B&D Secures Top-Tier Environmental Regulatory and Litigation Ranking in The Legal 500 for 2026

The Legal 500 recently announced its rankings of U.S. law firms for 2026, where it named B&D a top tier firm in the environmental regulatory law category for the 12th consecutive year, and a leading firm in environmental litigation for the 17th consecutive year.

The editorial references B&D’s successful litigation practice, writing that B&D “is singled out for the ‘depth and breadth of its environmental bench,’ which can support a diverse roster of agriculture, chemical, retail, and technology sectors.” The commentary also pointed to B&D’s adept capabilities at “handling emerging issues such as PFAS liability, climate change, and plastic waste,navigating high-stakes environmental and natural resources claims, as well as civil and criminal enforcement mandates.”

With regard to B&D’s “pre-eminent” regulatory practice, the editorial also highlighted B&D’s “deep bench comprising individuals from the EPA, DOJ, and DOD,” who helps clients navigate issues ranging from global supply chain and product stewardship and compliance, to enforcement solutions and compliance strategies.

The Legal 500 also features a portion of B&D’s work over the past year, including:

• Serving as outside counsel to a major airline with respect to its compliance with federal and state environmental issues nationwide.
• Defending a major waste services company and certain subsidiaries in four putative class action lawsuits and 11 mass tort actions filed on behalf of 800 individual plaintiffs.
• Representing the world’s largest producer of lead-acid batteries for automobiles in federal CERCLA litigation at a high-profile environmental justice site in California.

The Legal 500 does not rank lawyers individually, but rather focuses on assessing the overall strength and depth of practice groups. However, the publication named Principal John Cruden (Washington, DC) to its Hall of Fame for both environmental litigation and environmental regulatory law. The Legal 500 also named Principal Paul Hagen (Washington, DC) as a Leading Lawyer for environmental regulatory law.

The Legal 500’s editorials recognized the following B&D attorneys:

Regulatory

• Maddie Boyer (Principal, Austin)
• Ryan Carra (Principal, Washington, DC)
• Eric Christensen (Principal, Seattle)
• John Cruden (Principal, Washington, DC)
• Brook Detterman (Principal, Boston)
• Paul Hagen (Principal, Washington, DC)
• Russ LaMotte (Principal, Washington, DC)
• Allyn Stern (Office Managing Principal, Seattle)
• Dave Weber (Principal, Seattle)

Litigation

• Maddie Boyer (Principal, Austin)
• Nessa Horewitch Coppinger (Principal, Washington, DC)
• John Cruden (Principal, Washington, DC)
• Dan Krainin (Office Managing Principal, New York)
• Katrina Krebs (Principal, New York)
• Parker Moore (Principal, Washington, DC)
• Jimmy Slaughter (Principal, Washington, DC)
• Susan Smith (Office Managing Principal, San Francisco)
• Justin Smith (Of Counsel, Washington, DC)

The Legal 500 provides an in-depth, comprehensive analysis of law firms across the US.