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Noelle Wooten focuses her practice on environmental and consumer product litigation, regulation, and compliance.

Overview


Noelle Wooten is a seasoned environmental attorney with more than 30 years of experience, focusing her practice on environmental litigation, regulation, and compliance. She brings a deep technical background and prior experience at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to her work, assisting clients with complex toxic tort issues, private party disputes, and administrative penalty actions.

Ms. Wooten has significant experience in several areas of environment law, including environmental litigation, environmental due diligence, risk assessment and negotiation strategies in real estate transactions, and environmental compliance and regulatory counseling in matters involving hazardous substances, waste management, chemical control, retail product management, and drug packaging. She advises clients on Clean Water Act (CWA) compliance, permitting, and enforcement actions, and has represented clients in response to government investigations, citizen suit actions, and administrative penalty actions. She provides guidance in reviewing or developing compliance programs and finding solutions to environmental issues. Ms. Wooten defends actions such as alleged violations of the Toxic Substances Control Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and Superfund. She has appeared before the Supreme Court of North Carolina, the North Carolina Office of Administrative Hearings, and the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission to advocate on behalf of her clients.

Ms. Wooten also works with both buyers and sellers in real estate and business transactions by providing environmental due diligence counsel and assistance in the identification and allocation of environmental risk. She enjoys bringing creative solutions to environmental challenges to facilitate business transactions and brownfield redevelopment projects, as well as working with regulators across the country to remedy environmentally impaired properties.

In addition to her litigation, compliance and regulatory practice, Ms. Wooten is a trained mediator.

Before practicing law, Ms. Wooten worked as an environmental protection specialist in the EPA's Office of Solid Waste where she contributed to the 1990 Toxicity Characteristic Rule and served as co-chair for the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the RCRA Policy Issues Committee.

  • Represents a manufacturing facility in a CWA citizen suit action, addressing compliance, water discharge permitting, and environmental reporting requirements, while implementing strategies to enhance operational efficiency and regulatory adherence.

  • Represents a manufacturing client in a complex environmental litigation involving claims of nuisance and property impacts related to facility operations, including defense against allegations of contamination and coordination of technical experts to address environmental and regulatory issues.

  • Secured a presidential exemption under the Clean Air Act for a global pharmaceutical and medical device company's sterilization facility, enabling continued operations amid regulatory restrictions on ethylene oxide emissions, while advising on environmental compliance, hazardous waste management, and strategic engagement with federal and state agencies.

  • Represented a furniture manufacturer in a CWA citizen suit action, successfully defending against allegations of unlawful discharges through strategic legal defense and coordination of expert witnesses, resulting in a favorable resolution.

  • Represents a national technology-driven solutions company on a range of issues involving hazardous waste management, pharmaceutical drugs, medical devices, and sustainable solutions, including development of a company-specific ESG compliance program.

  • Served as a U.S. Legal Agent for an international drug packaging manufacturer for all matters involving drug master file submissions, inquiries, and other communications with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Health Canada.

  • Represented a number of companies in a large group of parties regarding hazardous waste disposal and Superfund issues at a bankrupt waste disposal site.

  • Represented a long-standing real estate and private equity investment company in numerous transactions and general business matters, including the sale of its 21-theater, 230-screen movie theater division to a national cinema complex company after 70 years of continuous operation.

  • Served on a team as joint defense counsel for 12 major oil companies in an environmental litigation case involving claims of nuisance, trespass and negligence, medical monitoring, diminished property value, and strict liability. The team defeated class action certification and defended claims of property devaluation.

  • Defended a chemical company in an administrative action for alleged violation of the Toxic Substances Control Act and provided advice and counsel in preparing an in-house compliance program.

  • AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell
  • Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® for Commercial Litigation (2017 – 2026)
  • Selected for Business North Carolina magazine's "Legal Elite in Environmental" (2021 – 2025)
  • Member – American Bar Association, Environmental and Health Law Sections
  • Member – Commercial Real Estate Women of Charlotte, former President and National Delegate
  • Member – Mecklenburg County Bar, Environmental Law Committee
  • Member – National Ground Water Association
  • Member – North Carolina Bar Association
  • Member – Volunteer Lawyers Association
  • Selected for Charlotte Business Journal's "40 Under 40" (2000)

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