Gerald Pouncey Jr.

Gerald L. Pouncey, Jr. is the Chairman of Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP. A Senior Partner in the firm, he also heads the Environmental and Infrastructure Practices. His primary focus is the acquisition, disposition and/or the redevelopment of properties with significant environmental impact (including state and federal superfund sites), mergers, investments, economic incentives and financing related to such properties and the development and implementation of green energy technologies and strategies. He lectures nationally on these topics.

Mr. Pouncey has led efforts in the permitting, financing, acquisition, redevelopment and regulatory closure of hundreds of industrial properties, mines and landfills throughout the United States including a former wood treating facility in South Florida, a former airplane manufacturing facility in New York, former Department of Defense facilities, several former automobile assembly facilities across the country, a former granite mine in Maryland, a former chrome ore smelting facility in South Carolina, a former oil field in California and numerous other similar projects. Included with these projects is the Atlantic Station Redevelopment in Atlanta, a project that was recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as the nation’s best Brownfield redevelopment. Mr. Pouncey has also led efforts in the expansion and redevelopment of various port facilities. He has also developed, negotiated and implemented various financial incentives allowing these projects to take place. He has served as lead negotiator for industry (both foreign and domestic) considering locating in the Southeast. Mr. Pouncey’s practice also encompasses all of the facets of design, development and construction of sustainable buildings, renewable energy facilities, including various LEED certified developments.

Mr. Pouncey served as a legislative appointee to the Commission formed to review reauthorization of Georgia’s Hazardous Waste Trust Fund. As part of this legislative committee, he was the principal author of Georgia’s new brownfield legislation. Mr. Pouncey is the past Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Council for Quality Growth, the Georgia Brownfield Association, the Walker School and Cobb Landmarks and Historical Society. He is a board member of the North Georgia and Metropolitan Atlanta Water Management District. Mr. Pouncey also serves on the Board of Directors for the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors for the Georgia Conservancy. He also serves as chair of the national Environmental and Energy Committee of the International Council of Shopping Centers. Mr. Pouncey is a contributing author to the American Bar Association publication, Brownfields, A Comprehensive Guide to Redeveloping Contaminated Property.

Mr. Pouncey has been voted as one of America’s Leading Lawyers for Business by Chambers USA and honored numerous times as a "Georgia Super Lawyer" by Atlanta magazine. Mr. Pouncey is listed as Who’s Who in the Law by Atlanta Business Chronicle. He was selected by his peers as one of Georgia Trend's Legal Elite and as a member of The Best Lawyers in America in the specialty of Environmental Law. The Best Lawyers in America also named him Environmental Lawyer of the Year for 2017. He was also honored by the National Law Journal in 2016 as an Energy and Environmental Trailblazer. In 2019 through 2024, Mr. Pouncey had been named by Atlanta Magazine as one of Atlanta’s 500 most influential leaders. In 2024, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Southeastern Legal Awards.

Representative Experience

Representation in a multi-year high-profile brownfield redevelopments which includes a loan which secured a 200+ assemblage of properties with overlapping regulation by EPA, negotiations with EPA Headquarters and EPA Region 4, and resolving environmental issues in connection with construction.
Representation of a multi-year redevelopment of Turner Field (former Olympic Stadium/former Atlanta Braves Ballpark) and surrounding parking lots. This $350+ million, 70+ acre redevelopment in the heart of Atlanta will include a combination of student housing, retail space, restaurants, office space, hotels, medical office space, and parks.
Served as lead environmental counsel on the remediation and then the sale of the approximately 70-acre “Quarry Yards” site in the urban core of Atlanta, Georgia.
Served as National environmental counsel for The Hanover Company. Representation has included advising on contractual, risk-allocation, regulatory, wetland, redevelopment, and financing issues.
Served as nationwide environmental counsel to Branch Properties in connection with its acquisition, redevelopment and disposition of property located throughout the Southeast.
Served as lead environmental counsel for the owner of a 110-acre property located along Shipyard Creek in Charleston, South Carolina and obtained its removal from the National Priorities List. The property contained the former Macalloy chromium ore smelting facility which operated from 1941 to 1998 and is currently being regulated by EPA and the South Carolina Department of Health & Environmental Control (DHEC).
Served as lead counsel for the Atlantic Station project, which is the nation’s largest brownfield redevelopment, and received EPA’s Phoenix Award as the Nation’s top Brownfield project.
Served as lead negotiator for locating the 1 billion dollar Toyo Tire facility in Georgia.
Served as environmental counsel to Jacoby Development in Jacoby’s acquisition of the former Ford Auto Assembly Plant in Hapeville, Georgia, a 130-acre Brownfield south of Atlanta, now home to the Porsche North America Headquarters.

Accolades

Selected, Best Lawyers, Environmental Law, 2007 - 2025
Selected, Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, top lawyer in Environmental Law, 2007 - 2024
Named, Atlanta Magazine’s Atlanta 500 Most Influential Leaders, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024
Named, Environmental Lawyer of the Year, The Best Lawyers in America, 2017
Named, National Law Journal’s Energy & Environmental Trailblazer, 2016
Selected, Georgia Super Lawyer by Atlanta magazine, 2004 - 2020
Selected by his peers as one of Georgia Trend’s Legal Elite
Listed, Who’s Who in the Law by Atlanta Business Chronicle
Law Clerk to Honorable James C. Hill, United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit, 1985 – 1986
2021 Distinguished Alumni Award for the College of Engineering at Auburn University

Membership

Board of Directors, Georgia Chamber of Commerce
Former Chairman of the Board of Directors, The Walker School
Former Chairman of the Board of Directors and Current Executive Committee Member and Board Member, Council for Quality Growth
Former Chair and Current Executive Committee Member, Georgia Brownfield Association
Board Member, North Georgia and Metropolitan Atlanta Water Management District
Member, Regional Leadership Institute, Atlanta Regional Commission
Member, Metropolitan Atlanta Chamber of Commerce Environmental & Energy Committee
Chair, International Council of Shopping Centers National Environmental & Energy Committee
Atlanta Bar Association, Past Board Member and Chair of the Environmental and Toxic Tort Section
Chair of Auburn Engineering Alumni Council
Member, Board of Trustees for the Georgia Conservancy

Gerald L. Pouncey Jr.

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