Celebrating 50 Years as "The Environmental Law Firm" in 2024
An open letter from Firm Chair Kathryn Szmuszkovicz and Firmwide Managing Principal Marc Goldstein —
Dear Clients, Friends, and Beveridge & Diamond Colleagues,
Happy New Year! With gratitude for our clients who entrust us with their most complex and challenging regulatory and litigation matters and for our exceptional lawyers and staff who comprise the B&D team, we are designating 2024 as a year of celebration and commemoration of our Firm’s founding 50 years ago in June 1974.
Our Firm’s origins and growth parallel the development, implementation, and evolution of environmental and natural resource law here and abroad. From the Outdoor Resources Review Commission during the Kennedy administration through the creation of a special Office of Environmental Justice within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2023, B&D lawyers have participated firsthand in the creation of, counseled clients on, and litigated seminal cases involving the many issues at the intersection of the natural world and our commerce. This includes both traditional resource issues and cutting-edge topics such as ESG, sustainability, the circular economy, emerging contaminants, energy transitions, and climate change.
Our legacy of government service – more than two-thirds of our lawyers have state or federal government experience – also dates from our founding lawyers, including Henry Diamond, New York’s first Commissioner of Environmental Protection, William Ruckelshaus, the first Administrator of EPA, and Albert Beveridge, John Hanson, and Harold Himmelman, who served at DOJ.
We have a tradition of forging strong, decades-long partnerships with clients based on our deep subject matter expertise and our ability to interact effectively with government regulators. Along the way, we have built a firm with a unique, diverse, and inclusive culture focused on providing superb service for our clients and fostering personal and professional satisfaction for all lawyers and staff. Independent ranking services have validated our approach, awarding us top-tier recognition nationwide for excellence in practice and leadership on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
A few ways we plan to celebrate this milestone this year include:
- Reflections on the Intersection of Business and Environmental Law Symposium. On April 16, we plan to host an in-person program for clients and friends in our Washington, DC, office, reflecting on the arc of environmental law over the last 50 years, its impact on the regulated community, and what the future may hold. The program will include a reception and a virtual access option. We invite your ideas and observations on these developments and your predictions of what’s coming next!
- Giving Back: Our “50/50” Pro Bono Challenge. We have issued a challenge to all of our lawyers and staff to complete at least 50 hours of pro bono legal work or community service in 2024. This builds on our strong tradition of pro bono and community service across our network of offices.
Stay tuned for more information on these and other commemorations, including internal celebrations across our network of offices to honor the work of our lawyers and staff (some of whom have been with the Firm for more than 40 years).
As always, we remain focused on the core of what we have done for the past 50 years: working together as a B&D community to deliver exceptional service to our clients who ask us to help them solve their most complex and important environmental issues. Please don’t hesitate to let us know how we can be of service to you.
With appreciation for what has come before and high expectations for what we will achieve together next —
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| Kathryn E. Szmuszkovicz Firm Chair |
Marc J. Goldstein |
