Spencer represents businesses and municipalities in regulatory and litigation matters at complex contaminated sites, including disputes over cleanup liability under CERCLA and MTCA. He helps clients negotiate with regulators and other parties, allocate remediation costs, pursue insurance coverage, and assert or defend cost recovery or contribution claims where necessary. Spencer also advises clients on environmental issues related to property acquisition, development, and sale, including due diligence, permitting compliance, water use, soil management, disposal issues, remediation, and negotiations for large data center developments and other commercial or industrial properties.

Before joining B&D, Spencer was a partner at a small environmental firm in Seattle. He combines more than a decade of experience in private practice with a passion for environmental law to help clients navigate difficult legal problems.

Spencer’s representative experience includes:

• Representing a Fortune 500 manufacturing company in a class action involving claims related to alleged PFAS exposure.
• Defending an oil & gas sector company in climate change litigation involving tort claims.
• Representing a municipality at a MTCA sediment cleanup site, including cost allocation
• negotiations, insurance recovery, and risk management.
• Defending a municipality against cost recovery claims under CERCLA in federal court.
• Representing a Fortune 500 company engaged in cost allocation at a Superfund megasite.
• Leading responses to federal and state regulators' information requests regarding client facilities.
• Defending a small business against contribution claims under MTCA in state court.
• Advising clients on Natural Resource Damage (NRD) claims and liability assessments, and leading negotiations to resolve the same.
• Guiding clients through the state and federal regulatory process for cleanup sites, including at multiple PFAS contamination sites.
• Advising major tech companies on pre- and post-acquisition due diligence, permitting compliance, water use, soil management, disposal issues, and remediation.
• Counseling a major mining company regarding the management of long-term cleanup liabilities associated with the acquisition and operation of a contaminated site.
• Pursuing insurance coverage for clients exposed to environmental liabilities.
• Consulting on litigation strategy, discovery management, counterclaims, and third-party
• practice in defense of toxic tort claims.
• Advising a private client on identifying, assessing, acquiring, and redeveloping contaminated sites.
• Advising clients on assessments of complex environmental liabilities and indemnities.
• Defending a fruit-processing company against a citizen suit relating to stormwater discharges under the Clean Water Act.
• Drafting contracts, easements, and other transactional documents for a public utility
• company involved in the purchase and sale of assets and real property interests.
• Defending clients in general civil litigation, including commercial disputes.

Spencer also maintains an active pro bono practice, which has included working as an attorney with the Seattle Clemency Project. He successfully represented two clients seeking clemency before the Washington State Clemency and Pardons Board, which, in both cases, recommended that the client’s life sentence be commuted. Governor Inslee later granted commutations to both clients.