Tom Mounteer

Partner, Paul Hastings LLP, Washington, DC

Tom Mounteer came to Washington in 1982 to work for Congressman Gillis Long, from Louisiana's 8th Congressional District. He is now a partner in Paul Hastings’ Washington office. He advises clients in all areas of environmental law, with particular emphases in the energy sector, financial disclosure of environmental liabilities, and the treatment of environmental liabilities in bankruptcy.

Tom helps buyers and sellers, lenders and borrowers, and landlords and tenants identify, quantify, and apportion environmental liabilities that arise in business and real estate transactions. He oversees the investigation of site conditions, helps clients avail themselves of statutory defenses to liability, assists in quantifying potential liabilities, and negotiates and drafts contract terms relating to the sales and purchases, leases, and financings. His article “Environmental Risk: 10 Myths” Commercial Investment Real Estate 23 (Nov.-Dec. 2011) distills 25 years of experience helping clients with their transactions and financings.

Since 1997, Tom has been an adjunct professor in the Environmental Law LLM program at the George Washington University Law School, teaching courses in “Control of Solid and Hazardous Wastes” and “Environmental Aspects of Business Transactions.” In 2009, the law school awarded him its Distinguished Adjunct Faculty Teaching Award.

In addition to his ELI board service, Tom has been a member of the Founders Council of the Williams Institute at UCLA Law School and a member of the board of directors of the Federal City Performing Arts Association since 2008, serving as the chairman of the latter board since 2010.

Tom has taught the RCRA unit of ELI’s Eastern Boot Camp for more years than he can recall.