The Legal Elite
Top Environmental Lawyer
Timothy G. Hayes
Hunton & Williams

by Holly M. Rodriguez

For a lawyer who has been one of Virginia’s leading champions of environmental protection for years, Timothy G. Hayes’s current office might seem a bit strange.

The former Virginia counsel for the non-profit Environmental Defense Fund now sits in a cozy, well-appointed corner office on the 15th floor at the Richmond law firm of Hunton & Williams, a legal behemoth whose name is forever linked with the power elite of Virginia such as Dominion Resources. Tall, soft-spoken Hayes, whose office overlooks the James River, doesn’t see a contradiction. "Just because you work for the corporate side doesn’t mean you aren’t trying to save the environment," he says.

Hayes’s major clients now reflect his diversified interests in the field and his range of experience in representing all sides of environmental law: Duke Energy, Westvaco, Honeywell, Tarmac, Virginia Waste Industries Association and Recycling Systems, to name a few. Kevin Finto, a Hunton & Williams colleague and friend, says: "He has a very diplomatic approach to his cases – while he works for his clients, he understands [the arguments of] all sides because he has worked in all areas of environmental law from state government to environmental groups. And his good sense of humor helps, too."

Hayes, 54, doesn’t waste time agonizing over cases he doesn’t win. "If you’ve done your best, you don’t dwell on [disappointments]," he says. "I have a pretty positive attitude and generally try to get back on the horse when I’ve been thrown."

His positive attitude was essential in the early years. "I joined the army at 17, and planned on making a career of it." A medical discharge changed the course of his life but did not defeat his ambition. The son of an Army doctor, he lived all over the country and enrolled in law school at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. While carrying a full course load, he worked for the Congressional Quarterly and the Environmental Protection Agency to support his wife and newborn baby.

His 25-year legal career had stops at the Virginia Attorney General’s office, the Environ-mental Defense Fund, and several law firms before arriving at Hunton & Williams.

In the 1970s, Hayes was involved in the famous Kepone case, in which Allied Chemical was fined for dumping the toxic pesticide in the James River. "It was the first major environmental enforcement case in Virginia," he says. He also helped set precedents that empowered state regulators to assess penalties from polluters.

Though most of his early work was with non-profit environmental groups, he says that at times some of them tended to sensationalize cases. "The Defense Fund was different. They tried to change the status quo in a feasible way."

But after four years of policy work, a lot of meetings and public speaking, Hayes wanted to get back into practicing law, and so began his career in private practice.

While he spends a lot of time practicing appellate law, Hayes prefers trial work. He follows the keep-it-simple approach when arguing a case. "The biggest challenge is to ensure that the judge clearly understands the technical and scientific ramifications." Keeping a case out of court is the ultimate success for him. "If I can do it in a way that leaves all sides reasonably happy, that’s an extremely successful result." Peers respect him. William Ellis, an environmental attorney for McSweeney, Burtch & Crump of Richmond says: "I’ve worked with him for many years – sometimes on the same side, sometimes on opposing sides. No doubt, he is a very good attorney."

Another perk is working with several generations of environmental lawyers and helping newbees become good ones. "Environmental law has evolved . . . with . . . my career," he says.