Tom Lotterman handles a wide variety of litigation matters, including environmental, commercial, trademark, trade secret and telecommunications. He represents clients before federal courts, state courts and agencies from Alaska to California, Maine to Florida. He has handled large, multiparty cases in Alabama, Florida, New York and North Carolina, and has conducted numerous arbitrations before the American Arbitration Association and other associations. His clients include an international utility company that delivers electricity and natural gas throughout the United States, the largest pulp and paper company in the world, and various manufacturing companies.
Tom tried the first case under the SREA amendments to CERCLA, and one of the first arbitrations under the Telecommunications Act of 1996. He has obtained injunctions that stopped the construction of a major highway project, halted the sale of products containing misappropriated trade secrets, and enforced non-compete agreements. He has defended clients in high profile enforcement actions brought by the federal government and the New York Attorney General’s Office involving the Clean Air Act, CERCLA and RCRA.
In the 1980s, Tom was a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice. While there, he successfully defended EPA’s national effluent guidelines for the placer mining industry before the Ninth Circuit. He also defended federal facilities in environmental cases, prosecuted civil violations of the Clean Water Act, and spearheaded a federal task force that challenged the constitutionality of state regulatory fees.
Tom contributes a significant portion of his time representing clients on a pro bono basis. He serves as general counsel to the Project on National Security Reform. The project is a nonpartisan initiative that has been funded by Congress to assist the nation in reforming its national security system to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
Tom is an adjunct professor of law at the Washington College of Law at American University in Washington, D.C.
- Wolfgramm v. Mukasey, 277 Fed. Appx. 676 (9th Cir. 2008) (overturning decision by BIA that client was ineligible for withholding of removal under federal immigration law)
- State of Vermont v. New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation, 841 N.Y.S.2d 823 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 2006) (rejecting attempt by Vermont to halt test burn of used tires as fuel at paper mill owned by client)
- Hauck Mfg. Co. v. Astec Industries, Inc., 2004 WL 3396122 (E.D. Tenn. 2005) (finding defendant in contempt for violating injunction)
- Interim Health Care of Northern Illinois, Inc. v. Interim Health Care, Inc., 225 F.3d 876 (7th Cir. 2000) (upholding summary judgment by district court on behalf of franchisor following termination of franchise agreement)
- City of Alexandria, Va. v. Slater, 46 F.Supp.2d 35 (D.D.C. 1999) (enjoining construction on new bridge until FHWA fulfilled its responsibilities under environmental statutes)
- United States v. Bay Area Battery, 895 F.Supp. 1524 (N.D. Fla. 1995) (granting entry of consent decree between clients and government at Superfund Site despite opposition by other PRPs)
- Rybachek v. USEPA, 904 F.2d 1276 (9th Cir. 1990) (upholding national regulations on placer mining promulgated by EPA under Clean Water Act)
- Boliden Metech, Inc. v. United States, 695 F. Supp. 77 (D.R.I. 1988) (upholding EPA’s statutory authority to seek ex parte warrants under TSCA)
- Special achievement award, U.S. Department of Justice (1989)
- Admitted to practice in the District of Columbia
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit
- U.S. District Court, District of Columbia
- U.S. District Court, District of Maryland
- U.S. District Court, Western District of Michigan
- U.S. Court of Federal Claims
- University of Michigan Law School, Juris Doctor, 1983
- Princeton University, Artis Baccalaureate, 1977