Faculty Profile: William Penny

Bill is the chair of Burr & Forman's Environmental Practice Group and has a wide range of experience in environmental law at the state and federal levels, including natural resource law, mining, remediation, negotiation with regulatory agencies in environmental matters, superfund litigation, RCRA matters, brownfield redevelopment, wetlands, water quality, radiological waste and compliance, and air pollution control. Bill also practices in the Real Estate Practice Group.

Mr. Penny regularly counsels clients on environmental compliance issues and represents businesses in permit appeals, enforcement, and advocacy before state environmental boards and agencies, including the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. He also represents business interests in state and federal litigation related to environmental matters, including citizen suits under the Clean Water Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. He represents mining interests, in contentious and complex mining, land use and environmental matters. Bill's clients include contractors, manufacturing companies, local governments and other individuals in environmental matters. He also represents a number of trade associations on environmental matters, including the Tennessee Mining Association and the Homebuilders Association of Tennessee and serves on the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Tennessee Manufacturers Association). He served as general counsel for the Tennessee Department of Health and Environment and, subsequently, the Department of Environment & Conservation for more than eight years. He is a frequent speaker at local, state and national seminars dealing with environmental law, and is an instructor of environmental law at the Nashville School of Law. Mr. Penny is the principal author of the book A Practical Guide to Tennessee Environmental Law and A Practical Guide to Tennessee Administrative Law. In addition he is a co-author of the ABA's Brownfields Third Addition, a Tennessee editor for BNA's Environmental Due Diligence Guide, and has written the Tennessee Chapter for the ABA publication, Institutional Controls at Brownfield Sites.