William Wilson
Barrister
Qualifications: Barrister, Full Rights of Audience, Called to Bar, Middle Temple, 1978, LLM with Merit, London University, 1990, Harkness Fellow, USA, 1996-1997
Registered Expert with European Chemicals Agency.
Tel: +44 (0)117 939 2289
william.wilson@burges-salmon.com
William Wilson has specialised in environmental and energy law for 19 years. He joined the Environmental Law Unit at Burges Salmon in 2001, after nearly 10 years as a senior lawyer with the Solicitor’s Office of the Department of the Environment/DETR/Defra.
As a government lawyer, William Wilson advised Ministers and his department on specialist environmental law, legislation and litigation, and was legal manager of the Environment Act 1995, the Water Industry Act 1999 and the publication draft of the Water Act 2003. He drafted statutory instruments on air quality, water, radioactive substances, waste, landfill, pollution control, chemicals and environmental regulation, undertook EU negotiations, for example on the Water Framework Directive, and managed UK and EU litigation. He advised government on nuclear law for four years, for example on justification and Euratom legislation and ECJ cases, Sellafield MOX decisions, Atomic Weapons Establishment decisions.
At Burges Salmon, William focuses on regulatory work on environmental, energy, water, chemicals, carbon capture and storage and nuclear issues for corporate and government clients. Recent work includes:
- Expert Reviewer of the IPCC Special Report on Carbon Capture and Storage, advice on this area for power generation clients; Steering Group of major CCS study with three universities and government; member of Bristol Hydrogen Energy Strategy Board. Renewable and fossil fuel energy advice including biomass power station issues, consenting, cooling water.
- Nuclear law advice for Environment Agency, Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Magnox Electric Limited, EnergySolutions, UKAEA, Ministry of Defence, Imperial College and others, including work for the NDA on land sales for nuclear new build at Bradwell, Oldbury, Wylfa and Sellafield; and other work on Capenhurst, Springfields, Dounreay, Heysham and Dungeness.
- EU REACH and chemicals regulation advice for major multinational clients, based on several years close involvement with EU negotiations of REACH and work with several governments, many companies and trade associations for sectors including aerospace, metals, mining, engineering, on issues of implementation. Related work for corporate clients on CLP Regulation and the WEEE and RoHS Directives.
- Advice on key environmental regulatory issues to leading aerospace and defence companies; and on sustainable/green procurement issues for multi-million pound government procurement exercise.
- Specialist water law advice for public bodies, large estates, renewable energy and hydropower clients and development of water abstraction licence trading documentation, Member of RICS Working Group on the Valuation of Water, and advice to water industry.
- Specialist air quality and industrial emissions advice for government, major multinational clients and on power developments. Advice to industrial clients on Industrial Emissions Directive.
William is the author of ‘Making Environmental Laws Work – Law and Policy in the UK and USA’ (Hart 1999) and ‘William Robert Grove – The Lawyer Who Invented the Fuel Cell’ (Metolius, 2007). Forthcoming : a chapter on regulatory justification in international nuclear law and regulation.
He has given lectures and presentations on environmental and energy law issues for Defra, the Ministry of Defence, Ofgem, NDA, U.S. National Hydrogen Association, Institute of Mechanical Engineers, CIWEM, BNES, EEF A/D/S, Nuclear Institute, UK Steel, and in the USA, Turkey, Ukraine and Brussels, and gave evidence to Parliamentary Committees on the Climate Change Bill and on water law and policy. He is a registered expert with the European Chemicals Agency and a member of the International Nuclear Law Association.
Past experience includes –
2001-2008 Founder and Director of Cambrensis Ltd, environmental policy consultancy. Clients included several governments, multi-national companies, international organisations and trade associations.
1992-2001 Senior Principal (Legal) Grade 6 lawyer Solicitor's Office, Department of the Environment/DETR/Defra
1996-1997 Harkness Fellow, Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College, Portland, Oregon, USA
1989-1991 Legal and Compliance Manager, Century Asset Management Ltd
1986-1989 and
1991-1992 Legal and Compliance Manager, Investment Management Regulatory Organisation 'IMRO'
1980-1986 Legal Assistant, then Senior Legal Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions' Department