Member Bio
Mr. Guttmann represents companies in complex, high-stakes toxic tort, product liability and environmental litigation. He also provides strategic legal and business counsel on regulatory compliance and transactional due diligence. He has served in leading roles in litigation matters with potential damages/awards in the billions of dollars, and has secured dismissal or reduction of claims in numerous matters that have saved clients millions of dollars. By blending regulatory, transactional, and litigation expertise (including representation of clients as plaintiffs) into an integrated whole, Mr. Guttmann offers clients the benefit of all three perspectives in charting a course of action that is most advantageous for their businesses.
Mr. Guttmann currently serves as lead national counsel for a petroleum refiner in all MTBE product liability litigation and is a member of the defense steering committee for the refining industry in those cases. He is also currently defending a public utility in a large class action claiming health effects due to alleged lead exposure. Other examples of his environmental litigation experience include serving as lead counsel in numerous cases arising under NEPA, RCRA, CERCLA, and the Clean Air Act. These matters have included cases pending in various federal trial and appellate courts, cases before the Department of Interior Board of Land Appeals, and administrative enforcement actions at EPA.
Mr. Guttmann’s litigation experience also includes numerous securities class actions, breach of fiduciary duty claims, directors and officers liability suits, complex contract cases, unfair competition cases, and health insurance matters on behalf of the Firm's corporate clients. He also has represented several clients in SEC enforcement proceedings.
Before joining the Firm, Mr. Guttmann served as law clerk for Judge Aubrey E. Robinson, Jr. of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. He has served in numerous Firm leadership positions, including as Managing Principal of the Firm.
Mr. Guttmann holds leadership positions in a number of organizations. He is a National Director of DRI and previously was Chair of DRI's Toxic Tort and Environmental Law Committee. He is General Counsel and a member of the Board of Directors of NAEM (formerly the National Association for Environmental Management) and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the C&O Canal Trust.
Mr. Guttmann is a Fellow in the Litigation Counsel of America. He was selected for inclusion in the 2015-2020 editions of The Best Lawyers in America and the 2015 - 2020 editions of Super Lawyers.