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Amanda G. Halter

Partner
Houston & Los Angeles

Partner, Houston & Los Angeles

T: +1.713.276.7665
T: +1.213.552.7100
T: +1.713.276.7665
T: +1.213.552.7100

Areas of Focus

Amanda Halter is exceptional when it comes to integrating her advice with our broader business objectives. She is a trusted advisor, whose recommendations are confidently accepted by both our legal team and our commercial teams.
—The Legal 500 U.S., 2024

Amanda Halter is managing partner of the firm’s Houston office, a national authority on environmental and natural resources law and policy, and co-leader of Pillsbury’s multidisciplinary Minerals, Metals and Material Supply Chains and Canada practice teams.

Amanda advises domestic and global industrial clients on high-stakes environmental regulatory, liability, litigation, project and policy matters – helping them navigate complex liability regimes and seize strategic opportunities amid dynamic legal, financial and reputational risks. With extensive experience across environmental regulation, litigation and public policy, she counsels on environmental liability management, transactional and business transformation initiatives, effective stakeholder and political engagement, as well as corporate sustainability and climate strategy, reporting and disclosures.

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Amanda believes deeply in—and delivers on—the power of dynamic collaborations to maximally access and leverage the full scope of the firm’s resources to bring innovative, efficient, multidisciplinary and value-driven advice and approaches to support client objectives.

As a testament to the strength of her practice, Amanda is consistently recognized as a leading lawyer for environmental law by numerous publications and directories. She is ranked by Best Lawyers, earning the distinction of Lawyer of the Year (2024). She has also been recognized among the top lawyers for environmental law and litigation by Chambers USA and The Legal 500 U.S., and as a recipient of the Texas Legal Excellence Awards by Texas Lawyer (2021), among other accolades.

Amanda frequently speaks or writes on emerging environmental and natural resource issues and developments, with topics varying from Superfund and climate change to natural resource damages, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and biodiversity, among others. She has been quoted in or highlighted for her work by media outlets that include The Wall Street Journal, Law360, Dow Jones Institutional News and Texas Lawyer.

Representative Experience

  • Counsel to U.S. defense contractor on land, water and environmental remediation agreements, in support of first-of-kind advanced nuclear and hyperscale data center campus project.
  • Represents major industrial company in one of the most significant CERCLA and natural resource damages cases pending in the U.S. federal courts, including before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
  • Advises global mining companies on all aspects of managing their U.S. environmental exposures and liabilities, including regulatory, administrative and judicial actions, as well as stakeholder and political engagement.

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  • Advises on cooperative and non-cooperative natural resource damages assessments and claims with federal, state and tribal natural resource trustees, including under CERCLA and the Oil Pollution Act (OPA).
  • Advises large-scale domestic meat processing company on full suite of environmental and regulatory compliance and risk management considerations under federal and state law.
  • Advised foreign investor regarding major equity investment in U.S. copper mine, a strategic transaction supporting North American critical minerals supply.
  • Advises foreign mining companies regarding proceedings before the International Joint Commission and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
  • Advises various domestic and foreign companies regarding potential exposures and risk management related to U.S. states’ climate disclosures and superfund laws.
  • Represents federal defense contractor regarding multiple legacy groundwater contamination claims and administrative investigation and remediation processes.
  • Counseled domestic paper company on evaluating and managing climate-change-exacerbated waste management and infrastructure risks.
  • Counsels specialty chemicals company on various compliance matters and development of new business lines, including waste disposal, and related regulatory engagement.
  • Advises foreign industry on U.S. governmental and stakeholder engagement in connection with planned operational expansions into the United States, particularly Texas.
  • Advised startup energy technology company on various aspects of regulatory compliance and customer management.
  • Has provided corporate crisis management counsel to various companies and individuals in a wide variety of matters involving the potential for substantial financial or reputational losses, including to a refinery following fire incidents causing substantial property damages and personal injuries; a manufacturing company following allegations of releases that led to shutdown of municipal water supplies; a public company following discovery of alleged misconduct by a chief executive; a prestigious private high school following allegations of teacher misconduct; a foreign company whose substantial U.S.-based investment was jeopardized following emergence of U.S. security concerns; a U.S. federal contractor adversely impacted by federal-state political discord; and municipalities regarding cyber incidents.
  • Represented private equity firm in acquisition of unique low-level radioactive waste disposal, storage and treatment facility from previous public company owner, including multilayer state government engagement to support transfer of and modifications to complex regulatory financial assurances obligations.
  • Represented desalination company on successful decade-long bid to secure state and federal permits in California.
  • Secured dismissal of soils contamination claims related to alleged industrial aerial emissions under CERCLA at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
  • Developed and implemented successful strategy in litigation of multivenue toxic tort claims.

Professional Highlights

  • Managing Partner of the Year – Finalist, Texas Lawyer (2025)
  • Recognized by Chambers USA for Environment – Texas (2025)
  • Recognized by The American Lawyer’s Litigation Daily as Litigator of the Week Runner-Up (February 2024)

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Education

  • J.D., The University of Texas School of Law

    B.A., Rice University
    Environmental Policy and Philosophy

Admissions

  • Texas

    California

Languages

  • Spanish

Amanda's Insights

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