FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contacts:
William T. Reisinger (804) 223-6391
Matthew L. Gooch (804) 523-0737
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
Former government attorneys form new environmental and energy law practice
RICHMOND, Va., May 1, 2019 – Today two former government attorneys, William T. Reisinger and Matthew L. Gooch, launched a new law practice, ReisingerGooch, PLC, located in downtown Richmond. The firm will assist private companies, individuals, and public interest organizations in several areas, including energy and environmental law, public utility regulation, and general business matters. With over 15 years of combined public service, the two lawyers have decided to combine their practices in order to provide more comprehensive legal services to clients. The firm will also offer strategic advice and government affairs assistance.
Reisinger and Gooch, former assistant Virginia attorneys general, have played key roles in many of the most significant energy regulatory cases and public policy initiatives of the past decade.
“This is an exciting time to practice law in the environmental and advanced energy space,” said Gooch. “Air pollution law and utilities practice were once strangers but now overlap significantly, and that is for a number of reasons. With the rollout of commercial and utility scale solar in Virginia, renewable energy is finding how it fits in the broader environmental space under various permitting programs.”
“We hope to assist many of the businesses and individuals who are powering the new energy economy,” added Reisinger, “including both clean energy companies and public interest organizations.”
“It’s now clear that cleaner energy and reasonable electric rates are not mutually exclusive,” Reisinger said. “In Virginia and throughout the country, renewable energy and efficiency are now without question the lowest-cost resources.”
“In government, I was on the receiving end of a variety of government affairs strategies,” Gooch said. “I saw what worked and what didn’t. We understand that sometimes clients need more than just legal advice.”
“We believe that our government experience, including our knowledge of the ins and outs of Virginia’s regulatory agencies, will provide additional value to our clients,” Reisinger added.
“With Matt on board, I can say that our attorneys have been in the middle of many of the high stakes energy and environmental cases in Virginia in recent years,” said Reisinger. “Joining forces positions us to utilize each other’s expertise.”
Matt Gooch served as legal counsel to the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the Air Pollution Control Board for the past six years. In that role, Gooch worked through the federal Clean Power Plan implementation and litigation as well as the Commonwealth’s efforts to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). He litigated legal challenges to the air permit issued for the Greensville Power Station and served the Air Board through the review process for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline’s compressor station in Buckingham. An accomplished appellate attorney, he successfully defended DEQ’s permit by rule (PBR) for wind energy facilities in the Virginia Court of Appeals. Gooch also prevailed in an appeal before the Virginia Supreme Court that restored the Commonwealth’s landmark law banning smoking in restaurants. Prior to his service in the Attorney General’s Office, he was a law clerk for Virginia Supreme Court Justice William C. Mims. A native of Oakton, Virginia, Gooch has degrees from Washington and Lee University and the University of Richmond School of Law. He serves on the Environmental Law Section Board of Governors for the Virginia State Bar.
Will Reisinger began his career as a staff attorney for a non-profit environmental organization in Ohio and served for almost five years as an assistant Virginia attorney general, where he represented residential consumers in electric utility rate cases and advised the Attorney General on energy and environmental policy. In private practice since 2016, Reisinger has helped renewable energy developers, public interest organizations, and energy trade associations in both regulatory and business matters. He has been recognized multiple years as one of Virginia Business Magazine’s Legal Elite in the category of regulatory and administrative law. He sits on the governing council of the Virginia Bar Association’s Administrative Law Section and volunteers at Richmond Legal Aid offices. A native of Blacksburg, Virginia, Reisinger holds degrees from Emory & Henry College and the Claude W. Pettit College of Law in Ohio.
With an emphasis on energy, environmental, and utility matters, ReisingerGooch, PLC provides efficient legal and public affairs solutions. The firm is located in the Novel co-working and small business incubator space in downtown Richmond. For more information, please visit ReisingerGooch.com. Follow us on LinkedIn and on Twitter, @ReisingerGooch.