Practice Areas
Susan Stephens has 30 years of experience practicing environmental & natural resource and administrative law, including rulemaking practice and procedure and administrative litigation. Her practice focuses on balancing property and resource use with competing private, governmental and citizen interests.
She represents clients before various federal, state, regional, and local environmental agencies in connection with the obtainment, interpretation, compliance and enforcement of environmental permits for regulated industrial, commercial, and development activities. This representation includes matters related to resource extraction, wetlands and agriculture/mitigation banks, agritourism, wastewater, submerged lands, and state and federal listed wildlife. This has included significant experience working to obtain wetland permits at the state and federal level. She also has experience with compliance and enforcement matters involving unanticipated bypasses, “Act of God” emergency authorizations, spills, unpermitted wetland or species impacts, and similar compliance and enforcement issues.
Susan has extensive experience assisting in the development of policy and regulatory initiatives, which has included the development of Florida’s major regulatory projects such as its State 404 Permit Program, Title V Air Operating Permit Program, National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Wastewater Permitting Program, and state listed species permitting guidelines. She also has experience with complex administrative and judicial challenges to proposed and final permits in both the state and federal arenas, including appeals.
Additionally, Susan has assisted clients in conducting internal self-audits for environmental compliance and environmental due diligence reviews for real estate transactions and in access management cases involving the Department of Transportation.
Career
Susan is Board Certified by The Florida Bar in State & Federal Government and Administrative Practice. Prior to joining the Firm, Susan was a Shareholder in a boutique law firm and, before that, a Partner at an international law firm, both in Tallahassee, Florida.
Professional Memberships
American Bar Association, Administrative and Regulatory Law Section; American Bar Association, Environment, Energy and Resources Section (SEER); Florida Bar, Environmental and Land Use Law Section (ELULS); American Bar Foundation (ABF); Tallahassee Women Lawyers