Orr & Reno, Professional Association :: Maureen D. Smith

Attorney

Practice Focus

Environmental, Energy and Legal Ethics, Government Relations

Experience

Maureen is a member of the Energy and Environmental practice group, as well as the Legal Ethics and Professional Liability practice group. She represents clients in transactional and litigation contracts to address environmental, energy and land use issues. She brings over 30 years of environmental law experience in state and federal government and in private practice. She spent 16 years in the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office, representing the State in a broad array of environmental matters ranging from redevelopment of contaminated properties to development and enforcement of air, waste, oil, wetlands and groundwater laws. As a Senior Assistant Attorney General, she handled complex litigation and legislative initiatives in state, regional and national forums, including national air, energy and climate change litigation. She also counseled and represented the Department of Environmental Services and other state agencies on environmental, energy, insurance and tax matters.

Before joining the Attorney General's Office, Maureen was in private practice with a focus on environmental compliance, insurance and tax exemption. She also spent 10 years as an attorney with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C., where she handled federal environmental regulation and litigation.

Throughout her legal career, Maureen has also focused on ethics and professional responsibility. She is currently Vice Chair of the New Hampshire Bar's Ethics Committee and represents attorneys in professional conduct matters.

Maureen's experience includes:

Regulatory permitting and compliance
Representing clients in due diligence and government approval of business development projects
Renewable energy project development and approval
Using her extensive experience managing complex environmental issues to initiate New Hampshire's largest statewide groundwater damage claim and to resolve the State's largest environmental enforcement claims.
Leading New Hampshire's national litigation initiatives on interstate air pollution.
Working with state and federal officials on environmental and energy legislation and litigation.
Assisting in revision of attorney professional conduct rules and providing ethics training for New Hampshire attorneys.

Practice Areas

Professional Activities

Chair of the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Section, New Hampshire Bar Association
Vice-Chair of the Ethics Committee, New Hampshire Bar Association
Former Member of the New Hampshire Bar Association Professionalism Committee
Faculty member and lecturer at numerous state and regional environmental seminars, including regional seminars on national air and climate change initiatives.
Faculty member and lecturer at lawyer ethics seminars, including public sector lawyer training, revised ethics rules, multijurisdictional practice and managing metadata

Honors and Distinctions

Delegate to New Hampshire's Landfill Study Commission (2007-08)
Member, New Hampshire Department of Justice Ethics Committee (2005-08)
Noted in American Lawyer magazine on significant power plant settlement

Community Involvement

Trustee for The Nature Conservancy, New Hampshire Chapter

Hopkinton Parent-Teacher Association

Hopkinton Friends of the Arts

Bar Admissions

Maureen is admitted to practice in the states of New Hampshire and Maryland and in select federal courts, including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Education

University of Michigan, B.S., School of Natural Resources, 1974

Georgetown University Law Center, J.D., 1977

Publications

Maureen has authored numerous articles on environmental issues, including bar journal publications on regional air litigation and lender liability for environmental contamination. She has also provided training for attorneys on environmental and ethics issues, with articles on environmental matters and revised professional conduct rules.