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Partner
Environmental, Health and Safety
/ Toxic & Environmental Torts
Randy Butterfield is a partner in King & Spalding’s Environmental, Health, and Safety Practice Group where he concentrates his practice on environmental, toxic tort, and emergency incident response matters. Since joining the firm in 1999, he has handled numerous individual, mass joinder, and class action cases, both at the trial and appellate levels. Likewise, he has litigated or otherwise successfully resolved numerous environmental regulatory matters, including, among others, defending a permit authorizing a real estate developer to take protective measures safeguarding oceanfront property worth in excess of $1 billion; defending wastewater permits essential to the ongoing operation of the world’s largest cellulose specialties plant; and resolving serious civil and criminal government investigations involving environmental and work-place incidents. Together, these matters have involved nearly every major piece of environmental legislation as well as the entire spectrum of common law tort claims.
Over the past decade, Randy’s practice has focused increasingly on assisting clients in the wake of catastrophic emergency incidents, such as explosions, fires, industrial accidents, chemical releases, spills, and other environmental and industrial calamities. Randy is frequently called upon in the immediate aftermath of these emergencies to provide time-critical crisis management addressing a wide range of pressing concerns, including forensic investigation; workplace safety; site security and evidence preservation; regulatory disclosures, investigation, and potential enforcement; environmental remediation; internal investigations; and insurance notices and coverage. Recent incidents on which Randy has helped lead the response have involved over $2 billion in property damages, business losses, and insurance claims; significant personal injury lawsuits; and exacting scrutiny and potential enforcement actions from federal and state regulators.
Randy has published several articles involving the potential application and use of federal and state regulatory standards in the toxic tort context as well as co-authored a chapter on legal defenses in toxic tort cases in a treatise published by the American Bar Association. Randy previously served as Board Chair for the Environmental and Toxic Tort Section for the Atlanta Bar Association. In 2021, Randy was named to Law360’s Environmental Editorial Advisory Board.
BOOKS, ARTICLES & PRESENTATIONS
J.D., Vanderbilt University
B.A., Arizona State University
Court of Appeals of Georgia
Georgia
Supreme Court of Georgia
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
Law Clerk, Chief Judge Robert L. Echols, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee
American Bar Association, Section on Natural Resources, Energy and Environmental Law
Atlanta Bar Association, Environmental and Toxic Tort Section (past President)
Defense Research Institute (DRI)
State Bar of Georgia, Environmental Law Section
December 3, 2021
K&S elects 32 new partners and promotes 16 counsel across 16 cities
December 2, 2021
King & Spalding Promotes 32 New Partners and 16 Counsel Across 16 Cities
April 20, 2021
Law360 Selects Nine from King & Spalding to Serve on 2021 Editorial Advisory Boards
Representing an international chemical manufacturer in response to an explosion at its largest U.S. manufacturing facility, including helping to lead the emergency incident response and internal investigation as well as responding to regulatory inquiries by, among others, the State and Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”); State and Federal environmental agencies; the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (“CSB”); and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF”).
Representing the country’s largest specialty paper company following the catastrophic explosion of two continuous pulp digesters. Helped lead the team handling the emergency response, including handling the root cause investigation, successfully resolving investigations by OSHA, EPA, CSB, and numerous state regulatory agencies, and securing a significant settlement of its insurance claim.
Successfully resolved regulatory enforcement actions against a Fortune 100 company involving EPA’s Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting (“RRP”) Rule under the Toxic Substances Control Act (“TSCA”).
See more
August 16, 2022
Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 Doubles Down on Environmental Justice
December 3, 2021
K&S elects 32 new partners and promotes 16 counsel across 16 cities
December 2, 2021
King & Spalding Promotes 32 New Partners and 16 Counsel Across 16 Cities
April 20, 2021
Law360 Selects Nine from King & Spalding to Serve on 2021 Editorial Advisory Boards
Representing an international chemical manufacturer in response to an explosion at its largest U.S. manufacturing facility, including helping to lead the emergency incident response and internal investigation as well as responding to regulatory inquiries by, among others, the State and Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”); State and Federal environmental agencies; the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (“CSB”); and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF”).
Representing the country’s largest specialty paper company following the catastrophic explosion of two continuous pulp digesters. Helped lead the team handling the emergency response, including handling the root cause investigation, successfully resolving investigations by OSHA, EPA, CSB, and numerous state regulatory agencies, and securing a significant settlement of its insurance claim.
Successfully resolved regulatory enforcement actions against a Fortune 100 company involving EPA’s Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting (“RRP”) Rule under the Toxic Substances Control Act (“TSCA”).
See more
August 16, 2022
Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 Doubles Down on Environmental Justice
December 3, 2021
K&S elects 32 new partners and promotes 16 counsel across 16 cities
December 2, 2021
King & Spalding Promotes 32 New Partners and 16 Counsel Across 16 Cities
April 20, 2021
Law360 Selects Nine from King & Spalding to Serve on 2021 Editorial Advisory Boards
J.D., Vanderbilt University
B.A., Arizona State University
Court of Appeals of Georgia
Georgia
Supreme Court of Georgia
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
Law Clerk, Chief Judge Robert L. Echols, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee
American Bar Association, Section on Natural Resources, Energy and Environmental Law
Atlanta Bar Association, Environmental and Toxic Tort Section (past President)
Defense Research Institute (DRI)
State Bar of Georgia, Environmental Law Section