Areas of Expertise
Environmental/Environmental Litigation
Courses
Water Resources Law
Biography
Andrew Thompson is a Partner in the Environmental/Land Use Practice of Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP and a member of the Firm's Sustainability Practice Group.
Thompson’s practice includes environmental, commercial, and insurance-related litigation in state and federal court, as well as in state administrative court. He has represented and advised clients in connection with a range of environmental and commercial issues, including defending enforcement actions by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state environmental agencies, toxic tort litigation, Clean Water Act permitting and compliance, insurance coverage litigation, hazardous waste, groundwater contamination, environmental cleanup and emergency response and other environmental matters. Thompson serves as an adjunct professor at Emory University School of Law teaching a course in water law and environmental litigation.
Thompson is a board member for the Turner Environmental Law Clinic at the Emory University School of Law, a member of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce Environmental and Sustainability, on the advisory board of Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, Inc., and is a Class of 2012 graduate of the Institute for Georgia Environmental Leadership.
From 1997 to 1998, Thompson served as a judicial clerk for the Honorable R. Lanier Anderson III, United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Thompson received his B.A. degree, summa cum laude, in Politics from Wake Forest University in 1994, where he was a Carswell Scholar and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. In 1997, he received his J.D., with distinction, from Emory University School of Law, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif. While at Emory Law, he served as a Notes and Comments Editor of the Emory Law Journal.
Thompson is admitted to practice before the Georgia Supreme Court and Georgia Court of Appeals, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia and the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia.
Experience
- Serving as lead counsel for multinational corporation in successful defense of putative class action and mass tort actions relating to PCE and TCE contamination in groundwater;
- Representing industrial facility owner in negotiations with US EPA relating to a CERCLA removal action and the subsequent cost recovery action against the responsible parties;
- Serving as lead counsel for Fortune 100 company in a putative class action alleging exposure to beryllium—in such action, obtained summary judgment on behalf of client and successfully had plaintiffs’ causation expert excluded under Daubert;
- Serving as national coordinating counsel for multinational corporation in toxic tort ligation involving asbestos, silica, benzene, and other exposure claims;
- Representing policyholders in insurance coverage litigation involving general liability, property, E&O, D&O, and other types of policies;
- Serving as lead counsel for multinational corporation in CERCLA cost recovery action relating to groundwater contamination;
- Representing landlord in mold litigation which resulted in one of the first of its kind Daubert rulings excluding a plaintiff’s medical causation testimony relating to alleged injuries from exposure to “toxic” mold;
- Representing client in response to CERCLA section 104(e) request from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in regard to Superfund site;
- Successfully representing clients in all aspects of Clean Water Act litigation, including prosecuting and defending citizen suits under the Act; and
- Representing non-profit organizations in appeals of wastewater discharge permits which have resulted in multiple decisions of first impression by the Georgia Supreme Court and lower Georgia courts regarding the Clean Water Act.
Admissions
- Georgia State Courts
- Georgia Federal Courts
- Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
- Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
Memberships
- Board Member, Turner Environmental Law Clinic, Emory University School of Law
- Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce Environmental and Sustainability Committee
- Alumni Advisor, Emory University School of Law’s Environmental Law Society
- Advisory Board, Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, Inc.