They’ve Got Next: Environmental Law Fresh Face Martha Thomsen

Baker Botts LLP lawyer Martha Thomsen had just started a multi-phase environmental trial in Houston when the Covid-19 pandemic started sweeping across the U.S.

“Between the first portion of the trial and the second portion, the world just completely changed,” Thomsen said, recalling her flight back to Washington, D.C., on a nearly empty plane.

As a senior associate, Thomsen was working with a team of Baker Botts lawyers representing Exxon Mobil Corp. in a long-running legal conflict over whether the U.S. government should cover some of the costs of environmental damage at refineries in Texas and Louisiana.

The U.S. District ...