Andrew M. Thompson

Partner / Atlanta

Andrew Thompson is a Partner in the Environmental/Land Use Practice of Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP and a member of the Firm’s Sustainability Practice Group.

Full Bio

Mr. Thompson’s practice includes environmental, commercial, and insurance-related litigation in state and federal court, as well as in state administrative court. He has represented and advised clients in connection with a range of environmental and commercial issues, including defending enforcement actions by the U.S. EPA and state environmental agencies, toxic tort litigation, Clean Water Act permitting and compliance, insurance coverage litigation, hazardous waste, Clean Air Act permitting and compliance, groundwater contamination, environmental cleanup and emergency response, and other environmental matters. Mr. Thompson serves as an adjunct professor at Emory University School of Law teaching a course in water law and environmental litigation.

Mr. Thompson is a Board Member for the Turner Environmental Law Clinic at the Emory School of Law, a member of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, on the advisory board of Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, Inc., and is a Class of 2012 graduate of the Institute for Georgia Environmental Leadership.

From 1997 to 1998, Mr. Thompson served as a judicial clerk for the Honorable R. Lanier Anderson III, United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Mr. Thompson received his B.A. degree, summa cum laude, in Politics from Wake Forest University in 1994, where he was a Carswell Scholar and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. In 1997, he received his J.D., with distinction, from Emory University School of Law, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif. While at Emory, he served as a Notes and Comments Editor of the Emory Law Journal.

Mr. Thompson is admitted to practice before the Georgia Supreme Court and Georgia Court of Appeals, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia and the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia.
Representative Experience
Mr. Thompson’s representative experience includes the following:
- Representing and advising manufacturing clients on PFAS-related compliance issues including reporting, sampling, and litigation regarding PFAS;
- Serving as local environmental counsel to Global Fortune 500 company in consent order negotiations with Georgia Environmental Protection Division relating to largest maritime accident in Georgia history;
- Representing facility owners and operators in Clean Air Act permitting, compliance, and administrative actions;
- Advising national underground utility contractor on environmental compliance relating to the federal Clean Air Act, the federal Clean Water Act, the federal Endangered Species Act, and state and federal waste laws;
- Serving as lead counsel for multinational corporation in successful defense of putative class action and mass tort actions relating to PCE and TCE contamination in groundwater;
- Representing industrial facility owner in negotiations with US EPA relating to a CERCLA removal action and the subsequent cost recovery action against the responsible parties;
- Serving as lead counsel for Fortune 100 company in a putative class action alleging exposure to beryllium—in such action, obtained summary judgment on behalf of client and successfully had plaintiffs’ causation expert excluded under Daubert;
- Serving as national coordinating counsel for multinational corporation in toxic tort ligation involving asbestos, silica, benzene, and other exposure claims;
- Representing policyholders in insurance coverage litigation involving general liability, property, E&O, D&O, and other types of policies;
- Serving as lead counsel for multinational corporation in CERCLA cost recovery action relating to groundwater contamination;
- Representing landlord in mold litigation which resulted in one of the first of its kind Daubert rulings excluding a plaintiff’s medical causation testimony relating to alleged injuries from exposure to “toxic” mold;
- Representing client in response to CERCLA section 104(e) request from U.S. EPA in regard to Superfund site;
- Successfully representing clients in all aspects of Clean Water Act litigation, including prosecuting and defending citizen suits under the Act; and
- Representing non-profit organizations in appeals of wastewater discharge permits which have resulted in multiple decisions of first impression by the Georgia Supreme Court and lower Georgia courts regarding the Clean Water Act.
Bar Admissions

Georgia
Georgia State Courts
Georgia Federal Courts
Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
Education
Undergraduate
- Wake Forest University
Law School
- Emory University
Memberships

Board Member, Turner Environmental Law Clinic, Emory School of Law
Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce
Alumni Advisor, Emory School of Law’s Environmental Law Society
Advisory Board, Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, Inc.
Recognitions

Chambers USA, Environment - Georgia (2018-2025)
Georgia Super Lawyers, Environmental Litigation (2023-present)
The Best Lawyers in America®, Environmental Law, Atlanta (2013-2025); Litigation – Environmental Law, Atlanta (2013-2014, 2019-2025)
The Best Lawyers in America®, Lawyer of the Year, Environmental Law (2021)
Emory Law Alumni Service Award (2020)
Adjunct Professor, Emory School of Law, Water Law and Environmental Litigation
Institute for Georgia Environmental Leadership Class of 2012
Martindale-Hubbell AV Rated Attorney
Georgia Trend Magazine - Legal Elite
Publications and Speaking Engagements

Presenter on Clean Water Act Citizen Suits at Georgia State Law School, Environmental Law Course, September 30, 2024, Atlanta, Georgia

Panelist on Clean Water Citizen Suits: Defense Litigation and Settlement Strategies, Strafford Publications On-Line Webinar, June 27, 2023

Panelist on Ethical Issues in Environmental Cases in Administrative Court, Environmental & Administrative Law Sections of State Bar of Georgia, February 28, 2023, Atlanta, Georgia

Presenter on Strategies for Groundwater Contamination Litigation, Strafford Publications Groundwater Webinar, May 24, 2022

Panelist on Clean Water Citizen Suits: Defense Litigation and Settlement Strategies After Maui Decision, Strafford Publications On-Line Webinar, February 15, 2022

Panelist on Environmental Law Practice, University of Georgia Law School, October 28, 2021, Athens, Georgia

Panelist on Clean Water Citizen Suits: Defense Litigation and Settlement Strategies, Strafford Publications On-Line Webinar, March 23, 2021

Presenter on the Defense of Clean Water Act Citizen Suits at University of Georgia Law School, Environmental Law Course, October 1, 2020, Athens, Georgia

Presenter on Environmental Law Developments at the Consulate of Mexico, November 7, 2019, Atlanta, Georgia

Presenter on Developments in Federal and Georgia Environmental Law at Engineering Law and Ethics Seminar, September 25, 2019, Atlanta, Georgia

Presenter on the Defense of Clean Water Act Citizen Suits at Georgia State Law School, Environmental Law Course, November 6, 2018, Atlanta, Georgia

Presenter on the Fundamentals of Water Law at Georgia Tech, Water Resources Planning Course, September 10, 2018, Atlanta, Georgia

Presenter on Techniques for Defending Groundwater Contamination Litigation, Strafford Publications Groundwater Webinar, June 5, 2018

Presenter on Groundwater Permitting, Regulation, and Litigation at Georgia Water Law & Regulation Seminar, September 27, 2017, Atlanta, Georgia

Presenter on CWA Permit Shield Defense at State Bar of Georgia Environmental Section Seminar, July 24-25, 2015, Hilton Head, South Carolina

Presenter on Negotiating Resolution of CWA Citizen Suits at Georgia Water Law & Regulation Seminar, February 27, 2015, Atlanta, Georgia

Presenter on Recent CWA Federal Court Cases at Georgia Water Law & Regulation Seminar, March 19, 2014, Atlanta, Georgia

Featured in “Advocates for a Sustainable World,” Emory Lawyer Magazine, Summer 2014

“The Anatomy of a Groundwater Contamination Case,” In-House Defense Quarterly, Summer 2012

“The Sophisticated User Defense: It’s Not Just For Drug Companies Anymore,” Georgia Bar Journal, February 2012, Volume 17, Number 5

Consulting Firm Conducting Environmental Testing Not Liable For Not Reporting Exceedances

Property Owner’s Refusal to Allow Clean Up Could Lead to RCRA Liability

“A Win-Win For Environment, Economy,” Atlanta Business Chronicle, June 10, 2011
SGR Publications
Press