Environmental lawyer Laura Whiting, a partner in Foley Gardere’s environmental practice group, brings to the table over 27 years of experience assisting clients with all aspects of environmental regulatory compliance and permitting for heavily regulated industries and real estate developments. She focuses her practice on state and federal enforcement and compliance counseling under the Clean Air Act, RCRA, CERCLA, Clean Water Act, incident investigations, regulatory advocacy, and product stewardship requirements, as well as the ongoing need to conduct thorough due diligence and cost-effective remediation and cost recovery.

Laura is committed to achieving clients' goals through leadership, teamwork, advocacy and precise documentation, particularly in the environmental and process safety areas for chemical manufacturing, oil and gas production, pipeline, airline and real estate clients. She is a trusted advisor, who is adept at communicating effectively at all levels of the client organization and with outside stakeholders.

Prior to joining the firm, Laura held the position of senior counsel at Occidental Chemical Corp. for 11 years, where she was the primary counsel responsible for environmental, health, safety, process safety, product stewardship, quality assurance and security functions (HESS). Additionally, along with prior law firm experience, Laura served for four years as an assistant regional counsel/enforcement attorney for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 6 in Dallas, giving her inside expertise not often found in environmental lawyers.

Professional Affiliations

• State Bar of Texas, 1988

• Member, American Bar Association

  • Former In-house Counsel Committee, Environment, Energy & Resources Section (2015)

• Member, Dallas Bar Association

  • Former Executive Committee Member, Environmental Law Section (2002-2005)

• Former Co-Chair and Member, Dallas Environmental Committee, Texas Association of Business (2002-2004)

• Former Chair and Member, Environmental Health Commission, City of Dallas (1998-2003)

• Former Member, Environmental Task Force, Dallas Chamber of Commerce (1999)

Education

Education

• J.D., The University of Texas School of Law (1988)

• B.A., The University of Texas at Austin (1984), with honors

  • International Business (Concentration in Economics)

  • Work study in France and Italy (1984-1985)