project issued its final report called “Forging a New Shield,” which represented the efforts of more than 300 national security experts from think tanks, universities, federal agencies, law firms, and corporations, including several former National Security Advisors.
Tom was an adjunct professor of law at the Washington College of Law at American University for more than 20 years, teaching classes in environmental litigation.
Representative Reported Cases
Ranked, Environment, District of Columbia, Chambers USA (2015–2020)
Recommended, Industry focus: Environment: litigation, The Legal 500 US (2019)
Member, Practice Group of the Year, Environmental, Law360 (2017, 2019)
Recipient, Client Choice Award (International Law Office/Lexology) (2015)
Recognized, Washington, DC Super Lawyers (2013, 2014)
Recognized, Top Attorneys in Washington, DC, Washington Post (2014–2015)
Recipient, Special achievement award, US Department of Justice (1989)
Member, American Bar Association
Member, DC Bar Association
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