Julie is a specialist environmental lawyer with expertise in compliance, investigation and enforcement.
With over 30 years' experience and having worked as a Senior Prosecutor for the Environment Agency before moving back to private practice, Julie has substantial expertise across a wide range of environmental issues. Her insight into regulatory policies and procedures is invaluable when advising or representing clients facing investigation/prosecution. Julie undertakes both contentious and non-contentious work and engages with regulators to provide practical solutions within this complex area of law.
Julie is known for her waste and water pollution expertise, including permitting, waste regulation (eg. end of waste criteria, trans-frontier shipment of waste and producer responsibility), wastewater operations and incidents, enforcement, permit suspension and appeals. She is one of only a few lawyers to have successfully raised abuse of process by an environmental regulator as a defence to prosecution.
Julie also advises on the environmental aspects of corporate and property transactions, both nationally and internationally.
Recognised in legal directories, she is described as "an incredibly hard worker with an extensive knowledge of regulation. Julie has great industry understanding, particularly given her background at the Environment Agency", and provides "pragmatic and effective advice particularly regarding nuclear-related environmental matters…".
Background
Julie is a member of the UK Environmental Law Association and the Chartered Institute of Wastes Management.
Experience & expertise
Selected matters
- advice to a broad range of clients within the energy and utilities, waste management, mining and aggregates, consumer and retail, and industrial manufacturing sectors on both regulatory compliance and investigations/prosecutions
- secondment to a water company to provide support on all EA investigations against, and prosecutions by, the company including a successful appeal against sentence reducing a fine by over £2m. This also included advice on 'Operation Standard' the major joint regulatory investigation into alleged widespread non-compliance at wastewater treatment works
- advice to numerous manufacturers, retailers and supply chain parties on producer responsibility obligations and Extended Producer Responsibility, retaining 100% success rate in securing enforcement undertakings to avoid prosecution
- representing a prestigious London client in relation to prosecution under the Clean Air Act. The proceedings were dismissed as an 'abuse of process' and the regulator ordered to pay the company's substantial legal costs
- currently representing a confidential waste management client on an appeal to the Tax Tribunal against an assessment for significant landfill tax liability.