Attorneys

Thaddeus R. Lightfoot is an experienced trial lawyer who regularly appears in federal court, state court, and administrative proceedings.  The majority of Thad’s practice involves representing corporate and government clients in private party environmental litigation and in enforcement actions brought by federal and state authorities.  He also advises corporate and government clients regarding compliance with federal, state, and local environmental laws.  Thad has represented clients at more than fifty Superfund sites and has extensive experience in hazardous waste management issues, as well as air, water, groundwater, and environmental review matters.  Before helping to form The Environmental Law Group in 2000, he was a partner at Oppenheimer, Wolff & Donnelly, LLP, and a shareholder at Popham, Haik, Schnobrich & Kaufman, Ltd.  Thad also served as a Trial Attorney with the Environment Division of the United States Department of Justice, where he was lead counsel in numerous civil actions brought by the government to enforce federal environmental statutes.  In addition, Thad was a Legislative Assistant for energy and environmental issues to Representative Thomas S. Foley, former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and helped draft the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1986. 

Thad is the author of numerous articles addressing environmental law and litigation, and has lectured on such issues at more than twenty-five seminars.   He holds an “AV” rating from Martindale-Hubbell, is listed in Best Lawyers in America, is an adjunct professor of environmental law at William Mitchell College of Law, and has taught at the University of Minnesota Law School.  He is the immediate past Chair of the Minnesota State Bar Association’s Environmental, Natural Resources and Energy Law Section, has been a member of the Section’s Governing Council since 2002, and is Chair of the Special Committee on Science and Technology of the ABA’s Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources Law.  Thad earned his Juris Doctor degree, magna cum laude, from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he was associate editor of the Georgetown Law Journal.  He received his Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude, from Gonzaga University.