Current Employment Position(s)

Partner

Lawyer Overview

Jim Banks represents clients before the federal courts, in agency permitting actions and regulatory proceedings at the federal and state levels, and before U.S. Congress. His experience includes the defense of major Clean Water Act enforcement cases, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) counseling and litigation, wetlands permitting, Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA) permitting, radioactive waste disposal licensing and cleanup issues, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) cost recovery, contribution and reimbursement cases, deepwater port licensing, National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) and pretreatment permitting, and fisheries management. In addition, Jim has managed large-scale environmental due diligence efforts in connection with various transactions. He has been heavily involved in Congressional reauthorization of major environmental statutes, and in a wide variety of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rulemaking proceedings on clean water, hazardous waste, ocean dumping, solid waste, incineration, underground injection and other issues. Jim joined the firm following a decade of service in private industry, including several years as general counsel of a large corporation, and nearly 10 years as a public-interest environmental lawyer.

As the Chief Legal Officer for Chemical Waste Management, Inc., Jim was responsible for the defense of major criminal and civil enforcement actions and the management of numerous CERCLA actions. He was integrally involved in designing the company's environmental compliance program, widely recognized as one of the most advanced programs in any industry. He also served as General Counsel to the company's radioactive waste management subsidiary, Chem-Nuclear Systems, Inc. (CNSI), and supported CNSI's efforts to site and develop new low-level waste disposal sites in several states.

As a public-interest advocate, Jim earned a national reputation for his work in the water pollution area. In his role as head of the Natural Resources Defense Council's Clean Water Project, he undertook landmark litigation against the EPA, which resulted in the first effluent guidelines for industrial toxic water pollutants. In a poll of former EPA attorneys referenced in the Winter 1996 issue of The Amicus Journal, these cases were considered to have had the single greatest impact on the agency's policies and administration.

Areas of Practice

• Environmental

Bar Admissions

• District of Columbia, 1976
• Michigan
• U.S. Court of Appeals 2nd Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals 3rd Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals 10th Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals 11th Circuit
• U.S. Supreme Court
• U.S. Court of Appeals 5th Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit

Honors and Awards

• Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers, 2007
• Environnmental Litigation, 2008
• The Best Lawyers in America, 2006
• Chambers USA, Environment, 2005 - 2006

Education

• The University of Michigan Law School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1975
  J.D.
• University of Kansas, 1972
  B.S.
  Major: Civil Engineering

Address

555 Thirteenth Street, NorthWest
Washington, DC 20004

Phones

(202) 637-5802

Faxes

(202) 637-5910

Emails

Contact Us

Websites

http://www.hhlaw.com