Jennifer J. Cave
Jennifer Cave has over 20 years of experience working as an environmental consultant and attorney across the United States. Serving as Chair of the firm's Environmental, Energy & Sustainability Service Group, she works closely with businesses to ensure compliance with local, state, and federal environmental laws and regulations. Ms. Cave advises clients on air quality, storm water, wastewater, and solid and hazardous waste permitting and compliance requirements and defends clients in administrative, civil, and criminal enforcement actions. Ms. Cave also regularly counsels equipment manufacturers on the importation and sale of mobile sources under the Clean Air Act and guides clients through transactions involving the purchase and sale of contaminated properties.
In addition to her environmental law practice, Jennifer founded Stites & Harbison’s hemp and medical cannabis practice after being appointed by the Governor to the Kentucky Medical Cannabis Advisory Committee in 2022. She provides counsel on regulatory compliance, business strategy, and risk management issues to medical cannabis businesses and represents medical cannabis businesses in litigation and before the Kentucky Office of Medical Cannabis.
Chevron Overruled: What the Supreme Court's Decision Means for Environmental Rules
Speaker, 23rd Annual Kentucky Environmental Conference, Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, Lexington, KY, March 26-27, 2024
Chevron Deference in the Wake of the Looper Bright Decision
speaker, Kentucky Association of Administrative Adjudicators (KAAA), Frankfort, KY, March 19, 2025
Medical Cannabis Seminar
panel member, Kentucky Academy of Healthcare Attorneys Webinar, November 13, 2024
Negotiated a coverage settlement on behalf of an excess insurance carrier in a matter involving claims made in connection with contaminated sediments at the Portland Harbor Superfund site.
Conducted a Clean Air Act audit and negotiated penalty amnesty with state air agency for a large, coal-fired power plant.
Obtained hardship relief from U.S. EPA for a manufacturer of non-road equipment following supply chain shortages of compliant engines resulting from the 2011 tsunami in Japan.
Evaluated state and local air permitting requirements for a nationwide product recall by a Japanese automotive manufacturer.
Prepared a combined PSD/Title V Permit Application for a proposed coal-fired power plant.
Environmental, Energy & Sustainability Service Group, Chair (2024-present)
Louisville Office Recruiting Committee, Member
Kentucky Horse Park Commission (2023-27)
Greater Louisville, Inc., Environment and Energy Committee, Chair
Greater Louisville, Inc., Public Policy Committee
Team Kentucky Medical Cannabis Advisory Board (2022-present)
Louisville Regional Science and Engineering Fair, Vice President of Legal & Business Affairs (2018-21)
Kentucky Air and Waste Management Association, Board of Directors
Louisville Air Pollution Control District Multi-Pollutant Stakeholder Group
Women Environmental Leaders of Louisville (WELL), Co-Founder
Leadership Louisville, Class of 2019
magna cum laude
Seattle University School of Law
Environmental Law Society
Faculty Scholar Award Nominee
cum laude
University of Kentucky
Equestrian Team
Alpha Omicron Pi
Ms. Cave joined the firm after working as an environmental consultant specializing in due diligence investigations and hazardous waste compliance in New England and the Pacific Northwest. In the past, Ms. Cave has served on the Board of Directors of the Lexington Humane Society, the Louisville Energy Alliance, and the KMAC Museum and the Steering Committee of Leadership Lexington. In 2017, she co-founded Women Environmental Leaders of Louisville (WELL), a networking group of over 100 women working in the environmental, health and safety, and sustainability fields in Louisville. Ms. Cave is an avid horsewoman who enjoys competing in the sport of eventing. She also assists her two rescue dogs, Mason and Malcolm, with managing the family farm in Shelby County.
Martindale-Hubbell® AV-Preeminent® Peer Review Rated
ChambersUSA, "America's Leading Lawyers for Business," Environment, Natural Resources & Utilities: Environment (2021-24)
Best Lawyers in America®, Environmental Law (2017-25)
Best Lawyers in America®, Louisville Area Lawyer of the Year for Environmental Law (2020)
Kentucky Super Lawyers®, Rising Stars (2013-16)
Business First of Louisville, 20 People to Know in Law (2020)
Leadership Lexington Distinguished Leader Award (2013)
The Women We Admire, Top 100 Women Leaders in Law of 2021



Kentucky Association of Administrative Adjudicators (KAAA) Winter CLE
Time: 8:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
KYTC Conference Room C117, 200 Mero Street, Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Attorney Jennifer Cave will be a speaker at the Kentucky Association of Administrative Adjudicators (KAAA) Winter CLE on March 19th. It will be held at the KYTC Conference Room C117, 200 Mero Street in Frankfort, Kentucky.
23rd Annual Kentucky Environmental Conference
Embassy Suites by Hilton Lexington/UK Coldstream, 1801 Newtown Pike, Lexington, Ky. 40511
Environmental attorneys Jennifer Cave and Ken Gish will be speakers at the 23rd Annual Kentucky Environmental Conference presented by the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce in Lexington, Kentucky on March 26 and 27, 2025.
Kentucky Academy of Healthcare Attorneys Webinar: Medical Cannabis Seminar
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
WEBINAR
Stites & Harbison attorneys Bailey Browning, Kelly White Bryant, Jennifer Cave, Jackson Hurst-Sanders, Robin McGuffin and Sarah Cronan Spurlock will be speakers at the Kentucky Academy of Healthcare Attorneys webinar, Medical Cannabis Seminar being held November 13, 2024.
Forever Chemicals: What Does Your Business Need to Know and Do?
Time: 12:30 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
WEBINAR
Forever Chemicals: What does your company need to know and do. Join us for this four-part complimentary webinar that is designed for decisions makers who do not have degrees in chemistry or environmental science - but need practical, actionable advice.
A Forever Chemicals Primer: When, Why, How, Who, and Where?
Part 1 of webinar series, "A Forever Chemicals Primer: When, Why, How, Who, and Where?," where attorneys Jennifer Cave and John Tate discussed identifying common commercial and industrial applications of PFSA; providing up-to-date human health and environmental testing data; and discuss state and federal regulatory status of forever chemcials.
Impacts of the Demise of Chevron Deference on Environmental Law
On June 28, 2024, in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, 144 S.Ct. 2244 (2024), the Supreme Court overruled its 1984 Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. NRDC, Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984), decision and the legal doctrine of Chevron deference with it. In doing away with Chevron deference, the Court has broken from the accepted regulatory landscape of the last 40 years, which will have dramatic effects on environmental law for decades to come. Environmental attorney Jennifer Cave and summer associate Noah S. Dunaway take a look the Court’s decision and its impacts on regulated entities, beginning with an analysis of what Chevron deference was in this Stites & Harbison Client Alert.
Stites & Harbison, PLLC Lawyers Named to 2025 Best Lawyers® Publications
Stites & Harbison, PLLC is pleased to announce that 97 of its lawyers are included in the 2025 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®. Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers® has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence according to the publication. Additionally, 12 Stites & Harbison attorneys are named as “Lawyer of the Year” and 30 attorneys are recognized in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America, which recognizes attorneys early in their careers for outstanding professional excellence in private practice in the United States.
Chambers USA Honors 25 Stites & Harbison Attorneys for 2024
LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Chambers USA selected 25 Stites & Harbison, PLLC attorneys in Kentucky and Tennessee for inclusion in their 2024 guide. The Chambers USA guide ranks the top law firms and leading attorneys in the United States.