Will Burton maintains an active corporate, administrative and litigation practice focusing primarily on alcoholic beverage regulatory compliance matters throughout the United States, environmental and occupational safety and health issues, and creditor's rights.
Mr. Burton also counsels alcoholic beverage manufacturers and importers on a wide variety of alcoholic beverage compliance and business issues arising under the laws of state alcoholic beverage control agencies and the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (formerly the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms). He routinely advises industry members on alcoholic beverage advertising, promotions, sponsorship agreements, state and federal excise tax and enforcement issues. In addition, his alcoholic beverage practice frequently involves the permitting of retail and commercial facilities such as grocery stores, restaurants, and hotel chains.
His environmental counseling and litigation practice focuses on issues of compliance and strategic planning; auditing; corporate and real estate transactions including the sale, purchase and redevelopment of brownfields properties; negotiation of environmental insurance policies; administrative practice and OSHA/ workplace-safety matters, including process-safety management requirements. Mr. Burton has significant experience in regulatory compliance issues, including solid and hazardous waste management, siting of solid waste management facilities, permitting, wetland/stream permitting and mitigation, remediation of contaminated properties, compliance with OSHA standards and radiation safety. His litigation experience includes defending industry against citizen suits brought under various environmental statutes and challenges to the siting and permitting of highly regulated facilities such as municipal solid waste landfills, significant cost-recovery actions at Superfund sites throughout the United States, underground storage tank actions and state and federal environmental and OSHA enforcement actions, including citations involving serious injuries and fatalities in the workplace.
In his bankruptcy/creditor's rights practice, Mr. Burton regularly advises creditors on collection and bankruptcy-related issues ranging from representation of secured creditors in chapter 11 proceedings, preparation of proofs of claim and responding to debtors' objections to claims to negotiation of claim transfer and put agreements, automatic stay issues, fraudulent conveyances, responding to preference demands and defending preference actions, adversary proceedings and objections to the dischargeability of debts.