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Profile Picture

Patrick W. Dennis

Patrick
Dennis

Partner

CONTACT INFO

pdennis@gibsondunn.com

TEL:+1 213.229.7567

FAX:+1 213.229.6567

Los Angeles

333 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90071-3197 USA

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PRACTICE

Environmental Litigation and Mass Tort Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Transnational Litigation

BIOGRAPHY

Patrick W. Dennis is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP.  He is a member of the Environmental Litigation and Mass Tort Practice Group.  Mr. Dennis has extensive experience representing clients in general manufacturing, energy, banking, aerospace, real estate, construction, electronics, oil and gas, cement making, and lead recycling in a wide range of environmental matters.  He has substantial experience in the following areas:

  • Toxic Tort Litigation
  • CERCLA Cost Recovery Litigation
  • Defense of Environmental Enforcement Actions by Public & Private Parties
  • Complex or Large Transactions with Environmental Issues
  • Environmental Laws and Regulations Counseling

Mr. Dennis is consistently named among the nation’s leading environmental law attorneys.  For 2010 through 2020, he is in the top tier, Band 1, ranking for California environmental law in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.  In 2019, Mr. Dennis was nationally ranked as one of just ten “Leading Lawyers” in Environmental Litigation in The Legal 500 United States and in all prior years going back to 2009.  In 2017, Mr. Dennis was awarded the Legal 500 Hall of Fame for being a “leading lawyer” in Legal 500 for the past six consecutive years.  Mr. Dennis received the prestigious 2016 CLAY (California Lawyer Attorney of the Year) award in the Real Estate and Development category for his role in the redevelopment of the Hollywood Park racetrack into a world class football stadium to house the Los Angeles Rams for their return to Los Angeles.  He was also listed in Expert Guide’s 2017 Energy and Environment Guide as a leading practitioner in the area of Environmental law.  Mr. Dennis was also published in Who’s Who Legal’s Environment 2017 Guide, which recognizes outstanding practitioners in various practice areas.  In 2012, 2013 and 2014 Best Lawyers named him Los Angeles Litigation – Environmental “Lawyer of the Year” and he was also selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© for the field of Environmental Law and Litigation-Environmental.

In 2009, Mr. Dennis was elected to the exclusive American College of Environmental Lawyers by his peers.  He was also a Chair and a founding member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association Environmental Law Section.  Between 2017-2019, Mr. Dennis has been the Chair of the Board of Trustees for the California Science Center Foundation.

Among other successful appellate arguments, Mr. Dennis represented (1) the Atlantic Richfield Company in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal decision reported at Wilshire Westwood Associates v. Atlantic Richfield Corporation, 881 F.2d 801 (1988) (excluding refined petroleum products from CERCLA coverage under the so-called “petroleum exclusion”); (2) the Climate Action Reserve in the California Second Appellate District decision reported at Our Children’s Earth Foundation v. California Air Resources Board, 234 Cal. App. 4th 870 (2015) (upholding the validity of the offset protocols for voluntary carbon emission reductions as part of California’s landmark Greenhouse Gas cap and trade regulations); Philip Morris USA in the trial court and appeal in Aranda v. Philip Morris USA Inc., 183 A.3d 1245 (Del. 2018) (establishing a new and more rigorous test for fórum non conveniens in Delaware by Delaware’s Supreme Court).

He received a B.S. (Civil Engineering – 1976); M.S. (Mechanical Engineering – 1978); and a J.D./MBA (1982), all from the University of California, Los Angeles. Mr. Dennis has practiced exclusively in the environmental law area since graduating from law school.

EDUCATION

University of California - Los Angeles - 1982 Juris Doctor

University of California - Los Angeles - 1982 MBA

University of California - Los Angeles - 1978 Master of Science

University of California - Los Angeles - 1976 Bachelor of Science

ADMISSIONS

California Bar

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Firm News - July 6, 2020 | Gibson Dunn Ranked in 2020 U.S. Legal 500
Client Alert - May 4, 2020 | COVID-19 and Personal Injury Tort Liability: Preliminary Considerations for Businesses
Firm News - April 24, 2020 | Gibson Dunn Earns 84 Top-Tier Rankings in Chambers USA 2020
Firm News - November 6, 2019 | Who’s Who Legal Practice Guides Recognize Six Gibson Dunn Attorneys in Capital Markets, Government Contracts, and Environment in 2019
Firm News - July 11, 2019 | Gibson Dunn Ranked in 2019 U.S. Legal 500
Firm News - July 16, 2018 | Legal 500 Names 10 Gibson Dunn Partners to its US Hall of Fame
Firm News - June 18, 2018 | Gibson Dunn Ranked in 2018 U.S. Legal 500
Firm News - May 9, 2018 | Gibson Dunn Earns 70 Top-Tier Rankings in Chambers USA 2018
Client Alert - March 22, 2018 | Delaware Supreme Court Holds That Forum Non Conveniens Dismissals Do Not Require An Alternative Available Forum
Client Alert - March 12, 2014 | Semiconductor Birth Defect Cases Keep Unraveling In Del.
Client Alert - April 22, 2013 | Offsets Survive Challenge as Cap-and-Trade Moves Forward
Client Alert - March 13, 2013 | The Outer Limits Of Expert Testimony Gatekeeping
Client Alert - March 6, 2012 | Birth Defects — Prenatal Liability Or Workers Comp?
Article - October 18, 2011 | Case Study: City Of Stockton V. BNSF Railway
Client Alert - January 25, 2010 | Renewable Energy Projects Will Be Held to the Same Stringent Standards of the Endangered Species Act as Other Development Projects
Client Alert - August 21, 2009 | California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) Proposes New, More Stringent, Drinking Water Standard for Hexavalent Chromium
Client Alert - December 4, 2008 | CARB Identifies Significance Thresholds for Greenhouse Gases under CEQA
Client Alert - November 3, 2008 | U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico Affirms “But For” Test Is Required to Prove Causation in Toxic Tort Lawsuit
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