Karl R. Heisler

Karl Heisler’s practice focuses on environmental and white collar law, with an emphasis on civil and criminal environmental enforcement. He regularly conducts internal investigations involving the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, among other environmental and worker safety regimes, and has experience defending clients facing obstruction of justice, false statements and other Title 18 allegations. Representative clients include public and private entities in the chemical manufacturing, construction services, waste management and energy industries.

Representative Experience

• Represents corporations, management, employees and other individuals in federal and state criminal cases.
• Represents corporate witnesses, subjects and targets of criminal investigations responding to grand jury subpoenas and government information requests.
• Launches and directs evidence preservation, collection and production initiatives, including electronic discovery.
• Coordinates environmental consultants in internal investigations.
• Coordinates responses to government information requests issued pursuant to the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, among other authorities.
• Designs and provides training in corporate compliance and ethics programs, records retention and environmental management systems.

Publications

• Author, "Understanding Environmental Law Enforcement," Inside the Minds: Environmental Law Enforcement and Compliance (Thomson Reuters/Aspatore, 2011)
• Co-author, “Board Oversight of Environmental Management After Sarbanes-Oxley,” Executive Counsel, Volume 3, Number 5 (September/October 2006)
• Co-author, “Is It Time to Disclose Client Risks?” Executive Counsel, Volume 2, Number 5 (September/October 2005)

Speeches and Presentations

• Speaker, "Due Diligence Considerations in Transactional Environmental Law," Environmental Law Institute's 20th Annual Eastern Boot Camp on Environmental Law, Washington, D.C. (November 11, 2011)
• Speaker, "E-Discovery for Law Enforcement (Criminal Investigations)," Computer and Enterprise Investigations Conference, Summerlin, Nevada (May 24, 2010)
• Speaker, "Preparing for a Government Inspection," Homeland Security Seminar/Webinar: Developing Site Security Plans Under the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards, Washington, D.C. (June 26, 2009)
• Panelist, “Client Risk Management,” Virginia State Bar CLE Program, Lansdowne, Virginia (November 11, 2008)

Certifications

• Kroll Ontrack's E-Discovery Certification Course, 2010*

Awards and Recognition

• Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP Pro Bono Service Honor Roll, 2010–2011
• Hunton & Williams LLP E. Randolph Williams Award for Outstanding Pro Bono Service, 2002–2005

Education and Bar Admissions

Mr. Heisler earned his Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Virginia in 1996 and his Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2002, where he was a member of the Editorial Board for the Virginia Journal of International Law. Mr. Heisler is a member of the Environmental Law Section of the Virginia State Bar; the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Section of the District of Columbia Bar; the Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources of the American Bar Association; the Criminal Justice Section of the American Bar Association; and the Environment, Natural Resources, and Energy Law Section of the Virginia Bar Association. He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and Virginia.

*Per Virginia Rule of Professional Conduct 7.4, there is no procedure in the Commonwealth of Virginia for approving certifying organizations.