Evans, Katie J.

Celeste Evangelisti is passionate about clean water-so much so that she has devoted the past several years of her career to representing individuals, municipalities, and water suppliers seeking clean-up costs for contamination damaging community water supplies. Hard-driving and tenacious, her legal prowess earned her the honor of being named a "Texas Super Lawyer" (Thompson Reuters, 2003-2005). She was also a member of the legal team representing Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) that were named "Attorneys of the Year" for Environmental Law in 2001 by California Lawyer (Daily Journal Corp.) for the resolution of a precedent-setting case requiring major oil companies to clean up more than 1,000 sites contaminated by the gasoline additive MTBE.

A shareholder with Baron & Budd's water contamination litigation group, Celeste currently represents plaintiffs in several states across the country seeking redress for polluted drinking water supplies. She is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell, its top rating. She is also a frequent speaker and presenter on legal topics concerning the prosecution of water contamination cases involving the gasoline additive MTBE and other contaminants of concern. Celeste also represented, pro bono, the family of a woman who perished during the 9/11 attacks in a claim for assistance from to the Victims Compensation Fund.

"The lengths some polluters will go to increase their profits at the expense of the well-being of entire communities never ceases to amaze me," she says. "It is ultimately very satisfying to bring these companies to justice and protect the environmental integrity of our water supplies."