Mitchell Williams attorney elected president of environmental lawyers group

Mitchell Williams attorney Allan Gates has been elected president of the American College of Environmental Lawyers Foundation.

Gates, a partner with Mitchell Williams law firm, and the other newly elected officers were selected for their experience and high standards in the practice of environmental law.

The other newly elected ACOEL Foundation officers are Vice President James Bruen of San Francisco, California; Secretary Virginia Robbins of Syracuse, New York; and Treasurer Michael Hockley of Kansas City, Missouri.

The ACOEL Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit affiliate of the ACOEL College formed to support the pro bono efforts, scholarly projects and educational mission of the college. The college has conducted international pro bono projects in China, Africa, Cuba, and Haiti, and has pro bono projects planned for India.

In addition, the college has domestic pro bono projects and has produced legal white papers on sensitive environmental issues at the request of the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS). ECOS is an organization whose members are the heads of all the state environmental agencies in the country.

Gates currently practices in the areas of environmental law and litigation. He is counsel to private parties, public interest groups, and trade associations in environmental regulatory matters and appears regularly before state agencies, including the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment and the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission. Gates also serves as defense counsel in hazardous waste and Superfund actions before state agencies, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and in state and federal court.