Brantley Fry joined the firm in March 2009. Her practice includes class action, toxic tort cases pending before federal courts in the Southeastern United States. Brantley is currently working on TVA coal ash spill and BP oil spill litigation. She also reviews potential toxic tort cases on a regular basis.

Brantley says she has “always liked being outside, so conservation from an outdoor perspective has always been an interest.” Her interest in environmental issues grew even more after she had children. She says she “cannot help but be concerned about the need for a clean environment to support children’s healthy growth and development.” Being an environmental lawyer allows Brantley to “fight for kids and adults whose lives have been turned upside down by toxic contamination.”

Brantley represents property owners and residents that were affected by the TVA coal ash spill in December 2008. This disaster involved the breach of a coal ash containment pond that spilled more than a billion gallons of coal ash sludge onto adjacent property and nearby waterways in Kingston, Tenn. Brantley was part of the trial team that tried the issues of liability in the phase one trial in Fall 2011. As of this writing, the court has not issued its ruling on the issue of liability in this case. Hopefully, it will come soon and will be favorable to our clients.

Brantley’s work on the BP oil spill litigation focuses mainly on representing government clients. As a result of the oil spill, local governments along the Gulf Coast sustained tax revenue losses due to the drop in tourism. The BP oil spill affected the lives and livelihoods of thousands of people along the Gulf Coast beginning in April 2010, when the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana. Eleven workers were killed in the explosion and others injured. As all of us know – all too well – oil gushed from the broken wellhead for months before it could be capped. Chemical dispersants used in ocean clean-up efforts exacerbated the toxic toll on marine and human life along the coast.

The TVA coal ash spill and the BP oil spill are the two largest environmental catastrophes in U.S. history. Brantley’s work on these two important cases takes advantage of her decade-long experience working in environmental law. If you have any question about Brantley’s zeal for this field of law, let me dispel your doubts. She is a real champion for environmental work.

Brantley was born in Birmingham, Ala. in 1973. After graduating from high school at The Altamont School, Brantley graduated from Hollins College with a degree in Sociology. She then earned her law degree from the nation’s top environmental law program at Vermont Law School in 2000.

In connection with her environmental law practice, Brantley has represented a wide range of clients including individuals, non-governmental organizations (NGO’s), and governmental agencies. Her practice has focused almost entirely on environmental law and policy. As a federal contractor, she assisted federal agencies with regulatory analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Clean Air Act (CAA), the Clean Water Act (CWA), the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). This regulatory analysis included drafting environmental impact statements (EISs) for various federal projects; drafting reports on industrial permitting requirements under the CAA, CWA, and RCRA; and evaluating financial assurance submissions for nuclear power plants. As an NGO executive, Brantley oversaw litigation strategy and research for citizen actions under state and federal environmental laws, particularly the CWA.

Brantley is married to John G. Wilson of Birmingham, and they have two young children, Carlisle and Walker Wilson. John is a landscape architect who operates his own business, “Golightly Landscape Architecture.” Brantley and John are lifetime members of St. Mary’s-on-the-Highlands Episcopal Church. Their children are fifth generation parishioners there. In their spare time, the family loves doing anything outdoors, especially canoeing and hiking. We are most fortunate and blessed to have a lawyer with Brantley’s vast experience in our Toxic Torts Section. She is doing a tremendous job for her clients.