Meaghan Colligan Hembree

Meaghan serves as the environmental lead for DLA Piper’s Environmental and Natural Disasters Task Force from the Washington, DC office. She is a trusted advisor in high risk scenarios involving chemical releases, fires, explosions, operational failures, greenwashing claims, and other environmental, health, and safety events, helping clients manage reputational risk, regulatory exposure, and operational continuity under pressure. She advises clients across industries including transportation, consumer products, manufacturing, energy, real estate development, food and beverage, and fashion and apparel. Meaghan directs internal investigations, coordinates cross functional response teams, and advises boards and executives on enforcement, risk assessment, and litigation strategy, including complex modeling of potential liability and operational exposure.

Meaghan’s practice spans the full lifecycle of product, chemical, and waste regulation — from product design and stewardship to disposal, cleanup, and reuse. She counsels on core environmental laws including RCRA, TSCA, CERCLA, and the Clean Water Act, as well as related fire safety and OSHA issues. She regularly assists clients and industry groups in shaping and complying with emerging mandates such as PFAS regulation, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programs, plastics legislation, circular economy policy, post consumer recycled content (PCR) requirements, sustainable materials management, and other evolving chemical frameworks. Her leadership in sustainable business transformation, combined with her ability to bring legal precision and cross functional insight to complex environmental and regulatory challenges, has positioned her as a strategic asset in boardrooms and executive decision making.

Her due diligence work involving contaminated properties, consumer brands, and complex EHS risk profiles provides nuanced risk assessments that inform business decisions, sustainability strategies, and long term operational planning. Her proven track record in Superfund and brownfield matters includes establishing zero liability for a client in a longstanding PCB case, confirming less than 0.01% share in a $2 billion cleanup, and securing statutory exemptions for innocent purchasers. Meaghan’s enforcement defense work and approach to risk management have resulted in regulators rescinding alleged violations or drastically reducing penalties across federal and state environmental laws. She has developed compliance programs for operational portfolios of more than 100 facilities subject to comprehensive EHS requirements, operational controls, and sustainability initiatives.

Prior to joining DLA Piper, she was a partner in the environmental practice group of a global law firm.