Wendlene M. Lavey

With over 30 years of experience, Wendy brings to the table a deep understanding of compliance concerns with a keen sense of practicality. Wendy makes a point to understand the client’s operations and business strategy to ensure effective and efficient service. Her depth of experience suits her especially well in the context of negotiating rational outcomes in the face of state or federal enforcement efforts, as well as in compliance auditing and advising regarding the environmental aspects of transactions. She has spent time “embedded” with two manufacturing clients in a non-legal capacity, adding to her practical approach to addressing problems and resolving disputes.

The bulk of Wendy’s practice focuses on compliance, enforcement and permitting under the Clean Air Act; hazardous waste compliance, permitting and corrective action obligations under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA); and municipal wet weather issues under the Clean Water Act. She also has substantial experience in connection with cost-recovery and contribution actions under CERCLA, Clean Water Act compliance and permitting for industrial dischargers, investigation and cleanup activities under various programs including the Ohio Voluntary Action Program, environmental due diligence and related transactional support, environmental management systems and ISO 14001 certification, and workplace safety regulations under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA).

Wendy’s clients span the public and private sectors and include the iron and steel, paint/coating, and chemical industries. She has participated in final EPA rulemaking challenges in the US Court of Appeals and the US Supreme Court.

Recent experience highlights include:

• Defending a municipal client facing enforcement under the Clean Water Act relating to combined sewer overflows and separate sanitary overflows, culminating in a final consent decree memorializing the city’s long-term integrated wet weather plan to be implemented over 25 years;
• Representing steel industry clients in connection with complex Clean Air Act permitting under the federal New Source Review/Prevention of Significant Deterioration (NSR/PSD) and New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) programs;
• Negotiating federal administrative settlements resolving a scrap recycler’s alleged violations under the Clean Air Act’s refrigerant management rules, a chemical company’s alleged violation of RCRA hazardous waste generator requirements, and a cheese manufacturer’s alleged violation of its NPDES permit including whole effluent toxicity issues;
• Defending a manufacturing client against enforcement cases in state and federal court alleging Clean Air Act violations including issues relating to exceedances of the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for lead;
• Overseeing and participating in environmental compliance audits at facilities across the United States;
• Advising a metals recycling facility in connection with its application for a hazardous waste permit and a chemical company’s hazardous waste permit renewal for the continuation of corrective action obligations;
• Advising clients on corrective action obligations under RCRA, including negotiating administrative orders or permit terms, working with technical consultants, and providing guidance to ensure cost-effective and risk-based outcomes; and
• Responding to “whistleblower complaints” with the Department of Labor including achieving resolution without further investigation.

Wendy is admitted to practice in the State of Ohio, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court.

Wendy received her BA, summa cum laude, from Dickinson College with a major in Economics and minor in Mathematics, and her JD from Harvard Law School.

• Ohio State Bar Association, Section on Environmental Law
• Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, Women in Law and Environment Sections

• 2024 Honoree, Crain’s Cleveland Business “Notable Women in Law”
• Named by Chambers & Partners as a leading practitioner in Environmental Law in Ohio
• Listed as “SuperLawyer” by Law & Politics since 2021
• Nationally recognized in The Best Lawyers in America for Environmental Law since 2009

• “Legal Hot Topics and Stormwater Litigation,” 2021 Stormwater Conference, May 20, 2021
• “2019 Infrastructure Funding: How to get it and spend it wisely,” Toledo, September 10, 2019
• “2019 Infrastructure Funding: How to get it and spend it wisely,” Cincinnati, June 25, 2019
• “2019 Infrastructure Funding: How to get it and spend it wisely,” Cleveland, May 7, 2019
• “2019 Infrastructure Funding: How to get it and spend it wisely,” Canton, April 30, 2019
• “New Federal Statute Creates Opportunities Through Integrated Planning,” 2019 Infrastructure Funding: How to Get it and Spend it Wisely, Marietta, Ohio, February 26, 2019

• “Diversity in the Presidential Cabinet,” with Erin McDevitt-Frantz, CMBA Bar Journal, June 2021.