Robert T. Stewart

BIOGRAPHY

Robert T. Stewart represents a broad array of industrial and commercial clients, focusing on air pollution control, toxic torts, environmental criminal investigations, cost recovery for waste remediations and environmental enforcement defense. He has extensive experience handling matters before the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the US Environmental Protection Agency. Prior to becoming a lawyer, Mr. Stewart worked as a chemical engineer for Union Carbide Corporation.

Mr. Stewart was an equity partner at two of the county’s largest law firms for 26 years before joining Kelly Hart in 2003. He is annually named a Texas Super Lawyer by Thomson Reuters and included in The Best Lawyers in America® and Chambers USA: Guide to America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.

Mr. Stewart is a 1977 magna cum laude graduate of the University of Michigan Law School where he was Order of the Coif. He received his Chemical Engineering Bachelors of Science from Lehigh University in 1973. Mr. Stewart chaired the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Section of the State Bar of Texas in 2001-2002.

EXPERIENCE AND HIGHLIGHTS

• General Motors – major successful federal Clean Air Act litigation against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in federal district court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
• Various companies – defended extensive national criminal investigations by the Environmental Crimes Unit of the Department of Justice and several U.S. Attorneys’ offices
• Various clients – successful litigation of a number of toxic tort lawsuits
• General Motors, Bridgestone/Firestone, and other companies – negotiation and litigation of Title V permits throughout the country
• Aviall – representation in substantial waste cleanup matters throughout the country and successful recovery of remediation costs from insurers
• Various companies – representation in state and federal waste remediation cases such as Motorola, Conservation Chemical, Hardage and Sonics
• Defended clients in EPA industry-based enforcement efforts

AFFILIATIONS

• State Bar of Texas, Environmental and Natural Resources Law Section, Chair, 2001

HONORS

• Best Lawyers in America®, U.S. News & World Report, 2006-2025
  • Environmental Law
  • Litigation – Environmental
• Top Attorney, 360 West magazine, 2021
  • Land Use | Environment
• Named Top Austin Attorney, Austin Monthly, 2019
• Chambers USA: Guide to America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, 2014-2019
• Texas Super Lawyers, Thomson Reuters, 2007-2019
  • Environmental
• Named in Who’s Who in Legal Environment: Texas, 2016
• Top 50 Lawyers in the Central and West Texas Region, Thomson Reuters, 2013
  • Environmental

EDUCATION

• University of Michigan Law School, J.D., magna cum laude, 1977
  • Order of the Coif
• Lehigh University, B.S. in Chemical Engineering, 1973

ADMISSIONS

• State Bar of Ohio, 1977
• State Bar of Texas, 1981
• State Bar of California, 1991
• U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas, 1981
• U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, 1986
• U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas, 1991
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit

SPEECHES & PUBLICATIONS

• “Compliance with Air Emissions Standards in the Oil and Gas Industry,” presented at the SBOT Advanced Oil, Gas and Energy Resources Law Course, October 1, 2004
• “Clean Air Impact on Real Estate Development: Legal and Political Strategies,” CLE International, Houston, Texas, February 2002
• “Environmental Issues: Is Your Product Safe for the Environment?” Tools of the Trade: A 21st Century Life Science Roadmap for Texas, Texas Healthcare and Bioscience Institute, Austin, June 2000
• “The Clean Air Act Connection: Transportation and Air Quality,” Land Use Conference, CLE