Lawrence R. Liebesman is a nationally recognized environmental lawyer and litigator with more than 34 years of experience. His practice emphasizes wetlands, water pollution, coastal, environmental impact assessment and endangered species law.
Mr. Liebesman has participated in landmark Clean Water Act (CWA) and Endangered Species Act (ESA) cases. He represented a coalition of mining, transportation, and public works agencies in the National Association of Homebuilders v. Corps which overturned the Corps and EPA's regulation of "incidental fallback" under section 404 of the CWA ("Tulloch Rule"). He has authored amicus briefs in seven major environmental cases before the United States Supreme Court. These included briefs in the Rapanos and Carabell cases limiting the reach of CWA jurisdiction over adjacent wetlands, Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. Corps which overturned the Corps regulation of isolated wetlands, the South Florida Water Management District v. Miccosukee Tribe involving the definition of "discharge" under the CWA, Babbitt v. Sweet Home Chapter of Communities For A Great Oregon, involving the ESA "take" definition, Bennett v. Spear expanding the rights of property owners to sue under the ESA, and U.S Environmental Protection Agency v. Defenders of Wildlife dealing with ESA considerations in EPA's delegation of CWA permitting authority to the states. Mr. Liebesman has testified before the House Natural Resources Committee on proposed legislation to reform the ESA.
Mr. Liebesman counsels clients on environmental risks and strategies. He has negotiated permits for large scale commercial, residential, public works, and mining projects and has successfully defended challenges to those permits in federal court. He also represents municipalities and public works agencies on waste water and storm water issues. He speaks regularly at national programs on environmental law issues.
Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Liebesman spent 11 years as a Senior Trial Attorney at the Department of Justice (DOJ), including a one-year detail to the President's Council on Environmental Quality during the Carter Administration, helping to develop regulations to implement the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). While at the DOJ, he handled landmark cases under Superfund, the CWA, the Clean Air Act (CAA), and NEPA. He was lead counsel in NRDC v. EPA which upheld major portions of the EPA's NPDES program under the CWA, and Bersani v. EPA which upheld EPA's veto authority under Section 404(c) of the CWA. Prior to his DoJ service, he spent two years at EPA's Office of Federal Activities, EPA's NEPA oversight office.
Mr. Liebesman was an adjunct professor at the University of Baltimore Law School where he taught a seminar on wetlands law and policy and has also served as a mentor in the Vermont Law School Semester In Practice Program.