Richard H. Friedman, recently retired environmental law partner at McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC of Harrisburg, will be honored with the 2018 PA Bar Association Environmental and Energy Law Section Lifetime Achievement Award during the section’s Environmental Law Forum, April 11 and 12 at the Harrisburg Hilton & Towers.
The award honors contributions made to the section and general efforts that enhance the development, improvement and furtherance of the practice of environmental law that benefit the community or represent outstanding personal achievement.
For more than 40 years, Friedman served the public and private sectors as an environmental law and litigation attorney.
His private practice focused on environmental compliance and permitting, complex transactions, the Clean Air Act, Superfund cost and recovery, Brownfields and land use, environmental due diligence and environmental management issues.
In working with his clients, he advised, defended and counseled them with regard to federal, state and local environmental laws. He also acted as group counsel at multiple state and federal Superfund actions to more efficiently and effectively litigate.
From 1977 to 1989, Friedman worked as a senior attorney at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where he developed and implemented programs and regulations, and litigated to assure compliance with environmental laws, mostly relating to motor vehicles and fuels under the Clean Air Act.
Some of his accomplishments include: being part of a group that originated and implemented the “credit project” component of enforcement case settlements; supervised nationwide field investigations of motor vehicle servicing facilities, gasoline refiners for compliance with lead content requirements and gasoline retailers for compliance with the lead phase-out program; and investigated and successfully prosecuted nationwide mobile source enforcement cases that led to more than 2,000 administrative proceedings.
A member and past chair of the PBA Environmental and Energy Law Section, Friedman has been active with the section for more than 15 years. During his time as chair, the PBA House of Delegates adopted a resolution advanced by the section calling for action on the issue of climate change.
He also managed the sponsorships program for the section’s Environmental Law Forum and was one of the first initiators of using the funds generated to create and fund the Environmental Law Student Summer Internship, a program providing a $10,000 stipend to a law student for a pro bono summer internship in the field of environmental and/or energy law.
Outside of the legal profession, Friedman belonged to and held leadership positions in various local and state organizations, including the environmental committees of both the Harrisburg Regional Chamber and PA Chamber of Business and Industry.
Friedman graduated from the University of Maryland and the American University Washington College of Law.
Friedman is a frequent speaker on various environmental topics, including environmental permitting; environmental, health and safety management compliance strategies; the Clean Air Act; environmental aspects of business and property transactions; environmental cost recovery litigation; and environmental cleanup and liability protection.
The Environmental Law Forum will feature opening remarks from Patrick McDonnell, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, on April 11. More information about the event can be found on the Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s website.
Click Here for more information on the Environmental and Energy Law Section.
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