About Nancy J. Rich

Nancy Rich provides practical guidance to clients confronting environmental and safety legal issues, whether they arise in litigation, transactions or regulatory matters. A former environmental prosecutor with the Illinois Attorney General's Office, Nancy has a detailed understanding of regulatory agencies and the laws they enforce. She regularly advises corporate, real estate and financial services clients.

Efficiency that closes deals, mitigates compliance issues, resolves cases

Nancy's experience as an environmental prosecutor gives her an insider's understanding of how agencies operate, how they view the law and how they determine their enforcement priorities. That includes an understanding of facts likely trigger agency action and potential liability. She combines that background with her years of experience at Katten to develop solutions that mitigate risk and allow her clients to pursue their business goals. She does that with a rigorous focus on providing advice that is both practical and efficient in bringing her client's legal issue to resolution, whether it is a regulatory matter or a deal closing.

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Practice Focus

  • Complex litigation involving Superfund, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and other environmental laws
  • Environmental toxic tort litigation and enforcement litigation defense
  • Brownfields and other real-estate-related environmental matters
  • EHS (environmental, health and safety) liabilities in corporate transactions
  • Environmental insurance policies
  • Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) compliance and defense
  • Alternative energy issues and environmental sustainability projects

Representative Experience

  • Represented major manufacturer of automotive and truck fuel additives in negotiations regarding a federal regulatory proposal to ban the use of a critical component of one of the client’s leading products. Regulators ceased efforts to ban the additive after we worked with the client and technical experts to present detailed technical evidence documenting the lack of available effective substitutes.
  • Advised various manufacturing clients regarding emergency regulatory requirements for manufacturing hand sanitizer during COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Defended Clean Water Act regulatory enforcement action brought against management of commercial / residential skyscraper.
  • Defended food manufacturer against alleged multiple, repeat violations of worker health and safety requirements. Obtained reduction of several hundred thousand dollars in OSHA penalty case.
  • Represented client in obtaining cost of defense settlement of federal Superfund cost recovery lawsuit after locating and deposing the plaintiff’s retired employee. The employee testified that waste from the plaintiff’s manufacturing line was dumped outside on the ground at the plaintiff’s property on multiple occasions over a period of years.
  • Represented client in negotiating with co-lender, defaulting borrower and regulatory agency to avoid environmental litigation on a Brownfield development loan. Developed a strategy that allowed client to exit the loan and recoup most of the loan value.
  • Developed and oversaw multi-layered liability and allocation and insurance plan which allowed client to successfully divest an environmentally challenged business.
  • Advised nonprofit, off-the-grid incubator for sustainable businesses on applicability of federal and state environmental and utility laws and regulations applicable to its anaerobic digester and combined heat and power system. As a result, client qualified for a loan to build the system to supply the building's energy needs, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in energy costs over the life of the facility.
  • Analyzed and edited client’s draft sustainability and climate change disclosures to the Securities and Exchange Commission pertaining to the COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference.
  • Counseled foreign investor in acquiring US manufacturing plants by implementing an environmental investigation plan to develop an appropriate environmental baseline for lenders. Persuaded seller to retain certain assets that would likely impede financing of the acquisition.
  • Counseled acquirers of nearly one million acres of timberland regarding oil and gas well liability issues. Negotiated contractual provisions to carve out locations and liabilities of concern.

News

Publications

Presentations and Events

  • October 31, 2024
    PFAS-or-Treat: Are PFAS Giving You Nightmares? How to Manage PFAS Risk to Sleep Better at Night
    Speaker
  • May 22, 2022
    American Bar Association RPTE CLE Program
    Finance Documents and Due Diligence
  • April 27, 2022
    American Bar Association RPTE National CLE Seminar
    Emerging Legal Issues in Real Property – Environmental and Sustainability

Practices
Industries
Education
  • Loyola University Chicago School of Law, JD
  • Loyola University Chicago, AB, Honors Program
Bar Admissions
  • Illinois
Court Admissions
  • US District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Trial Bar
  • US District Court, Central District of Illinois
  • US Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
  • US Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
Community Involvements
  • American Bar Association, Section of Real Property, Trust and Estates – Green and Sustainable Transactions Committee; past Commercial Real Estate Transactions Group Chair
  • The Chicago Bar Association, pro bono counsel; former Board member and Chair
Recognitions
Recognized or listed in the following:
  • Best Lawyers in America
    Litigation - Environmental, 2020–2025
    Environmental Law, 2021–2025
  • Chambers USA
    Environment: Litigation, 2008–2024
  • Leading Lawyers Network
    Top 100 Women Real Estate-Related Lawyers, 2015
  • Super Lawyers
    Illinois, 2006–2009, 2013–2015, 2022–2025
  • Who's Who in American Law
Award Methodologies