Peter Keays represents corporate, municipal, and nonprofit clients in a wide range of regulatory, transactional, and litigation matters arising under federal and state environmental laws. Pete counsels clients on various issues regarding permitting, regulatory compliance, and the environmental aspects of real estate transactions. Although Pete strongly believes in the use of negotiation and collaboration to reach favorable results for his clients, he is also an experienced and effective litigator.
Pete has successfully tried cases before the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board and currently represents clients in cases pending in various state and federal courts. He also represents clients in alternative dispute resolution proceedings, including the binding allocation of the remedial design costs for one of the most prominent and contaminated Superfund sites in the country. Well-versed in all aspects of environmental law, Pete maintains a particular focus on the Clean Water Act, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (Superfund), and related state laws.
Prior to joining the firm, Pete served as a law clerk to the Honorable Peter W. Hall of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and the Honorable Dana L. Christensen, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Montana.
Pete earned his law degree, summa cum laude, from Vermont Law School, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Vermont Law Review, taught a Legal Writing I course, and worked as a teaching assistant for Contracts, Constitutional Law I and II, and Appellate Advocacy. During law school he worked as a judicial intern to the Honorable Marilyn Skoglund of the Vermont Supreme Court and as a summer associate at Beveridge & Diamond, a national environmental law firm based in Washington, DC. Within the firm, Pete serves as Co-Chair of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee.