Zia C. Oatley

Zia Oatley is an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.  She is a member of the firm's Environmental Litigation and Mass Torts Department. 

 Representative engagements include:

• Currently representing government contractor in RCRA civil enforcement action arising out of the operation of a Department of Energy facility.
• Currently representing paper manufacturer in toxic tort mass action concerning air emissions from mill. 
• Currently representing industrial client in criminal, civil, and administrative actions arising out of the Clean Air Act’s Risk Management Plan (RMP) requirements and OSHA’s related Process Safety Management (PSM) requirements. 
• Currently representing corporation formerly engaged in mineral refining in CERCLA cost recovery and natural resource damages actions.
• Currently representing oil and gas client in international toxic tort, with work focused on obtaining discovery for use in foreign proceedings using 28 U.S.C. § 1782.
• Represented retail corporation in providing prospective compliance advice and defending against civil and criminal enforcement action involving alleged violations of RCRA, the Clean Water Act, and FIFRA.

Prior to joining the firm in 2008, Ms. Oatley served as a law clerk to the Honorable Gregory W. Carman of the United States Court of International Trade.  She graduated magna cum laude from Duke University School of Law, and was elected to the Order of the Coif.  While at Duke, Ms. Oatley was an executive editor of Duke Law & Technology Review, and was a member of the school's World Trade Organization moot court team.  Her team won both the national moot court competition and an award for the best brief.  Ms. Oatley graduated, with distinction, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies.  Ms. Oatley also has a Masters in Public Policy from Duke University.

Ms. Oatley is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the Federal Circuit, the Second Circuit, and the U.S. Court of International Trade.  Ms. Oatley holds an L-level security clearance from the Department of Energy.