Charlie Payne and Lisa Goodwin Profiled in Virginia Business Legal Elite

12.02.2022

In the 23^rd edition of the Virginia Business Legal Elite published on November 29, 2022, Charlie Payne and Lisa Goodwin were featured as the Q&A profiles for their respective practice groups.

Charlie Payne

Payne was profiled for the Corporate Counsel category and highlighted his family ties to his career thus far, including his parents’ mentorship, his family’s deep roots in Fredericksburg since the early 1700s to today’s rapid economic development, and his first job cleaning and salting herring/shad for his grandfather’s commercial fishing business Falmouth.

Related to his legal career, Payne discussed his time as general counsel for the U.S. Small Business Administration, at which time he was one of the youngest general counsels to serve a cabinet-level agency. “My most proud moment was the regulatory creation of the SBA’s New Markets Program and expansion of the SBA 7(a) loan program,” he said.

The publication also asked about Payne’s work to help secure zoning approvals for the Kalahari Resorts in Spotsylvania County, which he said will be a major economic stimulator for the region and long-term asset.

You can read Payne’s full Q&A here.

Lisa Goodwin

Goodwin was featured as the Environmental Law Q&A in the Legal Elite publication. She shared the value of absorbing knowledge and skills from those with whom she’s worked throughout her career, starting with law professors and the judge she clerked with in the Eastern District of Virginia, to the partners and senior associates who took the time and effort to train her.

Speaking to the environmental work she handles today, Goodwin offered insight on the evolution of Virginia’s stormwater program and the significant effect it has had on developer clients and solar developments. “There has definitely been some confusion over interpretation and application of the regulations, and we have been coordinating with staff at the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, consultants, trade organizations, localities and individual clients to assist with obtaining permits and sometimes to work through enforcement issues,” she said.

Looking forward, Goodwin anticipates future environmental regulations to include new stormwater guidance and regulatory actions, DEQ’s streamlined permitting platform, wetlands permitting, including federal activities relating to the WOTUS Final Rule and the Supreme Court’s Sackett decision, and continued regulatory action at the state and federal level relating to PFAS. “Some of these changes should make things easier and/or faster for development, but there remains quite a bit of uncertainty,” she said.

For Goodwin’s full Q&A, please click here.