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ENVIRONMENTAL: DESCRIPTION

As the major environmental laws were enacted in the 1970s and 1980s, McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP clients -- chemical companies, oil and gas producers and defense contractors -- were among the first targeted by enforcement actions. Our firm responded by building one of the largest and most experienced environmental groups in any law firm. Today, more than 30 MLA lawyers concentrate on the environment.

McKenna Long & Aldridge was also one of the first law firms to introduce a dedicated European environmental practice, including opening an office in Brussels in 1990 for this very reason.  Today, our Brussels office has six attorneys focusing on environmental law and is recognized as home to one of the leading European practices.

MLA's Environmental section practices in all traditional areas of environmental law: litigation, regulatory and transactional. In each area, the section structures its client services in light of a single, guiding principle: environmental solutions must reflect a sound business perspective.

In matters of environmental litigation, the section encourages practical, cost-minimizing approaches to dispute resolution. In the same vein, in the regulatory arena, we have found that regulators are often more willing to accept cost-reducing alternatives, provided that the company's approach can be persuasively documented to protect human health and the environment. As a result, we often encourage clients to adopt a more forthcoming approach to the agencies, with more time spent in up-front discussions and correspondingly less time (and money) spent in contentious disagreements after the fact.

Our lawyers represent clients with environmental issues throughout the U.S., including:

  • Cleanups and securities disclosures
  • Conducting environmental audits
  • Cost recovery claims
  • Defense of enforcement actions
  • Draft compliance plans
  • Environmental permitting and compliance
  • Negotiating with regulatory agencies
  • Pre-acquisition due diligence
  • Representing clients in administrative proceedings and civil and criminal litigation
  • Wetlands enforcement

For a listing of our Environmental Practice advisories, articles, presentations and publications, please visit our Environmental Resources section.

At the Forefront

A leader in the practice of environmental law from its inception, MLA has stayed in the forefront of the most important environmental cases of our time and on the leading edge of national environmental developments. With more than 30 lawyers practicing in the environmental field, we help our clients shape the law through litigation, legislative and administrative action.

We counsel a broad range of corporate clients, industrial coalitions and trade associations in national, regional, state and local matters. Our multi-regional presence enables us to keep our clients informed as diverse regional and state enforcement trends develop.

In many cases, we have helped our clients develop creative, non-litigation solutions. When necessary, however, we apply aggressive litigation skills in pursuit of our clients' objectives.

Environmental Litigation

MLA lawyers represent clients in a wide variety of administrative and judicial enforcement proceedings. We routinely help our clients negotiate quick, quiet and low cost settlements. When favorable settlements cannot be achieved, the combination of our environmental experience, litigation skills, and trial experience provides our clients with the tools for success.

Administrative and Civil Enforcement

MLA litigates and negotiates compliance issues arising under the full spectrum of federal, state and local environmental laws and regulations. We regularly appear before administrative and judicial tribunals.

Our litigation record is impressive. We often have obtained dismissal of claims or substantially reduced penalties. We have effectively defended many Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and Clean Water Act (CWA) enforcement actions, as well as several of the largest actions ever brought under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and under Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). We have represented companies in numerous pesticide registration cancellation proceedings.

Criminal Defense

Criminal prosecution, once reserved for the most notorious offenders, increasingly is the environmental law enforcement tool of choice. Together with our Fraud and False Claims and Qui Tam practice group, a large number of our lawyers are experienced in criminal investigations, including former assistant U.S. attorneys and U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors.

We represent corporations and individuals in environmental criminal matters at the federal, state and local levels. We also help our clients understand the trends in enforcement and the bases for recent criminal actions and provide guidance in assessing potential vulnerabilities. We have negotiated successful plea agreements resulting in reduced charges, dismissed counts and misdemeanor pleas. We obtained dismissal of the first criminal prosecution brought under the California Oil Spill Prevention Act.

MLA's vast government contracts experience often has enabled our environmental lawyers to identify and resolve potential contract suspension or debarment issues arising from an environmental enforcement action at an early stage of the case, before significant business is lost by our client.

Toxic Torts and Product Liability

MLA has successfully defended numerous product liability and environmental tort actions such as chlorinated solvents, pesticides, PCBs, mercury and other materials released from or used at facilities, as well as pesticides, pharmaceuticals and consumer products released into the stream of commerce. We defeated class certification in tort cases alleging personal injuries and property damage and in cases seeking medical monitoring.

We also have successfully defended class actions. Our significant experience with a wide variety of environmental and medical experts allows us to control the admissibility of expert testimony before trial and to present complex environmental and medical issues in a manner easily understood by laypeople at trial.

Insurance Claims

MLA has successfully litigated and resolved environmental coverage cases against insurers for industry clients with contaminated sites across the country. We have developed a protocol for evaluating and achieving success in insurance coverage litigation that includes:

  • Estimation of expected litigation values
  • Evaluation of the likelihood of coverage
  • Litigation of claims
  • Mediation and arbitration
  • Nature, extent and timing of site contamination assessment
  • Negotiation of claims
  • Primary and excess coverage assessment
  • Venue selection

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Many members of industry believe that multiparty environmental litigation often is most cost-effectively handled through techniques involving arbitration, mediation, the use of neutrals and other creative approaches that seek solutions outside of traditional litigation. We have extensive experience using these techniques in resolving environmental disputes.

Environmental Counseling

Environmental compliance and remediation issues arise regularly during every form of daily business. The steady growth and change in environmental regulations makes the compliance process challenging. We have helped clients achieve and maintain compliance with environmental laws for more than three decades.

MLA provides counseling in all areas of federal and state environmental law. We assist clients in preventing and resolving compliance problems at both the facility and corporate levels. Some of the federal statutes we routinely address in our compliance counseling practice are:

Additional Specialties

MLA provides clients with other special environmental capabilities. The following are examples of our additional areas of environmental practice.

European Union (EU) Regulation and Litigation

Lawyers in our Brussels office counsel and litigate on all aspects of EU waste management and chemical, pesticide and other EU environmental and product regulatory matters. We have close working relationships with personnel of the European Commission and Member State Authorities and work in association with legal and technical experts in each of the Member States. We represent clients in negotiations with the regulatory authorities within the EU and provide extensive monitoring services with regard to rapidly evolving EU and Member States legislation.

Lawyers in our Brussels office, with technical support from European-based members of our consulting firm, TSG Europe, assist clients in developing environmental policies, review procedures and compliance programs to achieve the requirements set forth by EU regulation.

International Business Transactions and Product Movement (including Europe)

Every significant business transaction today requires consideration of environmental laws and regulations. When the transaction is international in scope, be it acquisition of a company or sale of products, international and domestic environmental regulations have an impact. Lawyers in all of our offices have experience in guiding clients through the maze of complex regulations that affect international transactions.

Together with our international trade and customs lawyers, we advise clients on the following:

  • Advising clients in the fields of water and air pollution control; permitting; waste management, shipment and disposal; packaging and packaging waste; biotechnology; ecological labeling; and environmental auditing requirements
  • Bilingual environmental labeling requirements
  • Helping clients negotiate with the regulatory authorities within the EU and provide extensive monitoring services regarding rapidly evolving EU and Member State legislation
  • Imports and exports of chemical substances and products containing hazardous materials
  • Regularly representing clients in European Commission and Member State proceedings concerning limitations or bans on products they produce
  • Regulation of international movement of wastes and recyclables
  • Treaties and conventions affecting the international sale of products

In concert with MLA's scientific consulting affiliate, Technology Sciences Group Inc., with which our lawyers have a close working relationship, our office provides a broad range of services in the field of European environmental law and product regulation. This field of practice centers on the regulatory and administrative controls governing the production, sale, classification, packaging and labeling of pesticides, chemicals, biocides, food, medicines, medical devices and cosmetics under both EU and Member State law.

In addition to guiding clients through the maze of EU environmental regulations, we often lobby EU institutions on our clients' behalf before legislation is adopted. In this work, we benefit from a close working relationship with EU and Member State officials.

International Dispute Resolution

MLA possesses extensive experience in representing clients in international arbitration proceedings. The firm has arbitrated multimillion dollar claims under the rules of the UN Commission on International Trade Law, the International Chamber of Commerce and the American Arbitration Association. In these arbitrations, the firm has developed substantial experience in handling the many aspects of arbitration proceedings, including the negotiation of detailed terms of reference, the handling of substantive matters in the arbitral proceedings and the post-judgment enforcement of arbitral awards.

Technical Support

Technology Sciences Group Inc.

Technology Sciences Group Inc. (TSG), an affiliate of McKenna Long & Aldridge, offers complete technical and regulatory services to the industrial, specialty and agricultural chemicals industries; the pharmaceuticals industry and international organizations in the fields of pesticide and chemical regulation, product safety, human health and environmental toxicology.

TSG's chemicals division provides technical and regulatory consulting on statutes and regulations affecting chemical manufacturing, most notably TSCA, EPCRA and OSHA Hazard Communication standards. The chemicals division also assists clients in addressing Canadian, European and Pacific Rim chemical regulation issues. TSG's chemical services include:

  • CEPA inventory and nomenclature
  • CEPA New Substance Notification
  • Conducting TSCA compliance audits
  • EPCRA Annual Release form preparation
  • EPCRA facility audits
  • Import/Export notification requirements
  • Pre-manufacture Notice preparation
  • Preparing for TSCA inspections
  • Test rule program management
  • TSCA inventory determinations

The pesticide division of TSG specializes in the registration and re-registration of pesticides under FIFRA and in the EU. TSG's state affairs division assists clients in pesticide registration issues at the state and sub-state levels. TSG also assists clients with:

  • CODEX package preparation
  • Domestic and import tolerance petitions
  • Interpretation and evaluation of regulatory studies
  • Protocol development
  • Registration strategy
  • Study design, placement, and monitoring

TSG's toxicology and ecotoxicology divisions offer support to chemical, agrochemical and pharmaceutical clients in the assessment, determination and evaluation of risks to human health and the environment. TSG services include:

  • Ecological risk assessment
  • Ecological risk communication
  • Ecotoxicology program design and monitoring
  • Evaluation of regulatory toxicology and ecotoxicology studies
  • Field study management
  • Hazard identification and data interpretation
  • Risk assessment
  • Scientific causation analysis
  • Uncertainty analysis and mechanistic evaluations

TSG also offers specialized training for personnel from U.S., Japanese and European companies in how to deal effectively with U.S. regulatory agencies. TSG has filed applications for approval of cosmetic ingredients.

For more information, please contact Stan Landfair for the US practice or Ursula Schliessner for the European practice.

 
 
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