Pat Goughan is Of Counsel with Holland & Knight's Public Policy and Regulation practice in the firm's San Francisco office. Ms. Goughan's practice is focused on the areas of U.S., foreign and international environment health and safety and related products regulation law with an emphasis on compliance counseling and strategic compliance planning. Ms. Goughan has more than 20 years experience working as in-house counsel for firms in the chemicals and electronics industry, addressing both facilities compliance and product compliance, as well as environmental remediation and, more recently, emerging trends such as energy efficiency regulation, product substance labeling and restrictions, product take-back, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and other sustainability issues. She has also worked with clients on the environmental, health and safety (EHS) and product regulatory aspects of corporate transactions from general business contracts to acquisitions and divestitures.
Ms Goughan's experience provides her with a global perspective on EHS regulatory issues and trends; and she enjoys working with clients to develop worldwide compliance strategies and policies while recognizing the need to ensure compliance with individual country requirements.
Before coming to Holland & Knight, Ms Goughan served as Managing Counsel for environmental health and safety and related products regulation for Hewlett-Packard Company, where she worked for 17 years. In that capacity, Ms Goughan was responsible for providing legal advice and strategy for a broad range of issues from facilities EHS compliance and soil and groundwater remediation projects to chemicals and other products regulation, as well as product stewardship and corporate social responsibility issues. Among other things, Ms Goughan provided legal support and guidance for company-wide compliance programs such as RoHS and REACH; for the company’s legislative advocacy and implementation of product take back programs; and for the establishment and development of the company's Supply Chain CSR program. She also advised on energy efficiency, product content restrictions, preferential procurement, eco-label, environmental advertising and similar initiatives in the U.S. and elsewhere. She also was responsible for due diligence, negotiation and drafting of the EHS and product regulatory aspects of corporate acquisitions and divestitures. As part of her role, she also established and managed a network of specialized outside counsel in the United States, Asia, Europe and Latin America.
Prior to joining HP, Ms Goughan was an Environmental Counsel for the then CIBA-GEIGY Corporation. Her experience included providing counseling to chemical manufacturing facilities in facility permitting and operational compliance for hazardous waste (RCRA), water Clean Water Act) and air (Clean Air Act), as well as counseling under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). She also provided legal advice and drafting on complex centralized purchasing contracts, including output and requirements contracts, for bulk commodity chemicals.
Earlier in her career Ms Goughan worked in commercial litigation, and also spent a year as a criminal appellate lawyer for the New York Legal Aid Society.