William H. Freedman had been a partner in the firm’s Los Angeles office since 1990 and a member of the firm's Executive Committee before retiring from his full-time practice in 2003. Bill practiced in all areas of domestic and international environmental compliance and enforcement. He remains a widely recognized and sought after air quality; authority, having worked in the global arena as a government lawyer, in the corporate sector and in private practice on air quality issues for many years.
Bill has worked on hundreds of significant corporate and real estate transactions related to pre-acquisition/pre-sale environmental due diligence, along with related contract negotiations. Bill represented major corporations on issues of broad-spectrum environmental compliance, permitting, regulatory challenge, legislative and regulatory development, corporate-wide and focused-facility auditing, as well as litigation and administrative hearings. His practice also incorporated matters involving the enforcement of all environmental media, including detailed and complex matters involving hazardous substances, materials and waste, drinking water, industrial water use, natural resources and air quality laws. He served as the lead negotiator on several of the largest and farthest-reaching of USEPA environmental settlements. Through his enforcement defense, due diligence and audit practice, Bill developed significant experience with matters requiring the retention and supervision of expert environmental and engineering consultants. He continues to provide assistance to Bingham in all of these areas on a limited basis at the insistence of certain clients.
Bill’s international environmental practice focused on Asia, including, but not limited to, interpreting the local environmental requirements of various Asian countries for U.S. multinational corporations and supplying pre-acquisition due diligence. Bill continues to travel extensively throughout the world and remains interested in the national environmental policies and practices of many nations.
Bill is admitted to practice in California and the District of Columbia. He received a Juris Doctor from Emory University School of Law in 1981 and a Bachelor of Science from Washington University/St. Louis in 1979.
