Merideth L. Bentley’s practice is broad in scope, including environmental counseling on transactional matters, environmental litigation and regulatory compliance.
Ms. Bentley’s transactional experience includes managing environmental due diligence in connection with stock and asset acquisitions; drafting environmental representations, warranties and indemnities provisions in complex mergers and acquisitions; and negotiating the scope of provisions. Ms. Bentley’s experience also includes assessing the scope of environmental liabilities faced by companies reorganizing under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code and advising creditors on resolving environmental disputes in bankruptcy proceedings.
Ms. Bentley’s environmental litigation experience extends to all stages of complex lawsuits, including those filed under the Clean Air Act’s New Source Review provisions, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act and the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. She also successfully represented a public utility in an administrative hearing before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Ms. Bentley advises clients in connection with requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act and related federal laws, including the Endangered Species Act, the National Historic Preservation Act and the Clean Water Act. She also advises clients on land acquisitions under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976.
Ms. Bentley has significant experience working in Russia. Most recently, she was chosen as one of 10 Americans to participate in the 2009-2010 Alfa Fellowship Program, which invites professionals in fields critical to Russian-American relations to Moscow to work in their areas of expertise. Prior to joining Akin Gump, Ms. Bentley worked as a translator and a research assistant in the International Department at the Moscow Helsinki Group.
Ms. Bentley received her B.A. with high distinction in Russian and Global Studies from the University of Iowa in 2002. She received her J.D. in 2005 from Berkeley Law School, where she was a senior editor of the Berkeley Journal of International Law and a research assistant at the Earl Warren Legal Institute. She is admitted to the District of Columbia and California state bars.