McGuireWoods offices in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM)

McGuireWoods is shoring up its environmental practice in the capital, bringing on three new partners Wednesday who have experience taming regulators and litigating environmental matters up to the U.S. Supreme Court level.

Makram Jaber, Allison Wood and Aaron Flynn are joining as partners in Washington, D.C., where they'll contribute to the firm's regulatory and compliance department and energy enforcement practices. The trio join from Hunton Andrews Kurth, where Jaber and Wood had practiced together since 1999 and Flynn had been since 2007.

"This group fits well into a number of elements of the firm's strategic business planning, where we were hoping to grow certain sectors and elements in different geographies—including energy and regulatory as well as complex, government-oriented litigation in Washington, D.C.," said Todd Mullins, managing partner of McGuireWoods' D.C. office.

While environmental regulatory and enforcement litigators are always in relatively steady demand, the group's move comes as many large law firms are reacting to climate change by expanding their environmental practice groups to include climate-specific work.

Wood said that conversations with the group's existing clients have been positive and that at least some of them would make the move from Hunton Andrews Kurth to McGuireWoods. She advises on climate change issues and environmental matters and has represented clients on every major case involving greenhouse gas regulation under the Clean Air Act, according to her new firm, including Massachusetts v. EPA, Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA and American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut.

Jaber represents power companies, manufacturers, oil and gas companies and other clients and advises on regulation of hazardous air pollutants and new source permitting, counseling and enforcement. He litigated Environmental Defense v. Duke Energy in the U.S. Supreme Court and was lead counsel in a Tenth Circuit case involving the Clean Air and Endangered Species acts.

Flynn works on environmental litigation and regulatory matters with a focus on regional haze and national ambient air quality standards. Prior to private practice, he was counsel for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy under President George W. Bush and worked on issues relating to the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act. Now, he prepares comments on Clean Air Act rules, designs and obtains permits and has litigated cases in federal courts of appeals.

"This is an exciting opportunity to come here and grow an environmental practice, as people start to rethink energy and how that intersects with being greener," Wood said. "My job is to help clients achieve what they need and want—sometimes that's making sure they're in compliance with existing regulations and law, and sometime's its being more forward-thinking and helping energy companies address climate change in a way that makes sense for society, the business and how that intersects with the government."

Wood added that, even as some conversations with clients have centered on how the coronavirus pandemic might affect them, issues in the environmental space are continuing mostly as usual, and she anticipates various EPA regulations—including proposals on national ambient air quality standards, a reconsideration of a rule on methane and new source performance standards in the electric utility sectors—to continue moving through the pipeline.

"You still need to be in compliance with environmental regulations, and you still need to keep folks' lights on," she said.