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Bethami Auerbach offers more than 30 years of legal experience to Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) clients, with particular expertise in environmental law gained while in private practice, government service as a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) attorney, and in academia. She is an expert on the Clean Air Act (CAA) and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), as well as many business aspects of environmental law. While at EPA, Ms. Auerbach argued in defense of EPA regulations in five federal appellate courts, participated in federal district court proceedings, and helped develop policies to implement the 1977 CAA amendments. She has also taught environmental law and land use planning at the law school level.
Ms. Auerbach’s skills include advocacy; preparation of motions, discovery documents, and appellate briefs; drafting and negotiating sophisticated agreements relating to the business aspects of environmental law; and permitting under various environmental statutes, as well as compliance counseling. She works with many B&C clients that have developed environmentally progressive technologies.
Previous to joining B&C in 1997, Ms. Auerbach was in private practice in Washington, D.C. Before that, she served as a visiting Associate Professor of Law at Temple University Law School and at the University of Iowa College of Law, where she taught environmental law, property, and land use planning. She was an attorney in the Office of General Counsel of EPA, where she worked on policy and litigation under CAA and the Clean Water Act (CWA). After graduation from law school, she clerked for Judge Joseph T. Sneed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Representative Engagements:
- Argued in D.C. Circuit and participated in a briefing of a successful challenge by an industry task force to EPA’s decision to list four classes of carbamate products and various associated waste streams as hazardous wastes under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). As a result, most EPA listing decisions at issue were vacated by the court.
- Collaborated with local counsel on 9th Circuit brief on behalf of an intervenor pesticide registrant in successfully defending, together with EPA and another intervenor, the district court’s dismissal, on jurisdictional grounds, of non-governmental organization (NGO) plaintiffs’ challenge to an EPA Reregistration Eligibility Decision for pesticides under FIFRA. The 9th Circuit affirmed the district court’s dismissal of the plaintiffs’ lawsuit; B&C also collaborated with local counsel in the underlying district court suit in briefing the successful argument that the case should be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.
- Liaised with intellectual property counsel for some 15 years on a variety of trademark-related matters for a non-profit association, including advising on trademark and service mark registration strategies and issues; obtaining and supporting registrations; and pursuing cease-and-desist activities against violators and successfully responding to cease-and-desist allegations from third parties.
- Liaised with patent counsel in advising a pesticide producer client on terms, conditions, and a variety of related issues arising out of a contemplated purchase of patent rights to a biotech-based invention with commercial potential.
- Developed and negotiated a wide variety of task force, association, and consortia governing and implementation agreements (including but not limited to FIFRA cost-sharing agreements and data compensation).
- Developed and negotiated research agreements with universities and laboratories on behalf of industry task forces.
- Developed and negotiated agreements as service providers under European Union (EU) Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) and other foreign authorities.
Bar & Court Admissions:
District of Columbia Bar, 1975
Publications:
Books:
Lynn L. Bergeson, Bethami Auerbach, Lisa R. Burchi, Carla N. Hutton, and Zameer Qureshi, Authors, Case Studies in Regulatory Concepts. In Chemical Risk Governance, Adam DK Abelkop, Lucas Bergkamp, Lynn L. Bergeson, and Bethami Auerbach, Editors, Elgar Encyclopedia of Environmental Law, Edward Elgar Publishing (2023).
Lynn L. Bergeson, Editor; Bethami Auerbach, Lynn L. Bergeson, Lisa R. Burchi, Lisa M. Campbell, Sheryl L. Dolan, Ruth C. Downes-Norriss, Carla N. Hutton, Leslie S. MacDougall, Henry M. Jacoby, Kathleen M. Roberts, Contributing Authors, Global Chemical Control Handbook: A Guide to Chemical Management Programs, American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources (2014)
Lynn L. Bergeson and Bethami Auerbach, Process Safety: A Lawyer's Perspective for the Global Conference on Process Safety (2012).
Lynn L. Bergeson and Tracy Hester (primary authors) and Bethami Auerbach, Linda Breggin, and Leslie Carothers (contributing authors), ELI Nanotechnology Deskbook (2008).
Lynn L. Bergeson and Bethami Auerbach, contributors, Air Quality Compliance and Permitting Manual, McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing (2002).
Lynn L. Bergeson, Lisa M. Campbell, and Bethami Auerbach, et al., Pesticides Law Handbook, Government Institutes (1999).
Articles:
Lynn L. Bergeson and Bethami Auerbach, “Innovation, Consumer Products, and Legal Risk: Points to Consider,” Paper presented at the 2017 Retail Law Conference, October 12, 2017.
Lynn L. Bergeson, Timothy D. Backstrom, and Bethami Auerbach, “Something Inside That Shoebox Really Stinks,” Focus, February 2017.
Lynn L. Bergeson, Bethami Auerbach, Lisa M. Campbell, Timothy D. Backstrom, Sheryl L. Dolan, Jane S. Vergnes, Richard E. Engler, Jayne P. Bultena, Karin F. Baron, Charles M. Auer, "The DNA of the U.S. Regulatory System: Are We Getting It Right for Synthetic Biology?," Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Synthetic Biology Project Report, October 15, 2015.
Lynn L. Bergeson and Bethami Auerbach, "The Environmental Regulatory Implications of Nanotechnology," BNA Chemical Regulation Reporter, April 19, 2004.
Lynn L. Bergeson and Bethami Auerbach, "Reading The Small Print" Environmental Forum, March/April 2004.
Lynn L. Bergeson and Bethami Auerbach, et al., "Symposium: Whitman v. American Trucking Association," EPA Administrative Law Reporter, 2001.
Speaking Engagements:
"EPA's Game-Changing Clean Power Plan: How It Impacts You," Pollution Engineering Webinar (July 22, 2014).
