For more than 30 years, Catherine Little has counseled oil and gas pipeline, storage, and LNG clients across the United States on traditional and renewable energy, transportation and safety-related legal matters at federal, state and local levels. At the forefront of cutting-edge legal issues for this industry, including with respect to the energy evolution, and carbon dioxide and hydrogen in particular, Catherine and her team regularly assist clients in navigating complex regulatory compliance and enforcement defense matters, encompassing construction, operations, maintenance, and inspection, incident response, and security issues. Catherine also routinely advises clients on litigation strategy and legislative and rulemaking developments, and frequently manages compliance audits and confidential internal and governmental investigations. As to the latter, Catherine and her team have favorably resolved criminal investigation matters led by the Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General and the US Department of Justice and successfully challenged administrative agency actions at the federal appellate level.
Catherine is consistently recognized as a preeminent pipeline safety lawyer by industry ranking publications. She is highly ranked by Chambers USA as Band 1 in Energy: PHMSA Specialists and was named Energy Natural Resources & Mining Lawyer of the Year at the 2024 Women in Business Law Americas Awards. According to Chambers USA, Catherine “is very organized, very diligent, a very good communicator and really understands the ins and outs of our industry. She is knowledgeable with a good technical grasp.” (2025). She “dispenses expert, solution-oriented advice with thoughtfulness and humor.” (2025). “Catherine has deep knowledge of PHMSA regulations” and her “advice is very practical.” (2024). She “has notable experience handling compliance issues for pipelines as well as managing both civil and criminal enforcement actions.” (2022).
Catherine also regularly serves as a moderator and speaker at legal and industry conferences and seminars across the United States, and is the author of several articles, chapters and editorials on compliance and regulatory issues.
