Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman has scooped seven attorneys from Houston-based environmental boutique Campbell George & Strong.

The team has joined Pillsbury’s environment, land use and natural resources practice in Houston, San Francisco and Washington DC. The team comprises two partners, three of counsel and two associates.

Andrew Strong, the former managing partner of Campbell George, and Thomas Campbell, a former principal at the firm, join Pillsbury’s Houston office as partners. Campbell advises companies on complex environmental liability challenges. Campbell was the former general counsel of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and led the federal assessment of the natural resource damage claim for the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the negotiations for the landmark $1bn settlement in the case.

Strong also focuses on oils spills and similar disasters, which can result in claims for natural resource damages, agency enforcement, site investigations, risk assessments, and litigation.