Skip Kazmarek Skip Kazmarek´s practice spans the full breadth of environmental law, including regulatory, transactional and litigation. He has published over 60 articles and presentations and is an adjunct professor of environmental law at both Georgia State University School of Law and John Marshall Law School.
Skip has a unique perspective in that he has a technical background, with his undergraduate work in Biology and graduate school in Environmental Engineering Systems, both at UCLA. While in graduate school, Skip performed research in air pollution control and was involved in the testing of the first automobile in the U.S. powered by liquid hydrogen. He was also a teaching assistant and taught undergraduate-level courses in systems engineering principles. After graduate school, where he was named "Outstanding Masters Candidate" in 1977, he worked in the Environmental Engineering section of a large, national forestry corporation where he was responsible for the company's compliance with laws regulating chemical substances.
Over the course of nearly 30 years in the environmental area, Skip has been involved in nearly every major facet of environmental law. He has advised clients on regulatory compliance in areas of water and air pollution, wetlands, hazardous wastes, community right to know, and employee safety. In the transactional area, he has handled numerous matters involving contaminated property on behalf of sellers, purchasers, and lenders; he has directed the environmental components of a wide variety of corporate mergers, acquisitions, and liability transfers; and he has been on the leading edge of the latest forms of brownfields transactions. Lately, a large share of Skip's practice has been focused on environmental litigation, including toxic tort defense, cost recovery actions, and defense and prosecution of statutory claims.
Skip was recognized as a Georgia Super Lawyer in Atlanta Magazine from 2004 through 2007 and was also named one of America´s Leading Business Lawyers in the 2003 through 2007 editions of Chambers USA. Most recently, Skip was selected by his peers for inclusion in the 2005 through 2007 editions of The Best Lawyers in America in the area of Environmental Law. (Download vCard; e-mail Skip)
Carol R. Geiger Carol provides legal advice on areas of environmental law, from regulatory compliance counseling and transactional strategies, to the remediation and redevelopment of contaminated properties. As a former in-house environmental counsel at a major chemical company, Carol brings a unique business-based perspective to environmental compliance.
Carol counsels clients on permitting strategies, compliance with technology, disclosure obligations and governmental approvals. She has significant experience with environmental liabilities associated with real estate transactions and corporate acquisitions and has developed strategies to overcome common environmental impediments.
Carol has represented several potentially responsible parties in state and federal Superfund cases. She has advised clients on the clean up of contaminated property under the Georgia mini-Superfund ("HSRA"), CERCLA, the Underground Storage Tank Act, and RCRA. She has managed the clean up of numerous properties under HSRA and the redevelopment of such properties. Carol has represented major and medium size companies and municipalities before state and administrative bodies. Carol has also been named by Atlanta Magazine as a Georgia "Super Lawyer." (Download vCard; e-mail Carol)
W. Scott Laseter Scott Laseter´s practice has included litigation, regulatory and transactional aspects of environmental law. For the last dozen years, he has devoted a substantial portion of his practice to manufactured gas plant issues ranging from investigation and remediation oversight to lost recovery, insurance coverage and common law litigation.
In recent years, he has also devoted a substantial portion of his practice to representing publicly traded real estate companies, parties to CMBS transactions, financial institutions, REITs, developers and public and private investors in connection with environmental problems arising out of buying, selling, owning and financing real estate. Through this work, Scott has been involved in the redevelopment or repositioning of hundreds of environmentally challenged properties.
Prior to attending law school, Scott spent several years in the insurance business. He has built on this experience by handling a wide-range of environmental and non-environmental insurance matters on behalf of policyholders, including successfully securing coverage for such diverse claims as environmental clean up costs, defense of asbestos lawsuits, and disability coverage for silicone induced autoimmune disease.
Chambers USA first recognized Scott in its 2005 edition of America´s Leading Lawyers for Business as a Leader in the environmental practice area. More recently, he was selected for inclusion in the 25th anniversary edition of The Best Lawyers in America® in the environmental law specialty. (Download vCard; e-mail Scott)
