Emily J. Dupraz

In litigation, Emily represents clients in cost-recovery and contribution litigation in both federal and state court, including cases involving natural resource damages. She was part of a trial team that achieved a favorable equitable allocation in a CERCLA cost-recovery matter from a three-person arbitration panel on a $60 million remedy after the matter had been in litigation for more than a decade. Emily recently assisted in orchestrating a settlement with a municipality over groundwater contamination that facilitated the extension of a municipal water line across state lines—an effort that was undertaken to avoid further regulatory scrutiny and resolve a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) citizen’s suit brought by residents with contaminated drinking water wells. She has also counseled clients on potential litigation risk arising out of drinking water contamination from land application of industrial biosolids containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).  

Emily’s regulatory experience includes representing clients in negotiations over penalty assessments with US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Regions 1, 2, 3, 5, and 10 and with regulators in a dozen different states. These negotiations all resulted in settlements with significant penalty reductions. Emily achieves productive settlement discussions through cooperation, targeted environmental investigations to demonstrate the limited nature of the risk, and implementation of reasonable, cost-effective compliance programs. She also recently guided a client through voluntary reporting of multiple violations of medical waste regulations under a state environmental immunity statute to avoid any penalty assessment.

In corporate transactions, Emily conducts detailed environmental due diligence of facility permits and violation history to help clients identify potential environmental risks. She has led teams of environmental consultants through multiday audits of industrial facilities—including facilities with on-site landfills, air emissions controls, cooling water intake structures and wastewater treatment plants, and active remediation—to identify and address regulatory compliance concerns prior to a potential corporate transaction (to facilitate a smooth transaction) or immediately following a change in ownership (to take advantage of penalty mitigation policies with self-reporting). Emily frequently advises clients on trending environmental regulatory issues, including environmental justice, plastic bans and post-consumer recycled content laws, and emerging contaminants such as PFAS.

Emily has successfully represented clients in overcoming challenges to permitting controversial infrastructure projects, including making appearances before administrative bodies and local land use boards. In public dealings, Emily leverages her background in communications and speechwriting to emphasize project strengths while also addressing key community concerns.

Emily maintains an active pro bono practice and serves on the board of trustees for two nonprofit organizations that work to provide vital social services in her home community of Portland, Maine.