Beth S. Dorris

Partner

Los Angeles
300 South Grand Avenue
25th Floor

TEL: (213) 787-2546
FAX: (213) 617-7480
Beth.Dorris@bbklaw.com

Beth S. Dorris is a partner in the Natural Resources department of Best Best & Krieger.  Ms. Dorris represents public and private clients on environmental and land use matters, including those arising under CEQA, NEPA, RCRA, CERCLA, AB 32, and other federal and state environmental laws.

Ms. Dorris regularly provides CEQA compliance advice and represents agencies and others in CEQA litigation.  Most recently, she has provided CEQA counsel on the I-710 Major Corridor project, represented UCLA on its long range development plan and other projects, advised the City of Downey in connection with a major mixed use development, successfully litigated against a large billboard project, and participated in the defense of the long range master plan for Los Angeles International Airport.  She also has been providing workshop training to large planning agencies and others on climate change and sustainable development.

Ms. Dorris has broad experience in disposition, acquisition, financing, and development of properties with potentially large environmental liabilities, such as energy facilities, chemical manufacturing plants, former oil fields, and Brownfields.  She also provides counsel on the cleanup of contaminated properties and contaminated drinking water, and represents potentially responsible parties in connection with cost recovery claims, administrative actions and cleanup and abatement orders.  In addition, she counsels companies on compliance with Proposition 65 and defends companies sued under that statute and related claims. 

Ms. Dorris is an Adjunct Professor of Environmental and Land Use Law at Western State University College of Law.  In addition, she frequently speaks at seminars for practicing attorneys and city planners on topical issues related to CEQA, global warming, groundwater contamination, environmental disclosure requirements, and Proposition 65.  Ms Dorris is on the executive committee of the environmental section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association.  She has previously served on American Petroleum Institute’s RCRA/CERCLA Steering Committee and Western States Petroleum Association’s Legal Committee, and was a member of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board’s Underground Storage Tank Task Force.

Ms. Dorris graduated from the University of Chicago in 1980 with high honors, Phi Beta Kappa, with both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in public policy.  She received her J.D. from Stanford Law School in 1984, where she was an editor of the Stanford Law Review.

Bar & Court Admissions

• California, 1984

Education

• JD, Stanford Law School, Palo Alto
• MA, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
• BA, University of Chicago