Robert M. Steele, shareholder based in the Nashville office, for many years has engaged in a broad federal and state environmental, energy, and resources law practice, with special emphasis in the areas of Superfund, RCRA, UST, brownfield and other types of site remediation; environmental liability counseling and documentation in connection with numerous business acquisitions, financial transactions, and real estate transfers; and environmental permitting, compliance, auditing and enforcement for many types of large and small facilities. Mr. Steele's experience includes leading Steering Committees of joint defense PRP groups at multi-party Superfund sites, and handling the licensing and regulatory work for a $100 million water resources project and for a $500 million electric generating project.
- Author – "The Truth About Superfund Taxes," ABA Section of Business Law, Environmental Committee Newsletter (2006)
- Author – "Environmental Permitting and Issues, for a Private Water Supply Project," TDEC Annual Conference Proceedings (2006 and 2005)
- Author – "Water Rights and Uses," in Fundamentals of Water Law in Tennessee, National Business Institute (2005)
- Author – "Cleanups, Contribution, and Cooper Industries v. Aviall Services," ABA Section of Business Law, Committee Newsletter (2005)
- Author – "Environmental Issues in Real Estate Transactions," in An Advanced Look at Real Estate in Tennessee, National Business Institute (2005)
- Author – "Beware of Lingering Liabilities," Nashville City Paper (July 2, 2003)
- Co-author – “Annual Report, Environmental Transactions, Audits, and Brownfields Committee,” in The Year in Review 2001, ABA Section of Environment, Energy and Resources (2002)
- Co-author – “Annual Report, Environmental Transactions, Audits, and Brownfields Committee,” in The Year in Review 2000, ABA Section of Environment, Energy and Resources (2001)
- Author – “Site Cleanup Programs in Tennessee,” ELI State News & Analysis (June 2000)
- Author – “Tennessee Superfund Liability,” ELI State News & Analysis (November 1999)
- Co-author – “Birth of a New Lender Liability Theory? Aiding and Abetting a Borrower’s Violation of Environmental Laws,” BNA Toxics Law Reporter, Vol. 6 (January 8, 1992)
- Listed in Chambers USA: America's Leading Business Lawyers as a leading Environment attorney in Tennessee since 2010
- Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® since 2003; Environmental Law
- Listed in Mid-South Super Lawyers since 2006
- Named "Best of the Bar," Nashville Business Journal, 2011
- Trustee – Elliot E. Cheatham Scholarship Fund at Vanderbilt University School of Law
- Member – American (Section of Environment, Energy and Resources Law and its Committees on Water Resources, Wetlands, Site Remediation, and Environmental Transactions and Brownfields; and Section of Business Law, Chairman of Superfund Subcommittee of its Environmental Law Committee), Tennessee (Environmental Law Section), Nashville (Environmental Law Committee), Rhode Island, and Florida (Environmental and Land Use Law Section) Bar Associations
- Member – ASTM (Committee E-50)
- Member – Tennessee Chamber of Commerce & Industry
- Frequent speaker in his fields of practice
- Tennessee, 1994
- Rhode Island, 1988
- Florida, 1981
- Vanderbilt University School of Law, J.D., 1981
- Order of the Coif
- Articles Editor, Vanderbilt Law Review
- Furman University, B.A., 1978, summa cum laude