Carl Douglas Goins Jr.

A renowned name in environmental law and government contracts, Carl Douglas Goins Jr. has served as the president of DGEN Strategic Solutions and founding partner at Gons Law Group since 2015. In these roles, he has managed litigation, advised corporations about risk management—particularly on environmental risks, cleanups, mitigation, and regulations—and handling commercial work, government contracts, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate governance. He previously excelled as an associate general counsel for energy, environment, safety, and health at Lockheed Martin Corporation from 1990 to 2014 and an attorney at Gearhiser, Peters and Horton from 1988 to 1990. He has also lent his expertise—which extends to nuclear and mixed hazardous waste—to Martin Marietta Energy Systems.

Born and raised in Tennessee, where he still works, Mr. Goins earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from East Tennessee State University in 1974 and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1977. He subsequently joined the U.S. Army, ultimately serving for a total of 35 years—during which time he was a paratrooper in the 82^nd Airborne Division, where he prosecuted a serial murderer who ended up being convicted in 1987; defended the Army’s Special Operations in a case called “Yellow Fruit”; and won a complicated case involving the Lockheed Martin Corporation, resulting in the reduction of a third of the overhead expenses within the U.S. Navy. He spent 10 years on active duty characterized by classified missions, was featured on Time Magazine’s “Ten Most Important Court Marshalls in the U.S. Military” list, and retired from the Army as a lieutenant colonel in 2000.

Outside of his primary legal positions, Mr. Goins has provided counsel for his church, the Faith Lutheran Church of Knoxville, freeing the organization of its debts by helping sell one of its properties to the city of Farragut, with Knox County agreeing to rent and use it as a facility for seniors. He has also drafted contracts for the church, worked with the Military Officers Association of America to lobby for service members and their families, was interviewed by the White House for the assistant administrator for foreign affairs position with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, appeared before the Postal Regulatory Commission to receive a Letter of Appreciation from the Navy, and is one of four or five lawyers who became a certified hazardous materials manager. A gifted writer, he co-authored “Environmental Considerations in Real Estate and Business Transactions” in the Certified Hazardous Materials Managers Handbook in 1990, co-authored “Regulating Contractors in War Zones: A Preemptive Strike on Problems in Government Contracts” for the Thompson West Briefing Papers in 2007, and co-authored “Paying for Environmental Cleanup: Rethinking Strategies When One Potentially Responsible Party is in Bankruptcy” for ACC Docket in 2011.

A life member of the Military Officers Association of America and the American Legion, Mr. Goins plans to become a law school professor while completing a book on classified information in the future.