Paul Hastings Lures Arnold & Porter Environmental Chair Israel

Paul Hastings has hired litigation partner Brian Israel to serve as co-head of its environmental litigation practice, adding to the firm’s streak of recent lateral partner hires.

Israel, based in Washington and Los Angeles, joins from Arnold & Porter, where he has spent his past 20-plus years in private practice and roughly a decade as chair of the firm’s environmental practice.

A prominent figure in environmental law, Israel represented BP in its environmental dispute resulting from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, including at trial over its Clean Water Act penalty. He has represented a slew of major companies, including Chemours Co., CSX Corp., Dow Chemical, Honeywell Inc., Monsanto Co., and Motorola Solutions Inc., according to Paul Hastings.

Israel joined Paul Hastings after working as co-counsel with the firm’s lawyers on “a major environmental matter” over the past year-plus, he said in an interview. He routinely declined approaches to join other firms, he said, but was convinced after working with Paul Hastings lawyers he could help the firm build “an environmental powerhouse.”

Paul Hastings’ environmental practice, co-chaired by San Francisco partner Navi Dhillon, has a large presence in California.

Credit: Paul Hastings handout

Israel’s move is “an amazing opportunity” to help lead a “true, national-in-scope, environmental powerhouse,” he said.

The hire builds on a streak of litigation partner additions at Paul Hastings, including a 12-lawyer white collar and investigations team that joined in Paris in June; white collar and trial lawyer Renato Mariotti, who joined in Chicago this month; and the former co-head of Akin’s cybersecurity, privacy, and data protection practice, Michelle Reed, who joined in Dallas in June.

On the transactional side, Paul Hastings in June hired an 11-partner private credit and restructuring team from King & Spalding.

Israel’s area of focus is seeing major changes across the country as companies adapt to low-carbon initiatives. The Supreme Court’s June decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and other rulings have shook up the environmental regulatory landscape, limiting federal agencies’ power to interpret statutes and to administer penalties through administrative judges. The changes are creating uncertainty and opportunities for companies, Israel said.

“That uncertainty results in the need for very high-level expertise on environmental issues, and therefore demand for legal services,” he said. “And frankly over the last several years my phone rings off the hook.”

Israel joined Arnold & Porter in 2000 and was previously a trial attorney in the environmental enforcement section of the US Department of Justice. He’s authored a leading treatise on Natural Resource Damages claims.

Paul Hastings chair Frank Lopez, in a statement, said Israel’s addition “further elevates our platform as the leader in an increasingly active practice area enabling us to represent our premier clients on their most complex and important matters.”