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Patrick W. Dennis

Patrick
Dennis

Partner

CONTACT INFO

[email protected]

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.  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.  He was selected to the 2023 Lawdragon Green 500: Leaders in Environmental Law  guide for the past two editions, including the inaugural edition in 2021, which recognizes environmental justice leaders.  Who’s Who Legal recognized Mr. Dennis in its 2023 Who’s Who Legal Thought Leaders: USA  guide, which features lawyers with “vast expertise and experience advising on some of the world’s most significant and cutting-edge legal matters,” and the “ability to innovate, inspire, and go above and beyond to deliver for their clients.”  He was also listed, for outstanding work in environmental law, in Who’s Who Legal’s Environment  2022.  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, he was ranked as one of just 10 or 11 such Leading Lawyers.  In 2017, Mr. Dennis was awarded the Legal 500 Hall of Fame award for being a “leading lawyer” for the past six consecutive years.  In 2021 and again in 2022 Mr. Dennis was ranked as a California Environmental Law “Senior Statesman” and from 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.  He has also been selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© for the field of Environmental Law and Litigation-Environmental.  In 2017, he was listed in Expert Guide’s Energy and Environment Guide as a leading practitioner in the area of Environmental law.  From 2012-2014, Best Lawyers named him Los Angeles Litigation – Environmental “Lawyer of the Year.”  Mr. Dennis received the 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.

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 was 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 MBA

University of California - Los Angeles - 1982 Juris Doctor

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 - November 13, 2023 | Who’s Who Legal Recognizes 42 Gibson Dunn Partners in its 2024 Thought Leaders USA Guide
Firm News - September 26, 2023 | Eight Gibson Dunn Partners Recognized in Four Who’s Who Legal 2023 Guides
Firm News - June 23, 2023 | Gibson Dunn Ranked in 2023 U.S. Legal 500
Firm News - June 1, 2023 | Gibson Dunn Earns 108 Top-Tier Rankings in Chambers USA 2023
Firm News - February 7, 2023 | Eight Gibson Dunn Attorneys Named in 2023 Lawdragon Green 500: Leaders in Environmental Law
Firm News - January 9, 2023 | Who’s Who Legal Recognizes 39 Gibson Dunn Partners in its Inaugural Thought Leaders USA Guide
Firm News - September 7, 2022 | Four Gibson Dunn Partners Recognized by Who’s Who Legal 2022 Environment
Firm News - June 22, 2022 | Gibson Dunn Ranked in 2022 U.S. Legal 500
Firm News - June 1, 2022 | Gibson Dunn Earns 101 Top-Tier Rankings in Chambers USA 2022
Firm News - September 30, 2021 | Two Who’s Who Legal 2021 Guides Recognize Five Gibson Dunn Partners
Firm News - June 29, 2021 | Gibson Dunn Ranked in 2021 U.S. Legal 500
Firm News - May 20, 2021 | Gibson Dunn Earns 94 Top-Tier Rankings in Chambers USA 2021
Firm News - March 19, 2021 | Four Partners Named Among the 2021 Lawdragon 500 Leading Environmental & Energy Lawyers
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 3, 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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