María Coor’s practice focuses on a variety of environmental litigation, regulatory and transactional matters. She serves as counsel to clients at both state-led and EPA-led Superfund sites and has experience negotiating administrative settlements with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which includes drafting and overseeing implementation of Supplemental Environmental Projects. María provides advice to clients on Research Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Clean Air Act (CAA) and Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) compliance issues and assists in evaluating the potential impacts of regulatory developments on industries and facilities. She also performs environmental due diligence for corporate acquisitions, identifying and evaluating potential environmental liabilities associated with both domestic and international target facilities. María is experienced in drafting and negotiating environmental liability provisions of purchase and sale agreements and has counseled clients on environmental compliance issues for facilities located in Latin America.
In addition to her environmental work, María has worked on international arbitration matters and represents clients in investigations involving Foreign Corrupt Practice Act (FCPA) compliance, with a focus on Latin America, and Brazil, in particular. She has represented corporations making voluntary disclosures to the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
María is a native Spanish speaker and is proficient in Portuguese. She spent a semester of law school studying electricity sector and telecommunications law at Austral University in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and studied Portuguese at the Brazilian American Cultural Institute in Washington, D.C.
María is active in pro bono work, as well. She represented plaintiffs in a Fair Labor Standards Act class action litigation involving a class of over 400 individuals resulting in a judicially-approved favorable settlement. Prior to starting her legal career, María researched energy and environmental policy issues at Resources for the Future in Washington, D.C. She also worked as a consultant on a rural electrification project in Honduras, quantifying carbon dioxide offsets from solar home systems. In addition, María interned at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the U.S. Department of Energy.
María is a member of the American and District of Columbia Bar Associations. From 2008 to 2009, she served as Vice Chair of the ABA’s Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources Committee on Diversity Fellowships in Environmental Law.