Perkins Coie announced continuing to expand its national environmental practice with Laura Godfrey Zagar joining the firm’s San Diego office. Zagar left Latham & Watkins to join as a partner in Perkins Coie’s Environmental, Energy & Resources practice.
Godfrey Zagar’s project experience includes wind, solar, and natural gas projects and she represents clients in federal and state court actions challenging approvals of energy and infrastructure projects. She played a pivotal role in several innovative renewable energy and transmission line projects including the first major renewable transmission project under construction in the United States.
Zagar has advised and counseled clients on the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act, the federal and California Endangered Species Acts, the Clean Water Act, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, the Federal Aviation Act and the California Environmental Quality Act.
Most of her projects have been under the jurisdiction of several federal and state agencies including the California Public Utilities Commission, the National Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Speaking on Godfrey Zagar joining the law firm, Thane Bauz, the Office Managing Partner of Perkins Coie’s San Diego office said, “Laura is a great environmental litigator who has a wealth of experience working with utility companies in southern California … She is a welcome addition to our growing office because she is so well attuned to the myriad energy transmission issues of the state and knows the national landscape of this business so well.”
Tom Lindley, chair of Perkins Coie’s Environment, Energy & Resources practice group said, “Laura is an amazing California environmental authority who regularly manages multijurisdictional, complex energy-related projects and litigation in the southwest United States … Her understanding of the layered structuring of public utility energy projects is exceptional and will be of great value to our clients both in California and nationally.”
Godfrey Zagar received her J.D. from UCLA School of Law and her A.B. from Princeton University. She was recognized by the Daily Journal as one of its 2013 Top Women Lawyers.