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E. Donald Elliott
E. Donald Elliott is Chair of the worldwide Environment, Health and Safety Department of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP and a partner in the Washington, D.C. office. Mr. Elliott has over 30 years of experience in all aspects of environmental and product liability law, including having served as General Counsel of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1989-91). He advises companies in both the European Union and the U.S. on environmental aspects of complex corporate and real estate sales and acquisitions, and also represents companies and trade associations on major regulatory policy issues, class action litigation, product liability and legislative matters.Mr. Elliott's practice includes crisis management involving product and site contamination issues, as well as environmental advocacy and legislative work for companies, trade associations and governments. He has also successfully defended automotive, energy, mining, real estate development, and pharmaceutical companies in major government environmental enforcement cases. He was the lead negotiator on the $1.1 billion, five plant NSR settlement between a Midwestern power company, EPA, and 3 states, which the New York Times called "one of the most significant settlements ever for cleaning the air." He was also the lead negotiator in the $1.8 billion civil and criminal consent decrees between the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority and the federal government. Mr. Elliott also assisted the Puerto Rico EQB in the signing of a Federal Facilities Agreement with the Navy, U.S. EPA, and DOI, regarding the Island of Vieques.
Mr. Elliott has extensive experience in the area of Clean Air Law. During his tenure at EPA, Mr. Elliott played a crucial role in the development of the acid rain permit trading program, helping draft the program's applicable statutes and regulations. He was also responsible for crafting two out of the first three contracts on trading rights for acid rain. The acid rain program has become the model for carbon trading worldwide. Mr. Elliott served as General Counsel at EPA during the negotiations of the Rio Treaty, an international environmental agreement approved at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. This treaty led to the Joint Implementation and Clean Development Mechanism programs for carbon credit trading.
Mr. Elliott also has significant experience in class actions and complex product liability and toxic tort litigations, including having served as lead punitive damage trial counsel in Abate v. GAF, the 8,800-plaintiff Baltimore asbestos case. He has worked on many complex domestic and international corporate transactions, legislative and regulatory matters, audits and SEC disclosure issues. His clients include major automotive, energy, utility, chemical, financial services, oil, engineering and pharmaceutical companies, as well as trade associations and manufacturers of a wide variety of products. In 2007, Mr. Elliott assisted Aearo Technologies, with respect to respirator liabilities (a significant component of the deal), in its $1.2 billion acquisition by 3M Company. Also in 2007, Mr. Elliott also assisted Atlas Holdings in its acquisition of Finch paper, a deal that involved the sale of 161,000 acres of woodlands to the New York Nature Conservancy, the largest private conservation deal in its history.
Mr. Elliott also has expertise in Food & Drug law matters, representing biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and medical device companies in regulatory projects and transactions. He has advised companies in over 30 transactions, including IPOs and other offerings.
Mr. Elliott was named one of the top 25 environmental attorneys in the United States by the National Law Journal, and among the top 400 worldwide by International Corporate Law. He is listed in Chambers USA, Best Lawyers in America, Who's Who in American Law, and Who's Who in the World.
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