About Environmental Litigation Group
The Environmental Litigation Group (ELG) is led by Scott Summy, one of the most successful environmental lawyers in the country. Summy often says, “water is the essence of life and we are so fortunate to have the opportunity to represent and assist clients who are impacted by contaminated water.” Under Summy’s leadership, the ELG has achieved unprecedented results. They have recovered well in excess of a billion dollars for their clients.
Summy and the ELG led the fight against the entire oil industry who contaminated much of the nation’s drinking water with MTBE. They successfully took on giant Syngenta to address nationwide water contamination of atrazine. They also successfully represented thousands of clients in the BP oil spill. The ELG has represented hundreds of public entities and individuals whose drinking water was contaminated. As a result of their work, approximately 42 million Americans drink from water systems who have received compensation through the ELG’s representation. No other firm in the country has achieved these results.
Carla Burke Pickrel is a shareholder with Baron & Budd. After several years in Baron & Budd’s appellate section, Ms. Pickrel joined the Environmental Litigation Group in 2004. As one of the pioneers of the Group, she has worked to develop legal strategy for cases arising from methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE), atrazine,…
Cary L. McDougal, a shareholder with Baron & Budd, has served as lead attorney in more than 75 jury trials in state and federal court. Over the nearly two decades that he has practiced law, Mr. McDougal has proven to be a formidable trial lawyer with unflinching resolve to serve his clients. He has tried cases involving such diverse…
Celeste Evangelisti has devoted almost two decades of her career to representing individuals, municipalities and public water suppliers who seek to recover costs to clean up contamination from the companies responsible – those who put dangerous products into the stream of commerce without ensuring they will not cause…
John Fiske is California’s leading public entity-as-plaintiff lawyer and a shareholder in the San Diego offices of Baron & Budd. Since joining the firm in 2016, Mr. Fiske has obtained significant settlements on behalf of communities, having resolved more than $1.62 billion dollars for his public entity clients since December 2018…
Stephen C. Johnston puts his degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences to good use as a shareholder with the firm’s Environmental Litigation Group, representing individuals and communities seeking clean-up costs for contaminated water supplies. Mr. Johnston began his career with Baron & Budd in 1997 as part of…
Irma Espino MacLean is proud to work for Baron & Budd, one of the largest and oldest firms in the United States that specializes in environmental litigation. As a member of the Environmental Litigation Group, Ms. Espino MacLean represents private and public entities in litigation to recover costs of removing chemical contaminants…
Brett Land is an associate in Baron & Budd’s Environmental Litigation Group. Since joining the Group in 2014, he has represented hundreds of individuals and public entities harmed by toxic contaminants. An integral member of the team representing more than a dozen public entities including cities, ports and states, Mr. Land…
Chris Campbell joined Baron & Budd’s Dallas Environmental Litigation Group in August of 2016. He works with our west coast environmental team representing municipalities harmed by hazardous chemicals, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and Trichloroethylene (TCEs), which have been allowed to leach into the soil and…
Chris Edwards joined Baron & Budd’s Environmental Litigation Group as an associate in 2016. He specializes in Electronic Discovery, which has been especially meaningful for advising numerous public entity clients in complex mass tort matters relating to environmental contamination and wildfires. In addition to…
Cristina Sanchez had originally planned to go to medical school, but her work at a small plaintiffs’ firm after college inspired her to instead pursue a career in law. She works primarily with clients who have been harmed by the BP oil spill that severely impacted her hometown of New Orleans. Ms. Sanchez joined Baron & Budd in 2005 to…
Jason Julius cares deeply about the environment. That is what compelled him to join Baron & Budd’s Environmental Litigation Group in 2017. Bringing the polluters and contaminators of our precious natural spaces to justice is what drives Mr. Julius’ passion every day. In 2002, Mr. Julius completed his undergraduate education at the…
Jessica Salas joined Baron & Budd’s Environmental Litigation Group in January 2020, where she manages electronic information vital to the firm’s large-scale complex environmental tort cases. Prior to joining the Environmental Litigation Group, Ms. Salas spent a year working with Baron & Budd’s Pharmaceutical Litigation Group, helping…
Sangeeta Kuruppillai first worked for Baron & Budd in 2010 as an attorney in the firm’s Environmental Litigation group, reviewing discovery documents for cases involving atrazine, an herbicide used for weed control in farm crops which has been linked to prostate and breast cancer and is thought to be causing declines of endangered…
Staci J. Olsen is Senior Counsel of Electronic Discovery in Baron & Budd’s Environmental Litigation Group, where she specializes in the management of electronic information and people in mass litigation. This skill makes her a critical part of the Group, which focuses on large-scale complex environmental torts. She leads an…
Torri Sherlin brings a lifelong passion for the outdoors to Baron & Budd’s Environmental Litigation Group in San Diego. Joining our Ecolawyers unit in 2018, Ms. Sherlin shares her enthusiasm for safeguarding the environment by representing numerous California counties in their claims against negligent utility companies for…
Vanessa Schiodtz joined Baron & Budd’s Environmental Litigation Group in 2018 where her work focuses on complex environmental contamination cases. Ms. Schiodtz was born in Sydney, Australia, but has called Washington State her home since 1980. She considers herself a true Seattleite and is a “double Husky”, having…