Brooklyn Hildebrandt

BROOKLYN HILDEBRANDT focuses her practice on litigation and project development. She has assisted clients in connection with National Environmental Policy Act and Clean Water Act matters, including enforcement actions, citizen suits, regulatory proceedings, and other challenges. Brooklyn brings a balanced approach to meeting the needs of both high-profile projects and various state and federal laws and regulations. She understands big picture goals and the importance of attention to detail and brings this understanding to her clients at every stage of litigation and project development, including strategy and concept design.

Brooklyn also maintains a diverse regulatory practice, providing quick and comprehensive counsel to a wide array of clients, expanding across industrial sectors. Extending from her love for the coast, she has dedicated part of her practice to advising clients nationwide and helps clients with particularly challenging and unique issues arising from wildlife protection laws, including the Endangered Species Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and the Coastal Zone Management Act.

Prior to joining Sidley, Brooklyn was an associate at another firm, focusing exclusively on environmental matters. She also clerked with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environmental Enforcement Section during law school.

Brooklyn is based out of Sidley’s Los Angeles office but continues to work closely with her colleagues in Washington, D.C., where she was previously based.

Some of Brooklyn’s representative matters prior to joining Sidley include:

• Overseeing compliance of a large multinational company with a federal- and state-issued consent decree. The oversight included review of the creation and implementation of an environmental compliance management system, internal and external audit functions, sustainability programs, and corporate culture.
• Representing a large industrial company in toxic tort litigation in both state and federal court against a large class of plaintiffs.
• Representing an energy infrastructure client in litigation challenging the environmental review of a large pipeline project. The litigation involved legal and factual issues arising under the ESA and APA.
• Representing a large industrial company in negotiating with federal parties regarding natural resource damage claims under CERCLA.
• Representing municipality against Department of Justice regarding the taking of property.
• Representing a large landfill in civil litigation against local permitting agencies and defending related enforcement actions.
• Representing a client in challenge to joint state and federal CWA permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for coastal development.

*The above matters were handled prior to joining Sidley.

• Co-Chair, American Bar Association SEER Marine Resources Committee
• Member, Environmental Law Institute Emerging Leaders Initiative

• Representing recreational angler organizations opposing third-party sustainability certification of commercial fisheries in the mid-Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.
• Serving in a general counsel role for, and overseeing incorporation of, nonprofit startup focusing on environmental peace-building within international relations.
• Defending various individuals against the Department of Homeland Security in both Immigration Court and before the Board of Immigration Appeals.