Kristin Larson is a nationally known environmental attorney with more than 25 years’ experience evaluating environmental risk and implementing client-centric strategies in a full range of business and real estate transactions. Prior to joining Stradling, Kristin spent two years as White House Counsel in the Clinton / Gore administration helping shape protocols, and 12 years at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP in Washington D.C. helping Fortune 100 companies attain their transactional and regulatory compliance goals.
Kristin also possesses degrees in chemistry and biochemistry – unique in the legal profession - which give her legal analyses the technical rigor often lacking in her peers.
For clients across a wide range of industries — from oil and gas to agriculture, biotech, cannabis and hemp, consumer goods, and food and beverage — Kristin presents environmental diligence and creative regulatory compliance solutions in a format sellers, buyers and advisors can use to quickly understand and address risks, and move forward with their business objectives.
Kristin believes that sophisticated advice and strategic positioning of business entities with respect to environmental matters should be available to companies of all sizes because few business transactions and operations are free of such risks. Kristin’s ability to efficiently identify potential issues and draft contracts and develop solutions to match client risk profiles makes her an indispensable partner for reaching transactional and regulatory goals.
Representative matters:
- Represented a consortium of investors obtain a highly coveted large-scale cannabis cultivation license in Mendocino County, CA, including all state and local approvals in a rapidly changing legal environment, and drafting for all ancillary business formation and lease documents.
- Represented a men's high-performance activewear clothing company with audit and supplier certification processes in relation to California’s Proposition 65 and US Department imposed trade sanctions concerning cotton sourcing in the Xinjiang Uyghur region of northwest China.
- Represented a luxury beauty products manufacturer determine legally permissible parameters for hemp-derived CBD in products for sale in the United States and the United Kingdom, including transportation and sourcing restrictions for raw CBD and product labeling and shipments.
- Defended and ultimately settled a significant claim on behalf of an international paper company, and its downstream customer (a major luxury department store chain) arising out of a claim that they had exposed thousands of California consumers to an allegedly hazardous chemical found on certain receipt papers without proper warnings required under Proposition 65.
- Assisted Cedars-Sinai (a major Los Angeles hospital client) in its strategic acquisition of several parcels in the Los Angeles area, some of which were found to have legacy contamination as a result of past uses as automotive repair facilities and dry cleaners, and in conducting diligence for the formation of a strategic partnership for an older hospital complex in Southern California requiring extensive seismic retrofits and CEQA environmental impact analyses.
- Provided renewable energy regulatory deployment readiness analysis for Silver Ridge Power (formerly AES Solar, and recently acquired by Sun Edison), the then largest photo-voltaic (266 MW), utility-scale solar power generation site in California (Mt. Signal).
- Represented Wicked Weed Brewing in connection with its sale to Anheuser-Busch. Wicked Weed Brewing will join The High End, a business unit of Anheuser-Busch that provides unique craft and European import brands.
- Spent more than a year embedded with in-house counsel for E. I. du Pont de Nemours (commonly referred to as DuPont) developing and implementing strategic plan for successful spin-off of its major coatings business with long history of environmental contamination and regulatory issues.
- Provided strategic advice to Braskem (Brazil’s largest petrochemical company) in its $325 million acquisition of a large Dow Chemical business unit involving multiple polypropylene manufacturing facilities in Texas and Germany. This effort required extensive environmental due diligence of very old manufacturing facilities with large number of legacy liability contamination issues, and carefully crafted environmental indemnities and post-closing remediation plans.
- Represented consortium purchaser clients Endesa, Iberdrola and Acciona, with extensive permitting, environmental and safety compliance, liability assessment and deployment readiness reviews for the acquisition and roll-out of hundreds of utility scale wind farms totaling more than 1,095 MW, in multiple countries including the United States, India, the EU, and Australia in a complex acquisition structure.
- Provided extensive analysis and agency interface in support of a manufacturer of a new vehicle coolant in relation to the international Montreal Protocol treaty on ozone depleting substances and federal Toxic Substances Control Act.
- Assisted an investment company in resolving several violations and notices of non-compliance for underground storage tanks and site contamination for several service stations in Ohio and Indiana. This work required intensive agency interface and negotiation as well as oversight and coordination with environmental engineers to obtain No Further Action status.
- Assisted a major casino operation located in Lake Tahoe, Nevada to resolve a claim involving alleged groundwater contamination from several onsite sources, potentially including USTs, ASTs, a limousine wash-down, dry-cleaners, spas and pools, and a golf course, all of which were in a pristine setting with a sensitive receptor nearby (Lake Tahoe).
Kristin also possesses degrees in chemistry and biochemistry – unique in the legal profession - which give her legal analyses the technical rigor often lacking in her peers.
For clients across a wide range of industries — from oil and gas to agriculture, biotech, cannabis and hemp, consumer goods, and food and beverage — Kristin presents environmental diligence and creative regulatory compliance solutions in a format sellers, buyers and advisors can use to quickly understand and address risks, and move forward with their business objectives.
Kristin believes that sophisticated advice and strategic positioning of business entities with respect to environmental matters should be available to companies of all sizes because few business transactions and operations are free of such risks. Kristin’s ability to efficiently identify potential issues and draft contracts and develop solutions to match client risk profiles makes her an indispensable partner for reaching transactional and regulatory goals.
Representative matters:
- Represented a consortium of investors obtain a highly coveted large-scale cannabis cultivation license in Mendocino County, CA, including all state and local approvals in a rapidly changing legal environment, and drafting for all ancillary business formation and lease documents.
- Represented a men's high-performance activewear clothing company with audit and supplier certification processes in relation to California’s Proposition 65 and US Department imposed trade sanctions concerning cotton sourcing in the Xinjiang Uyghur region of northwest China.
- Represented a luxury beauty products manufacturer determine legally permissible parameters for hemp-derived CBD in products for sale in the United States and the United Kingdom, including transportation and sourcing restrictions for raw CBD and product labeling and shipments.
- Defended and ultimately settled a significant claim on behalf of an international paper company, and its downstream customer (a major luxury department store chain) arising out of a claim that they had exposed thousands of California consumers to an allegedly hazardous chemical found on certain receipt papers without proper warnings required under Proposition 65.
- Assisted Cedars-Sinai (a major Los Angeles hospital client) in its strategic acquisition of several parcels in the Los Angeles area, some of which were found to have legacy contamination as a result of past uses as automotive repair facilities and dry cleaners, and in conducting diligence for the formation of a strategic partnership for an older hospital complex in Southern California requiring extensive seismic retrofits and CEQA environmental impact analyses.
- Provided renewable energy regulatory deployment readiness analysis for Silver Ridge Power (formerly AES Solar, and recently acquired by Sun Edison), the then largest photo-voltaic (266 MW), utility-scale solar power generation site in California (Mt. Signal).
- Represented Wicked Weed Brewing in connection with its sale to Anheuser-Busch. Wicked Weed Brewing will join The High End, a business unit of Anheuser-Busch that provides unique craft and European import brands.
- Spent more than a year embedded with in-house counsel for E. I. du Pont de Nemours (commonly referred to as DuPont) developing and implementing strategic plan for successful spin-off of its major coatings business with long history of environmental contamination and regulatory issues.
- Provided strategic advice to Braskem (Brazil’s largest petrochemical company) in its $325 million acquisition of a large Dow Chemical business unit involving multiple polypropylene manufacturing facilities in Texas and Germany. This effort required extensive environmental due diligence of very old manufacturing facilities with large number of legacy liability contamination issues, and carefully crafted environmental indemnities and post-closing remediation plans.
- Represented consortium purchaser clients Endesa, Iberdrola and Acciona, with extensive permitting, environmental and safety compliance, liability assessment and deployment readiness reviews for the acquisition and roll-out of hundreds of utility scale wind farms totaling more than 1,095 MW, in multiple countries including the United States, India, the EU, and Australia in a complex acquisition structure.
- Provided extensive analysis and agency interface in support of a manufacturer of a new vehicle coolant in relation to the international Montreal Protocol treaty on ozone depleting substances and federal Toxic Substances Control Act.
- Assisted an investment company in resolving several violations and notices of non-compliance for underground storage tanks and site contamination for several service stations in Ohio and Indiana. This work required intensive agency interface and negotiation as well as oversight and coordination with environmental engineers to obtain No Further Action status.
- Assisted a major casino operation located in Lake Tahoe, Nevada to resolve a claim involving alleged groundwater contamination from several onsite sources, potentially including USTs, ASTs, a limousine wash-down, dry-cleaners, spas and pools, and a golf course, all of which were in a pristine setting with a sensitive receptor nearby (Lake Tahoe).