by Brett Lieberman
for Virginia Business December 2004
Patrick
A. Genzler was still getting his feet wet as an
associate at Vandeventer Black LLP when a tug struck
a freighter it was moving in Hampton Roads. A gash
through the freighter’s fuel tank spilled
9,000 gallons of fuel into the Elizabeth River.
The
oil spill helped put Genzler’s environmental
law career on the map. He participated in one of
the first tests of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. “It
was a legal challenge because it was the first
time many of the issues had been dealt with,” Genzler
says. The law limited liability for some ships
involved in oil spills depending on their size.
The
December 1993 oil spill was an exciting and challenging
time for Genzler, who had joined the firm only
a year earlier after a Navy career. Representing
the tug’s operator, Genzler was on the site
working with the Coast Guard and cleanup crews
from day one through the litigation.
Citing the federal law passed after the Exxon Valdez
tanker catastrophe in Alaska, he was able to help
limit the client’s responsibility to about
one-third of the $1.6 million cost of the cleanup and lost fuel.
Genzler’s
hands-on involvement in the case is typical of
the attentiveness of the former Navy judge advocate,
according to clients and lawyers who have worked
with him. One client, Mike Challoner, president
of Hampton-based Main Industries, says Genzler
doesn’t waste time in tackling issues. “Any
time you’re building, you’re pressed
for time and time is money,” Challoner says.
He hired Genzler to resolve a dispute over a ditch
that city environmental officials said ran into
the Chesapeake Bay.
“We
had been talking to them for a couple months and
getting nowhere,” says Challoner. Genzler
brought in environmental experts and convinced
city officials that the 100-foot setback they wanted
around the 17-acre Copeland Park Industrial Park
was unnecessary.
“It
saved us three acres at $125,000 an acre,” Challoner
said. “His $10,000 bill or whatever it was
was well worth it.”
A
mechanical engineer by training, the 1971 Virginia
Tech graduate was drawn to environmental law by
the technical nature of the work. It was a hot
issue in the 1980s, especially for the military,
which was coping with cleaning up contaminated
bases after the Superfund Act passed in 1980. Genzler,
a College of William & Mary law school graduate,
earned a master’s degree in environmental
law from George Washington University, courtesy
of the Navy.
Serving
three years as the environmental counsel for the
Atlantic Fleet proved a useful background for a
law firm with a large maritime practice. “At
the time it was really the hot issue and it looked
interesting. It’s really evolved over the
years,” says Genzler.
His
practice now deals with more real estate transactions
involving brownfields and contaminated properties.
While he works with the Virginia Department of
Environ-mental Quality and the U.S. Environ-mental
Protection Agency on environmental concerns, he
also has to be aware of business aspects of a transaction,
helping lenders and other parties handle “issues
that can kill a deal.”
When
not visiting contaminated sites or delving into
the minutia of environmental law, Genzler, 55,
can often be found outdoors playing golf or enjoying
the beach with his wife.
The
past five years he’s also been a volunteer
mediator at the Norfolk Community Mediation Center,
helping to resolve small disputes from home repairs
to dog bites. A certified mediator in Virginia
and North Carolina, Genzler says the volunteer
work helps his professional career but also keeps
him grounded. “It takes you out of the world
of big problems and brings you down,” he
says.
