Venable recently announced that Fred Wagner has joined the firm's Environmental Group as a partner in Washington, DC. He focuses his practice on major project and infrastructure development, including environmental reviews, permitting and approvals from federal and state natural resources agencies, and litigation defense of project decisions and policies. From 2011 to 2014, Wagner served as Chief Counsel of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), where he worked with Department of Transportation leadership on high-priority legislative and regulatory issues, and partnered with the Department of Justice on litigation challenging transportation projects.
"My whole career has been built on getting major projects completed and cleared," Wagner told Law360 in a February 3, 2017, interview. "The ability here, and the motivation to move here, is it presents a great opportunity to partner with many different attorneys across the country that do what I do." He added that an important part of his work is anticipating problems his clients might face and getting ahead of them. "When you work at a full-purpose firm…you can understand and be a part of these projects from their infancy. Then, you can help [clients] anticipate and avoid some of the project review problems early on."
Politico and the Washington Business Journal also noted Wagner's move to Venable on February 3, 2017, Green Wire on February 6, 2017, the Washington Post on February 12, 2017, and The Deal on February 13, 2017.