Elisabeth R. Gunther

Through nearly four decades, Elisabeth has focused her practice on permitting and entitlement of a wide range of projects, compliance counseling, and environmental aspects of business transactions, under state and federal law.

Elisabeth’s experience and practice areas cover the major federal environmental statutes, including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund), and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). She has worked in private practice and for public agencies, and most recently represented one of the largest public university systems in the nation, spanning ten campuses, five medical centers, and a national laboratory.

Elisabeth particularly focuses her practice on entitlement and compliance with California’s complex and wide-ranging environmental laws, statutes, and regulations, and has experience before the Regional Water Quality Control Boards, Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), and local and regional air quality management districts. She has significant experience entitling complex projects under the California Environmental Quality Act. In addition, she is knowledgeable regarding California’s extensive regulations for hazardous materials, occupational safety and health, solid and medical waste, and biosafety and laboratories, as well as regarding local land use and zoning laws and the protection and preservation of historic and cultural resources, including Native American artifacts and sacred sites, coastal development, and wetlands and streambeds.

Elisabeth’s experience in private practice, as well as her public agency work, informs her unique insight on the California regulatory landscape and strategic approach to project entitlement and regulatory compliance counseling. She has represented a range of clients, from major industrial firms, such as energy and petroleum companies, to public institutions, commercial and residential developers, and alternative energy companies. And she spent 16 years working within a large public university system advising on the entitlement and operation of the campus facilities, laboratory buildings, medical center facilities, infrastructure, and on-site and offsite housing. Elisabeth was the lead in-house attorney on one of the largest P3 social infrastructure projects in the nation, delivering a campus expansion entailing 17 facilities and infrastructure within a critical four-year window. As a public agency attorney and chief counsel to a developing university campus, Elisabeth provided advice on the entire range of campus legal and regulatory matters, including compliance with public records and privacy laws, business and real estate transactions, procurement, construction, employment, research, cyber-security, governance and first amendment issues.

Prior to joining Hunton Andrews Kurth, Elisabeth was the Chief Campus Counsel for the University of California, Merced and a Principal Attorney in the University of California Office of General Counsel. She also served as Deputy City Attorney for the Cities of Santa Rosa and San Francisco, as well as an associate and partner (or shareholder) for several law firms.

Representative Experience

Public Agency

  • Led entitlement of new university campus and subsequent expansion through innovative P3 delivery model.
  • Completed environmental review and entitlement of a wide range of public projects and development, including campus facilities and major medical centers.
  • Provided land use advice and environmental counsel for expansion of municipal infrastructure, including airport runway and transportation infrastructure.
  • Counsel on land use and environmental matters to major public university system and local municipal departments, including Office of Environmental Review, Public Works, Planning Department and Commission, and Board of Public Utilities.
  • Counsel to agency employees under the Fair Political Practices Act.
  • Oversight of agency public records, information practices and privacy programs.

Land Use and Environmental

  • Land use advice, environmental review and permitting for initial development of university campus in sensitive species habitat and wetlands area.
  • Land use advice and environmental review of long range development plans for five university campuses and national laboratory.
  • Environmental review and permitting of expansion of petroleum refinery, chip fabrication units, municipal solid waste and biomass alternative energy facilities, campus facilities, commercial residential and campus housing, and medical facilities.
  • Environmental review and permitting and ongoing compliance counseling and regulatory interface for operating hazardous and solid waste landfills.
  • Oversight and advice on site clean-ups, including petroleum contamination remediation sites and major Superfund sites.
  • Due diligence for corporate and real estate transactions.
  • Compliance counseling under California air regulations, administrative hearings and settlement negotiations, including local air district variance and enforcement actions.
  • Development of and compliance with habitat plans and natural resource permits, including Section 404 permits, biological opinions, and Section 1600 and incidental take permits.
  • Development of oil spill prevention plans for pipeline and marine terminal.

Awards & Recognition

  • Past Chair of the State Bar Environmental Law Section

Insights