William Shaklee focuses his practice on environmental law with specific emphasis on litigation of complex environmental matters and counseling clients on compliance with environmental regulations. His responsibilities include overseeing and reviewing audit activities that evaluate client operations at heavy industrial facilities to ensure compliance with the Clean Air Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the Clean Water Act and Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and he also counsels clients in response to federal and state agency notices of violation and requests for information across all environmental media. In addition, William has been responsible for leading negotiations on real estate transactions for the sale and leasing of former industrial properties and assisting in the due diligence process for numerous corporate transactions to determine if the operations at the target companies conform to applicable environmental regulations.

Prior to joining the firm, William held the position of Assistant Attorney General for the State of Ohio. In this capacity, William represented the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA) in the prosecution of civil and criminal matters while also defending agency actions before the Environmental Review Appeals Commission (ERAC). During the course of that representation, William’s work focused primarily on litigation and management of numerous cases related to the storage, transport and disposal of hazardous waste.

William was selected for inclusion in Ohio Super Lawyers–Rising Stars Edition 2009, a listing of the top up-and-coming lawyers in Ohio.

William is a member of the Ohio State Bar Association’s Environmental Law Committee.

Representative Experience

• Counseling a number of clients in response to proposed administrative enforcement actions by the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) and Ohio EPA under RCRA, TSCA and the Clean Air Act. Responsible for negotiating with US EPA and Ohio EPA to resolve enforcement actions across all environmental regulations.
• Acting as a member of a common counsel team responsible for negotiating with US EPA in both the remedial investigations (RI) and feasibility studies (FS), and remedial design (RD) and remedial action (RA) phases of a CERCLA cleanup for the PRP group at the site.
• Advising clients on issues concerning brownfield redevelopment at former industrial properties to both minimize environmental exposure and maintain the widest array of options for future productive use.
• Acting as a member of defense teams responsible for representing various heavy industrial manufacturing clients in class-action toxic tort and nuisance litigation.
• Evaluating corporate structures to assess potential veil-piercing claims for parent-subsidiary liability regarding environmental issues.