Shawn T. Cobb

Shawn has developed trusted, long-term relationships with some of the country’s largest and most innovative companies in industries ranging from industrial and chemical manufacturing to aerospace and defense, electronics recycling, and major residential and commercial development and construction. He aggressively advocates on behalf of his clients and measures his success, in part, by his ability to practically identify and efficiently mitigate the legal and business risks his clients face as a result of environmental lawsuits and enforcement actions.

With the proven ability to convince major environmental groups to walk away from threatened citizen suits, Shawn has resolved multi-jurisdictional environmental enforcement actions seeking record-setting civil penalties for less than the cost of defense and little to no adverse publicity, amicably settled contentious environmental business disputes while preserving assets and avoiding outside regulatory interference, and persuaded environmental prosecutors to decline to prosecute threatened criminal enforcement actions.

Shawn has advised his clients in a wide array of environmental matters brought under federal and state environmental laws including the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the Clean Air Act (CAA), and the Clean Water Act (CWA), and California counterparts such as the Hazardous Substances Account Act (HSAA), the Hazardous Waste Control Law (HWCL), the Aboveground Petroleum Storage Act (APSA), and the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act. He has opposed and successfully resolved matters against government prosecutors in the Department of Justice; the Environmental Protection Agency; California’s Office of the Attorney General; numerous California District Attorneys’ offices; California cities, counties, municipalities, and quasi-governmental organizations; California’s State and Regional Water Boards and Air Districts; various non-governmental organizations; and many of the nation’s top law firms.

Prior to becoming a lawyer, Shawn worked as a private contractor on behalf of the United States Department of Defense and Intelligence Community, specializing in quantitative risk analysis and mitigation. He received numerous awards for this work, including a Certificate of Appreciation from the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence and the President’s Award from Northrop Grumman. Shawn also previously served as a Strategic Intelligence Analyst and as the Battalion Intelligence Officer of a Psychological Operations unit in the United States Army Reserve.

ACCOLADES

• Northrop Grumman President’s Award
• Certificate of Appreciation, Deputy Director of Central Intelligence