Beveridge & Diamond helps clients achieve business goals while meeting the complex set of endangered species and wildlife protection regulatory requirements.
Why B&D?
Expertise and experience are just the beginning of what differentiates Beveridge & Diamond from other firms practicing endangered species and wildlife protection law. We possess the rare ability to speak not only the legal language of regulators, but also the languages of agency ecologists and biologists, project development business and engineering professionals, and the consultants working on both sides.
Prior to joining the firm, many of our lawyers held positions in the United States Department of Justice, the Department of the Interior, and federal and state environmental agencies, or were wildlife consultants to project developers. Knowing how things work from the inside enables us to devise creative solutions for complex species and wildlife protection problems. Our ingenuity in minimizing regulatory requirements and streamlining the permitting process for major projects is on the cutting edge of the legal industry and has saved clients many millions—and sometimes billions—of dollars.
Clients
We represent companies that have potential or actual issues related to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the other federal or state laws regulating the protection of wildlife in the U.S. While we advise companies in any industry, our clients most frequently are in energy exploration, development, and transmission; real estate; construction; infrastructure development; chemicals; and municipal waste water treatment.
Focus
Our focus is to provide cutting-edge representation and strategic advice to companies, landowners, and project developers facing endangered species and wildlife protection challenges. From developing strategies that successfully get their projects built while still protecting wildlife to defending clients in citizen suits and enforcement actions, our experience with the prohibitions and procedures of the ESA, its state analogues, and other wildlife protection laws is extensive.
Core services include:
- Advising on project siting, permitting, and authorizations.
- Counseling on matters related to the listing of species as threatened or endangered and the designation of species habitats as critical.
- Participating in or monitoring key decisions in listing matters and commenting on and opposing proposals when warranted.
- Identifying potential listings and creating strategies for minimizing their impact.
- Designing long-term, programmatic solutions for entire categories of activities to avoid having to engage with agencies on a case-by-case basis for repeat issues.
- Developing candidate conservation agreements for species that may be listed in the future.
- Developing habitat conservation plans to support incidental take permits and prepare protocols to avoid take of listed species.
We employ a proactive approach to emerging legal issues that will likely affect clients in the mid-to-long term—if not sooner. Climate change, for instance, has played a prominent role in recent decisions about how Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) must treat changes of habitat and address species’ range of habitat in response to area temperature shifts.
In addition to the ESA, our lawyers have extensive experience counseling clients under the other major wildlife protection laws, including:
- Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA)
- Bald Golden Eagle Protection Act (BGEPA)
- Marine Mammal Protection Act
- Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act
- Lacey Act
- Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna
