Biography • Environment

David T Buente Jr is the head of the firm's environmental group and represents clients in complex environmental litigation, legislative and rulemaking matters, with an emphasis on Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, CERCLA (Superfund) and RCRA, environmental criminal and toxic tort matters. Mr Buente joined the firm in 1990 from the US Department of Justice where he was the chief of the environmental enforcement section, environment and natural resources division from 1985 to 1990, directing all federal civil and criminal environmental enforcement litigation. Prior to that, he handled a broad range of federal environmental trial and appellate litigation for EPA and other federal agencies as a justice department trial attorney and also served with the Interior Department and the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office.

Mr Buente has represented a number of corporations in complex federal environmental enforcement matters with Justice and EPA, as well as various state attorney generals including American Electric Power, Cinergy, Duke Energy, Exxon Mobil, General Electric, Georgia Pacific, Ford Motors, Honeywell, Norfolk Southern and Tyson Foods. He has advised a number of trade associations on diverse legislative and regulatory environmental issues and represented trade associations and companies in federal/state trials and appellate matters in toxic tort and other private litigation. He is a member of the American Bar Association's sections on environment, energy and resources and litigation, serving as the vice chair on the ABA environmental litigation committee.

Mr Buente received his JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1975 and his BS from Lehigh University in 1968. He is admitted in the District of Columbia and is a member of the American College of Environmental Lawyers and the National Trial Lawyers.