Gregory Hinojosa Evans is a nationally recognized environmental litigator and trial lawyer. He has over 25 years of experience in courtrooms across the United States. Appointed in 2023, Greg serves as the co-leader of McGuireWoods’ Environmental Litigation practice group. He has successfully negotiated EPA enforcement and CERCLA litigation cases at over 110 mega sites throughout the United States. This environmental litigation work includes marine environments on the West Coast, East Coast, and Gulf of Mexico. Greg tried many Superfund CERCLA contribution cases in United States district courts across the United States. He has argued environmental cases on appeal in many circuit courts. Greg is recognized nationally as an elite, uniquely gifted environmental trial attorney.
On September 6, 2022, Law360 named Greg an Environmental Law MVP, one of only four lawyers in the United States selected for this recognition. In September of 2022, Congressman Adam Schiff nominated Greg to serve on the United States Environmental Protection Agency Children’s Health Advisory Committee.
In 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2022, Greg successfully appealed and argued four groundbreaking cases in the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th, 5th and 9th Circuits. In 2021, Greg won Asarco v. Atlantic Richfield Company which resulted in Asarco’s recovery of past and future cleanup costs at the East Helena Superfund Site.
In 2024 and in 2021, Lawdragon named Greg as one of 500 leading environmental lawyers in the United States. In 2019, The National Law Journal selected Greg as one of the country’s Winning Litigators, a prestigious award given to few trial lawyers. In 2018, the Los Angeles Business Journal chose Greg as one of L.A.’s Most Influential Minority Lawyers. He was selected as a finalist for the 2017 Financial Times “Most Innovative Lawyers in North America” award, and selected again by Law360 as an “MVP” for environmental law. In 2018, Greg received The National Law Journal’s 2018 “Trailblazer Award,” for his environmental litigation. In previous years, Greg was honored by The American Lawyer as one of “Forty Five Under Forty Five,” The American Lawyer called Greg “Star Lateral of the Year,” Public Counsel recognized him as a “Pro Bono Volunteer of the Year,” and the California State Bar recognized him with its Wiley W. Manuel Award for Pro Bono Services. Greg was profiled in depth by California’s Daily Journal (“Public Works,” 2005).
Greg’s work has been reported on and his opinions on important legal cases have been published in The Financial Times, Newsweek, Bloomberg, The New York Times, The American Lawyer, The National Law Journal, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. Greg has also authored and published several articles on public policy, legislation and society.
Greg is an active participant in community affairs and pro bono activities, including longstanding service on the national board of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. (“LDF”), Catholic Charities of Los Angeles Board of Trustees, the San Francisco YMCA Board of Directors, The Constitutional Rights Foundation Board of Directors, Public Counsel Law Center (past board member), the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Property Management Board.
Greg is a firm leader and active participant in the management, growth and development of McGuireWoods. In 2018, his partners elected him to the Board of Partners, the firm’s governance body. He was re-elected in 2022. Greg is also a Member of McGuireWoods’ Political Action Committee and the firmwide Diversity & Inclusion Committee and he is Chairman of the McGuireWoods Latinx Lawyers Affinity Group.
In 2014, the President of the University of Notre Dame appointed Greg to serve on Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies Advisory Council. Greg received Notre Dame’s Award for Social Justice upon his graduation from Notre Dame Law School. At U.C. Berkeley, he served as president and commencement speaker of his graduate school. In 2020, Greg received an appointment to teach a graduate course on Law and Social Policy at U.C. Berkeley..
Before joining McGuireWoods, Greg was an equity partner with Milbank, completed a Fellowship with the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., and served as Deputy Counsel to the National Coalition for the Homeless in Washington.
Overcoming adversity is Greg’s hallmark and drives him forward in all aspects of his professional and personal life. For example, when Greg’s 14 year old daughter Katherine Evans died of a sudden, fatal arrhythmia, Greg was present at the time and had difficulty placing a wireless 911 call for help. Since then, Greg has devoted his advocacy skills to improving the deployment of wireless communications facilities nationally, including through his representation of long-term client Verizon Wireless. As a son of a single mother and grandparents who are Mexican American, Greg has always worked to protect the vulnerable, promote child welfare and advance civil rights.
Experience
- Public Service Enterprise Group (PSE&G). Greg currently serves New Jersey’s investor owned public utility as its lead lawyer in all federal enforcement and litigation related to the Diamond Alkali Superfund Site including the Passaic and Hackensack rivers and Newark Bay.
- Verizon Communications & Verizon Wireless. Greg serves Verizon nationally on environmental, land use and communications facility deployment matters.
- RCF Management. Greg co-chaired a successful international arbitration to obtain the recovery of over $130 million from Chubb and Zurich Insurance under a policy providing political risk coverage. Greg and his team proved that the government of Armenia expropriated a gold mine under development. He successfully countered arguments that environmental risks justified the government’s expropriatory conduct.
- Devon Energy. Greg represents Devon Energy in numerous climate change cases filed in federal and state courts throughout the United States.
- Hilton Hotels. Greg represents Hilton Hotels in environmental cases filed throughout the United States.
- Americas Smelting and Refining Corporation, Incorporated.
Greg currently serves copper mining giant ASARCO as its primary outside litigation counsel on all environmental issues. Greg has represented Asarco since 2005. - Grupo Mexico. Greg represents Grupo Mexico in the United States related to its railroad and mining operations in the United States, Mexico and Peru.
- Vodafone Group. While serving as primary U.S. outside litigation counsel for Vodafone Group, Greg achieved jury defense verdicts, arbitration awards and bench trial judgments for Vodafone in cases involving trade secret misappropriation, technology-related contract disputes including cross-border issues, joint venture disputes, corporate change in control and stock option vesting.
- The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company (BNSF). Beginning in 1990, Greg has successfully represented BNSF in environmental enforcement and litigation cases in jury and bench trials.
- Steinway Musical Instruments. For twenty years, Greg has represented Steinway Musical Instruments and many of its subsidiary musical instrument companies in environmental enforcement cases and in environmental litigation.
- California
- Not Admitted in New York
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas
- U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado
Selected for inclusion in “Legal 500 United States,” Environment: Litigation; Product liability, mass tort and class actions – toxic tort – defense, 2024
Selected for inclusion in “Lawdragon Green 500: Leading U.S. Environmental Lawyers,” Lawdragon, 2023, 2024
Named an “Environmental Law MVP,” Law360, 2022
Selected for inclusion in “500 Leading U.S. Environmental & Energy Lawyers” list, Lawdragon, 2021
Selected for Inclusion, Daily Journal, “Top Verdicts,” 2020
Named a “Leader in Law“, Los Angeles Business Journal, 2019
Named a “Winning Litigator,” The National Law Journal, 2019
Named an “Energy & Environmental Trailblazer,” The National Law Journal, 2018
Named “Most Influential Minority Attorneys,” Los Angeles Business Journal, 2018 Named an Environmental MVP, Law360, 2017 and 2021
Selected as a “Leading Lawyer,” General Commercial Disputes, 2017; Energy Litigation: Oil and Gas, 2018; California, Legal 500 US
Named, “Star Lateral,” American Lawyer, 2009 Profiled, Wall Street Journal, 2005
Profiled, Daily Journal (statewide, California), 2005
Selected for Inclusion, “45 Under 45,” American Lawyer, 2003
Recipient, “Wiley Manual Award for Pro Bono Service,” California State Bar, 2001 Recipient, Dean’s Award for Social Justice, University of Notre Dame, 1989 Research Editor, Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy, 1988-89 Commencement Speaker, University of California, Berkeley, Graduate School, 1986
- Author, Contaminants Compass: March 2024 Edition, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, March 18, 2024
- Co-author, "Allocating Remedial Expenditures at the East Helena Smelter Complex, MT USA," Environmental Claims Journal, June 25, 2021
- Author, State Environmental Enforcement Policies During COVID-19 and Response to EPA “Discretion” Policy, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, April 2, 2020
- Author, EPA Indicates that It May Relax Enforcement Measures for Narrow Categories of Environmental Legal Obligations Occurring After March 13, 2020, if Pandemic Causes Inability to Comply, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, March 30, 2020
- University of Notre DameJD1989
- University of California, BerkeleyMA1986
- University of Southern CaliforniaBS1984
Latinx Lawyers Affinity Group, McGuireWoods LLP
Member, Diversity & Initiative Committee, McGuireWoods LLP
Member, McGuireWoods LLP Political Action Committee
Board of Directors, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.
Trustee, Catholic Charities of Los Angeles
Board of Directors, Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Property Advisory Board
Advisory Council, Institute for Latino Studies, University of Notre Dame
U.C. Berkeley, School of Social Welfare
Board of Directors, Constitutional Rights Foundation Board of Directors
Board of Directors, YMCA of San Francisco
- Spanish