We continually update our clients on emerging issues in the environmental and natural resources area and strive to maintain good working relationships with members of the regulatory community, including the EPA and state regulatory agencies.
What we can do for you:
Due Diligence
We assist in managing environmental due diligence in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and commercial real estate transactions. This includes selecting and working with environmental engineers and other environmental professionals to accomplish site assessments quickly and efficiently. We are experienced in all aspects of environmental site assessments, including Transaction Screens, Phase I, Phase II and Baseline Assessments, and the standards under which they are performed. We assist and advise our clients in determining the necessary scope of their due diligence.
Indemnity
We negotiate, prepare and advise our clients regarding environmental indemnity agreements and other risk shifting devices that may be part of comprehensive agreements concerning their transactions. This includes indemnity and escrow provisions written into purchase and merger agreements. We also assist clients with the resolution of disputes that may arise regarding these provisions.
Pollution Insurance
We assist clients in obtaining pollution legal liability insurance and similar modern insurance products designed to manage environmental risk. We have also used these products in assisting our clients’ lenders to become comfortable with accepting impaired property as loan collateral. We work directly with environmental insurance brokers and underwriters to quickly and efficiently educate them on the environmental and legal aspects of the site under consideration. We help identify the insurance program that is best suited to our clients’ needs and negotiate provisions of the insurance agreements.
Brownfields and Wetlands
We assist clients in developing brownfields and other impaired properties by using the tools made available in the regulatory community, including prospective purchaser laws, comfort letters, voluntary cleanup programs and other devices that may be used to protect our clients from liability. We also assist real estate developers and other clients interested in developing areas that include wetlands in obtaining Section 404 permits under the Clean Water Act.
Water Law
We advise our clients with respect to water law issues that may arise in their real estate and business transactions.
Permitting
We assist our industrial clients with facilities across the United States and other countries on a daily basis in the interpretation, application and compliance with the myriad of environmental laws, regulations and transnational standards that apply to their diverse operations. This work includes assisting clients with permitting and reporting requirements under all major environmental programs, including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Hazardous and Solid Waste Management, and Community Right-to-Know programs.
Safety
We assist clients in complying with OSHA laws and regulations, particularly when their environmental, health and safety functions are combined into one department. Our environmental attorneys work in concert with the attorneys who practice in the Employment Law and Labor Relations Practice Area to coordinate and advise clients regarding health and safety regulations.
Management Systems
We are leaders in assisting our clients in developing environmental management systems, including systems developed under ISO 14001 - the international standard for environmental management systems, and helping them audit and maintain these systems. We assist clients in achieving certification of their systems. We assist in preparing their environmental policy, operating procedures and pollution prevention programs. We also assist clients in developing safety management programs, including programs such as OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program. We advise our clients on the use of these management systems to help prevent environmental and safety problems in their operations, and to improve their environmental and safety performance.
Compliance Audits
We perform compliance audits of our clients’ facilities and operations consistent with accepted auditing standards. These services include desk-top review of the client’s permits and other documents relating to compliance, site visits to inspect facilities and review operations, identification of all environmental laws and regulations that may apply to their operations, and an audit report and recommendations to management regarding their state of compliance. We believe these audits are one of the most value-added services we can provide to industrial clients. We believe the cost of achieving and maintaining compliance is far less, in the long run, than fines and civil penalties that may result if a compliance gap is discovered by the regulatory agencies.
Self Reporting
We assist clients with self-reporting potential compliance violations under EPA policies and state rules that grant immunity from civil penalties to regulated entities that systematically discover, report and remedy their compliance gaps in a timely fashion. We are leaders in tracking, interpreting and applying these rules in the various states, and were proponents of the environmental audit privilege and immunity law enacted in Nebraska in 1998. Using these rules, we assist our clients in achieving compliance in multi-state operations in an open and straightforward relationship with the regulatory community.
Clean Up
We assist clients with negotiations on scope, clean-up levels and timing of corrective actions under RCRA, CERCLA, the Clean Water Act and related state laws. We work in tandem with our clients’ environmental engineers to determine the most effective way to address clean up problems in compliance with regulations and the regulatory community’s demands.
Legal Proceedings
Administrative Matters - We assist clients who may have run afoul of environmental laws and regulations in resolving disputes and actions for civil penalties in a timely and reasonable fashion. Our work in this area also includes the negotiation of administrative consent orders to resolve these disputes, and the use of supplemental environmental projects to help reduce penalties that may otherwise be unavoidable. We are also experienced in representing clients in administrative hearings and appeals.
Litigation
We assist clients in resolving environmental litigation, including CERCLA or Superfund, RCRA, water law issues and Clean Water Act claims, brought by the EPA, private parties, or state regulatory agencies. We have served as plaintiff’s counsel in Superfund actions, and similar state court proceedings, brought on behalf of our clients to recover damages for environmental contamination. We advise clients on the use of alternative dispute resolution procedures when it best serves the client’s needs. We have experienced trial attorneys who advocate our clients’ causes in trial and on appeal.
Attorneys |
Paralegals |