Richard Smith helps people use the law to protect the environment and wildlife. He has extensive experience in water quality issues and has brought scores of successful Clean Water Act citizen suits against polluters across Washington. He has also assisted environmental and community groups and other clients to accomplish their public interest goals through a variety of other state and federal environmental laws, including the Endangered Species Act, Clean Air Act, and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.  

About his practice, Richard says: "it's all about turning ecological crises that concern our clients into legal, political, or economic crises to convince the agency or business people who have the ability to fix the problems to act responsibly."

Before forming Smith & Lowney, PLLC, with Knoll Lowney in 1996, Richard practiced environmental law as a sole practitioner from 1993. He is a 1991 graduate of the University of Colorado School of Law, and received a BBA from the University of Michigan in 1988. In 2009, he received a Masters degree in Public International Law from the University of Oslo. He is admitted to practice in Washington, and before the Eastern and Western Districts of the U.S. District Court, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He served on the board of directors of the Washington Environmental Council from 1995 through 2000, and was the chair of its legal committee during this time. He also served on the board of directors of the Washington Toxics Coalition from 2004 through 2007. 

E-mail: richard@smithandlowney.com 

 

© Copyright 2016 Smith & Lowney PLLC