For more than 25 years, our lawyers have advised and represented entities engaged in some of the largest and most innovative water and wastewater infrastructure development projects. Our interdisciplinary team has extensive experience in the siting, permitting, construction, operation, and implementation of potable and irrigation water supply, wastewater, desalination, and reclaimed water projects across the United States, Australia, North America, Europe, and the Middle East, including a variety of notable public-private partnerships.
We have worked on major projects ranging from traditional water source, treatment, and distribution system development to high-tech desalination and high-quality reclaimed water projects. We actively represent water, energy and other utilities, private developers, industries, and high-tech companies in obtaining water rights, state and basin commission withdrawal permits, contracts, and other approvals for water supply, wastewater treatment, reuse, and discharge.
Our Water and Wastewater group at is at the forefront of water law issues in both the eastern and western United States. Members of our team have handled precedent-setting cases regarding water law and allocation, including interstate water disputes, hydroelectric power licensing, streambed ownership and use rights, and relationships between federal, state, and local authority over water issues.
In the western United States, our lawyers serve clients in obtaining, amending, transferring, banking, and leasing water rights. We also assist agribusiness and timber clients in compiling regional and national water portfolio inventories to optimize operations and diligence their resource for acquisitions and dispositions. We assist in obtaining permits for waste water discharge, use of reclaimed water, and new sources of supply. Similarly, in the eastern United States, we have represented clients in major water withdrawal permitting efforts at the state and basin commission levels, and have taken a leadership position in various state and regional water law reform efforts.
Across the United States, our lawyers address water resources issues arising under the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, and various laws and treaties relating to Native American water right and fishery resource claims. We have also assisted clients in complying with the Safe Drinking Water Act through creative financing, restructuring, and regulatory solutions, and achieving municipal and private client goals through water reuse.
We have been a leader in pursuing innovative public-private partnership delivery of complex water and wastewater services, as well as privatization of financially-challenged public systems. We have successfully represented PPP project sponsors, lenders, investors, vendors, landowners, contractors, operators, and equipment suppliers. Our lawyers advise on all phases of the project—from the initial concept, structuring, and development through bidding, financing, construction, and beyond.
While the tactic of mass arbitration has led both defendants and plaintiffs to turn to the courts for relief, courts have been reluctant to come to the aid of either party.
The year 2025 saw significant regulatory activity in the realm of digital assets. The US Congress and financial regulators took steps to create and implement a clear legal framework to facilitate financial transactions using digital assets, and they will continue to do so in 2026.
The Washington state legislature has adjourned for 2026, and key tax changes are in store if Governor Bob Ferguson signs several tax-related bills into law, and if those tax changes then survive expected legal challenges.
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