Former EPA Assistant Administrator David M. Uhlmann Joins Marten Law

Marten Law announced today that former EPA Assistant Administrator David M. Uhlmann will join the firm as a partner in its Washington, D.C. office. Uhlmann brings more than three decades of incomparable leadership experience solving some of the Nation’s most prominent and challenging environmental enforcement issues.

Uhlmann will represent state and local governments in their efforts to address climate change and exposure to PFAS and other emerging contaminants; renewable energy companies, utilities, and trade associations in the clean energy space; and corporate clients seeking strategic counsel regarding values-driven solutions to environmental challenges and enhanced ethics, integrity, and compliance programs.

“David Uhlmann is a visionary leader and extraordinary attorney who will provide world-class counsel to our clients at a critical moment for the environment and for environmental law,” said founding partner Bradley M. Marten. “We are thrilled that David is joining the firm as we expand our national practice representing state and local governments and continue to provide superb advocacy for our corporate clients.” 

Uhlmann served as the EPA Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance from July 2023 until December 2024 and as the Deputy Assistant Administrator and a Senior Advisor to the Administrator from September 2022 to July 2023, while awaiting Senate confirmation as Assistant Administrator. In those roles, Uhlmann led approximately 2,800 EPA employees nationwide responsible for enforcement and compliance assurance activities under the federal environmental laws. Prior to his time at EPA, Uhlmann was the longest-serving Chief of the Environmental Crimes Section at the United States Department of Justice and the inaugural director of the Environmental Law and Policy Program at the University of Michigan, where he mentored and trained hundreds of the nation’s top environmental lawyers.

At EPA, Uhlmann developed National Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Initiatives for 2024-2027, including mitigating climate change and addressing PFAS contamination, and developed innovative strategies to enhance civil-criminal coordination, streamline resolution of complex environmental matters, and promote greater transparency about how EPA exercises its PFAS enforcement discretion. He led a novel, solutions-oriented approach to the Norfolk Southern litigation, which was concluded within 16 months of the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. He supervised the largest stationary source and mobile source cases ever brought under the Clean Air Act and revitalized EPA enforcement after more than a decade of declining budgets.

Uhlmann was the Jeffrey F. Liss Professor from Practice and the Director of the Environmental Law and Policy Program at the University of Michigan from 2007 to 2022. He lectured widely about climate change and sustainability and the exercise of prosecutorial discretion in cases involving corporate wrongdoing. During that time, Uhlmann also served as Counselor to the Compliance Monitor and Independent Auditor appointed by the Justice Department and EPA after the Volkswagen diesel scandal. He served in that role for 3½ years, advising the monitor regarding promoting an ethical culture at Volkswagen and making more than 20 presentations to the Volkswagen and Audi boards about enhancing their environmental compliance programs.

Uhlmann served from 1990 to 2007 at the U.S. Department of Justice, the last seven years as chief of the Environmental Crimes Section, where he was the top environmental crimes prosecutor in the country. He led prosecution of environmental and wildlife crimes nationwide, coordinated national legislative, policy, and training initiatives regarding criminal enforcement, and chaired the Justice Department's Environmental Crimes Policy Committee. His work as lead prosecutor in United States v. Elias, a knowing endangerment case that left a 20-year-old worker severely and permanently brain-damaged, is chronicled in The Cyanide Canary.

Uhlmann is a fellow in the American College of Environmental Lawyers and a past member of their Board of Regents. He was named a “Conservation Hero” by the Michigan League of Conservation Voters and selected by the University of Michigan to be a Distinguished Faculty Fellow in Sustainability. Uhlmann received a J.D. from Yale Law School and a B.A. in history and political science with high honors from Swarthmore College. Following law school, he clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Marvin H. Shoob in Atlanta, Georgia. 

About the Firm

With its deep and exceptional bench, Marten has become the “go-to” firm for clients needing to solve their most difficult and pressing environmental issues. Marten was special counsel to the Attorney General of the State of Alaska in the wake of the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the Attorney General of Louisiana following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. With the addition of David Uhlmann, the team at Marten Law now includes five fellows of the American College of Environmental Lawyers—more than any other law firm in the country. It also includes the former President and two current Board members of the Environmental Law Institute.