The Legal 500

The election of Barack Obama’s Democratic administration is likely to lead to further change in an already contentious and changeable field, as the Environmental Protection Agency has its powers increased, more dollars are spent on enforcement and climate change issues come to the fore. Litigators predict that this area is likely to be very active in the medium term as the new White House turns around decisions made during the Bush era.

This section also considers toxic-tort matters. Although toxic tort straddles a variety of legal fields, it occasionally enters the environmental arena, most notably in terms of the use, maintenance and disposal of chemicals, and consequent effects on the land and on private citizens.

In something of a fragmented area with different state and federal laws as well as a host of enforcement agencies, an issue that may be prevalent in one region may not be as much concern in another. However, California is the one state to which everyone pays close attention, due to its strict regulations and handling of matters that other areas have yet to experience. It is often seen as the testing ground for many national issues.

Listed firms’ knowledge and experience encompass state and federal instructions. At the top end of the table, the firms’ environmental practices demonstrate a national, rather than regional, reputation. Lawyers must also be experienced in handling civil and criminal litigation involving government agencies, industries, corporations and private citizens.

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

PRACTICE: With 15 offices and over 1,000 lawyers worlwide, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is a full-service law firm with exceptional strength in depth in the field of environmental litigation.

Clients are impressed with the ‘outstanding service and advice’ which the practice provides and note that ‘other lawyers look to them as leaders, and highly respect their thoughts and opinions’.

Five offices in California and the firm’s Washington DC presence handle the bulk of the environmental work. The practice is well equipped to handle all manner of matters, regularly litigating on regulatory issues, toxic tort, cost recovery, rule-making proceedings, natural resource issues, right of access to public lands, superfund litigation, land use, enforcement actions, clean air and water and the Endangered Species Act.

Clients are impressed with the team’s ‘ability to deal with a number of complex and conflicting issues’, where it ‘gets the results we are looking for’. With more than 30 year’s experience in the field, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP has developed a ‘great and dominant practice’, which was ‘strong in environmental law years before it was in vogue’.

The practice is currently representing various groups of domestic and international automakers in litigation across the country in the cutting-edge area of greenhouse gas emissions. It recently secured the dismissal of a lawsuit seeking billions of dollars in damages from six leading automobile manufacturers. In 2008, partners at the firm were invited to testify before Congress as experts on the impact of regulating global warming under the current Clean Air Act.

In the toxic tort field, a team of the firm’s environmental lawyers are representing Lockheed Martin in connection with the defense of a 750-plaintiff toxic tort matter pending before the San Bernardino County Superior Court. In June 2008 the trial court ruled in favor of certain motions brought by Lockheed Martin challenging the opinions of certain medical causation plaintiffs’ experts. That ruling resulted in the dismissal of the first-tier plaintiffs remaining in the case in September 2008.

The practice also represents Goodrich in perchlorate contamination litigation, and administrative proceedings regarding groundwater contamination in the Rialto area of San Bernardino County. This precedent-setting case involves the allocation of responsibility for $300m in estimated clean-up costs. In Spring 2009 Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP obtained a stay in the proceedings in LA County Superior Court based upon alleged violations of California’s Administrative Procedures Act.

Clients continue to be impressed with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP’s ‘unfailingly high-quality work’ across a broad spectrum of environmental matters.

CLIENTS: The firm’s environmental clients include The California Farm Bureau Federation, MeadWestvaco, CRH, Alcoa, International Epidemiology Institute, Union Pacific, Anheuser-Busch/Sea World, Athens Services, Lockheed Martin and Unisys.

INDIVIDUALS: Chair of the firm’s environmental law and natural resources practice group, Patrick Dennis is ‘extremely good’ and ‘very knowledgeable’. Based in the firm’s Los Angeles office, his practice focuses on environmental litigation, environmental due diligence, compliance counseling and the defense of environmental enforcement actions and private citizen suit claims. One client says that ‘he has my highest confidence and recommendation’, while elsewhere he is described as ‘the best environment attorney in the city’.

Washington DC-based Raymond Ludwiszewski has extensive experience in assisting clients in complex environmental litigation, focusing on the defense of agency enforcement actions and large toxic tort cases Clients recommend him for his ‘considerable expertise in environmental law’. Having worked for the US government on environmental regulation and litigation, Ludwiszewski is ‘effective, but also efficient in marshalling limited resources’.

In Los Angeles, Amy Forbes is ‘very sharp’ and ‘politically astute’. Forbes focuses her practice on land-use issues, and specializes in working with governmental and environmental agencies, where clients regard her as ‘very knowledgeable technically and legally’.

Also recognized as ‘reliable and responsible’, and providing clients with ‘unfailingly high-quality work’ are Pete Seley and Charles Haake, both based in Washington DC.

Latham & Watkins LLP

PRACTICE: 105 lawyers in the environmental litigation practice and offices throughout the United States make Latham & Watkins LLP a ‘top-notch’ firm in this area, praised for its ‘competitiveness and determination to win’.

The firm is well-placed to handle every facet of any environmental dispute and boasts expertise in clean air regulation and violations, chemicals, energy regulation and development, superfund/contaminated properties, natural resources, endangered species, asbestos contamination, pesticides, toxic tort and insurance coverage.

Clients find the environmental litigation team ‘hard-working and incredibly thorough’ and note the practice’s ‘established expertise in a variety of environmental fields’.

The practice represents Poseidon Resources concerning water quality issues related to its proposed ocean desalination plants in Carlsbad and Huntington Beach, California which, after construction, will be the largest desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere. Local groups have challenged the federal Clean Water Act permits issued to Poseidon by the California Water Boards. In 2007, Latham & Watkins LLP successfully defeated administrative petitions filed by these groups with the State Water Board. The practice is currently representing Poseidon in an action filed by the same groups in San Diego Superior Court. This new case raises issues under a California Water Code statute requiring use of the best available site, design, technology and mitigation measures feasible.

In the toxic tort field the firm is representing Ford in a major matter filed in January 2006 in New Jersey, in which nearly 700 plaintiffs are alleging personal injuries and property damages from alleged exposure to contaminants at a site which received Ford-related wastes in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The case has attracted significant media attention due to the large recovery sought by plaintiffs - more than $2bn. The site was recently restored to the Superfund National Priorities List, a rare if not unprecedented development.

In 2007 Latham & Watkins LLP obtained the largest award ever issued in a pesticide ‘data compensation’ arbitration on behalf of Syngenta Crop Protection. The practice is currently representing Syngenta in another such arbitration proceeding.

CLIENTS: The firm represents a host of multinational conglomerates, including many Fortune 100 and 500 companies. A selection of the firm’s clients includes the American Chemistry Council, MidWest Generation, San Diego Gas & Electric, 3M, ExxonMobil, Pacific Gas and Electric, Croplife America Union Pacific Railroad and Ford.

INDIVIDUALS: Working in the firm’s San Diego office, Robert Howard ‘wants to win but knows when to settle also’. Co-chair of the firm’s product liability and toxic torts practice, as well as the environmental litigation practice, he ‘continually impresses’ and provides ‘excellent services’.

Global co-chair of the climate change practice group, Robert Wyman is the firm’s lead counsel in Clean Air Act issues, where he displays ‘good relations in the bar’. Stationed in the firm’s Los Angeles office, he has a ‘top-level reputation’ and is ‘really good’, say clients.

Described as ‘one of the pre-eminent pesticide and environmental attorneys in the country’, Kenneth Weinstein is ‘outstanding’. Based in Washington DC, clients confirm that the ‘marvelous’ Weinstein ‘has provided us with continually excellent service’.

Arnold & Porter LLP

PRACTICE: With a strong reputation in litigation, and particularly well regarded for its toxic tort expertise, Arnold & Porter LLP’s clients praise the practice’s ‘rare mix of power and finesse’.

A core team of 15 partners and counsel work across the firm’s six offices in the US, with Washington DC, New York and San Francisco handling the bulk of the environmental matters. Considered a ‘full-service, top-drawer litigation firm’, clients are impressed by its ‘outstanding quality of written work’ as well as the environmental practice’s ‘overall reputation and individual reputations for peerless toxic-tort litigation’.

Arnold & Porter LLP represents Honeywell regarding its environmental portfolio in Syracuse, New York. The site includes Onondaga Lake, one of the largest lake cleanups in the United States. The practice recently successfully negotiated with the State of New York for removal of roughly 2.65m cubic yards of Onondaga Lake sediment and capping of over 500 acres of the lake bottom. The firm also represents Honeywell in Natural Resource Damages negotiations with the United States, New York and the Onondaga Nation as well as handling all of the legal and regulatory issues on behalf of Honeywell for the large uplands sites and legacy source areas in and around Syracuse.

The practice recently acted on behalf of Frito-Lay, the largest snack food manufacturer in the US, in litigation against the California Attorney General and several private plaintiffs alleging failure to warn of the presence of the chemical acrylamide in potato chips. The case was initiated shortly after Swedish researchers discovered that acrylamide is present in many foods, including potato chips, crackers, cookies, cereal and toast. Acrylamide is on the California Proposition 65 list as a chemical known to cause cancer in laboratory animals, but it has not been shown to cause cancer in humans. After fact and expert discovery and hearings on four summary judgment motions, the case settled on the eve of trial.

In Native Village of Kivalina v ExxonMobil, the practice represents an energy/petroleum defendant in a cutting-edge climate change lawsuit filed on behalf of an Inupiat Eskimo village allegedly harmed by the loss of barrier ice protecting the village from harsh Arctic storms as the result of global warming. The plaintiffs’ lawsuit has been the subject of extensive national publicity.

CLIENTS: The firm is retained as outside environmental counsel to Honeywell. Other clients include CSX Railroad, Mosaic, Arco, BP America, SD Warren, Safety Kleen, Silverstein Properties, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Foster Wheeler, Hexion, Madison Square Gardens, GE, Chrysler, PPL and Newcor.

INDIVIDUALS: Head of the firm’s environmental practice, Lester Sotsky is ‘an excellent environmental and toxic-tort attorney’. Based in the firm’s Washington DC office, clients regard him as having ‘outstanding judgement’.

Also located in Washington DC, Michael Daneker is regarded by clients as a ‘brilliant toxic-tort expert’. Focusing his practice on complex contaminated site remediation and redevelopment, natural resource damages and toxic-tort litigation, he is a ‘great defense attorney’.

Also thought well of by clients are New York-based of-counsel Nelson Johnson, who is regarded as ‘one of the smartest lawyers with whom I have worked’, and Blake Biles, who is seen as ‘a very strong, embattled product defense attorney’.

Bingham McCutchen LLP

PRACTICE: With 15 partners and almost 30 fee-earners focusing on environmental litigation, Bingham McCutchen LLP’s clients describe it as ‘resourceful and extremely creative’. The ‘exceptionally responsive’ firm has ‘a real speciality at handling complex Californian regulations’. The practice specializes in complex bet-the-company cases that encompass all aspects of environmental litigation, especially water issues, and is ‘at the top of its game’.

The firm provides ongoing representation for the Renewable Fuels Association, the trade association for producers of ethanol, in various legislative, regulatory and litigation matters. Representation in 2009 included numerous issues before EPA, OMB, CEQ and Congress, particularly those related to the greenhouse gas emission reduction requirements in the Renewable Fuel Standard as amended by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.

The practice has also represented a consortium of domestic passenger and cargo air carriers in defending a Proposition 65 lawsuit brought by private plaintiffs. The plaintiffs allege that passengers and employees at airports are exposed without warning to jet engine exhaust fumes containing listed chemicals, in violation of Proposition 65.

Bingham McCutchen LLP is representing the Imperial County Air Pollution Control District in its pursuit of the largest enforcement matter in the agency’s history. The enforcement action concerns the failure of construction companies to obtain the necessary permits for heavy construction operations and equipment used in a major canal lining project.

The United States Chamber of Commerce is another of the practice’s clients, currently litigating in federal district court proceedings relating to new regulations under the Endangered Species Act governing consultation requirements in the context of actions that may result in emissions of greenhouse gases.

CLIENTS: The ‘exceptionally responsive’ firm represents a multitude of big names on both the national and international scene from the energy, food and beverage and technology sectors, including PepsiCo, Niagara Mowhawk, Chevron, Texaco, the cities of San Diego and Los Angeles, Andarko, ExxonMobil, Teledyne Technologies, International Paper and Rhodia.

INDIVIDUALS: Clients describe Los Angeles-based James Dragna as ‘very articulate, very experienced and very thorough’. Experienced across the spectrum of environmental litigation, he is particularly known for his waste, wastewater and water rights knowledge, where clients confirm he ‘really knows what he is doing’.

Regarded by clients as ‘having proven himself to be remarkable’, especially in Clean Air Act issues, Charles Knauss ‘is as tough as we need him to be’. Practising from the Washington DC office, he is ‘excellent on his feet’ and ‘so easy to work with’.

Chair of the firm’s environmental practice group, Los Angeles-based Rick Rothman is regarded as an ‘excellent lawyer with good relations in the bar’.

Sidley Austin LLP

PRACTICE: Sidley Austin LLP’s environment practice consists of more than 40 lawyers who clients say are ‘excellent’ and show a ‘top-level understanding of the issues’. The firm is active across a range of industries and in all environmental issues, including civil and criminal enforcement, toxic-tort and public-nuisance matters.

With key practice centers in Chicago and Washington DC, clients are impressed by the firm’s ‘superlative legal skills’ and ‘good practical application’ leading them to describe the practice as ‘strong litigators’.

Sidley Austin LLP’s environment practice was strengthened by the return of Roger Martella in the summer of 2008. He rejoins the firm as a partner in Washington DC after serving as the General Counsel of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and as Assistant Chief of the DOJ’s Natural Resources Law Section, concluding ten years of litigating and handling complex environmental and natural resource matters at the Department of Justice and the EPA.

The firm’s climate change team has been retained by The National Petrochemical Refiners Association to draft comments on the Interior Department’s listing of the polar bear as a threatened species due to climate change concerns, and to intervene in litigation brought by environmental groups on polar bear issues in the Northern District of California.

In the toxic tort field, the practice has represented a carbon black manufacturer in one class action and several large mass tort suits around the country. The suits seek damages and injunctive relief for property damage and personal injuries from alleged exposure to carbon black emissions from the company’s facility in Oklahoma.

The practice recently assisted a chemical manufacturing company in negotiating a comprehensive multi-media enforcement settlement with the EPA and three States.

The settlement, entered by the court in January 2008, was the first accomplished through the EPA’s enforcement initiative against chemical companies and resolved an array of claims concerning seven facilities across the country.

CLIENTS: The firm’s extensive client list includes American Electric Power, Duke Energy/Cinergy Corporation, General Electric, Tyson Foods, Coronet Industries, Consolidated Edison and Honeywell International.

INDIVIDUALS: Heading up the firm’s environmental group, the ‘responsive and effective’ David Buente is praised for providing clients with ‘easily useable advice’. Based in Washington DC, Buente focuses his practice on Clean Air Act, superfund, criminal defense and toxic-tort issues. One client describes him as the ‘smartest person I know and an excellent strategic thinker’.

Robert Olian is the head of the Chicago office’s environmental practice and co-head of the firm’s national environmental group, and is viewed as ‘just superb’. With a practice focussed on civil and criminal enforcement proceedings, clients regard him as a ‘trial litigator extraordinaire’.

Clients also single out Chicago-based Susan Harris as ‘tops in litigation strategy and client responsiveness’, where she ‘handles matters very successfully’.

Mayer Brown

PRACTICE: With offices throughout the US but particular strength in its environmental practice in Chicago, Mayer Brown takes on all types of public and private environmental litigation, including enforcement and mass/toxic tort defense.

Clients say that ‘the firm has both depth and breadth’, and ‘a consistent track record of providing high-quality representation’. The practice has particular expertise in major infrastructure projects where services include securing government approvals, environmental impact assessment, negotiating agreements and fending off challenges.

In a matter worth $100m, the practice is representing CMS Energy with respect to an environmental cleanup in Michigan. The practice recently scored a victory for CMS before the Environmental Appeals Board. Environmental groups challenged the EPA’s issuance to CMS of a federal disposal permit. The EAB’s ruling sided with CMS and denied review on all grounds.

The practice also recently represented Frontier Communications in a suit worth over $50m brought by the city of Bangor, Maine over responsibility for cleanup of the Penobscot River. Following a three-week trial, the court fixed the practice’s client contribution at a much lower percentage than the plaintiff alleged. Mayer Brown then negotiated a consent decree that capped its client’s liability at $7.625m and that assigned various claims against other responsible parties.

CLIENTS: The firm’s clients include Fortune 500 companies working across a host of sectors such as Nicor Gas, Cargill, CMS Energy, BNSF Railway, Valero, US Sugar, Dow Chemical, American Farm Bureau Federation, Gerdau Macsteel, JMB Realty, Los Angeles World Airport Authority, Edison Electric, Ford and Commonfund Realty.

INDIVIDUALS: Co-leader of the firm’s environmental law group, Thomas Skinner is regarded as ‘smart and responsive’. Based in the firm’s Chicago office, he brings years of experience, including stints at the EPA, which have culminated in ‘an amazing work ethic and strong legal skills’, and a ‘sensitivity towards the client’s business needs’.

Clients also rate Thomas Dimond as ‘a key partner in the environmental litigation arena’, and are impressed by his ‘ability to think creatively about legal strategies’. Also located in Chicago, his practice focuses on superfund, Clean Air Act issues and toxic tort matters. He is currently engaged in a multi-state superfund matter for a major chemical manufacturer.

Morrison & Foerster

PRACTICE: With particular strength in Proposition 65 matters, Morrison & Foerster ‘works tirelessly to achieve the best result possible’, and leaves clients ‘extremely satisfied’ when litigating on environmental matters.

Clients report that the firm provides ‘superb service, always’, and note ‘the excellence of the attorneys’. With ten offices across the US, the firm’s environmental litigation practice has ‘the ability to deliver the necessary results effectively’.

In 2008, the practice won a key litigation matter regarding Proposition 65 on behalf of the American Meat Institute and favorably settled a prominent cross-border case on behalf of Coca-Cola.

In the area of consumer products, the practice has a particular focus on litigation issuing from allegations regarding the release of hazardous materials and toxic substances. Currently the firm is defending consumer goods companies Mattel, Fisher-Price, Sears, Roebuck and Kmart in matters regarding allegations of lead exposure. The group recently received a favorable outcome for Sierra Pacific, the largest landowner in California, in a precedent-setting matter before the California Supreme Court regarding timber harvesting plans. Numerous issues of first impression were also favorably established through litigation on behalf of client Pacific Lumber and Scotia Pacific involving matters of permit issuances and unfair competition.

CLIENTS: The firm’s clients in this area include Rio Tinto Minerals, Coca-Cola, Bird’s Eye Foods, Royal Doulton, HJ Heinz, Novartis, Pacific Lumber, Sierra Pacific Industries and JC Penney.

INDIVIDUALS: Chair of the firm’s land use and environmental group, Robert Falk ‘makes the difference’, say clients. Based in San Francisco, Falk provides an ‘incredible mixture of competence, determination, focus and professional standing’ and also ‘delivers the required results’.

Peter Hsiao is recommended for ‘his exceptional breadth of knowledge’. Head of the Los Angeles office’s land use and environmental group, clients praise his ‘attention to detail’ and his ‘ability to coordinate and manage a complex matter’, and note that he is ‘willing to jump in and get involved under time pressure’.

Regarded by clients as a market leader in Proposition 65 litigation, one client praises Michèle Corash as ‘one of the best attorneys I have ever worked with in this or any field’. Based in San Francisco, she is ‘widely known for her expertise’, and clients ‘cannot recommend Michèle highly enough’.

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

PRACTICE: Nine partners in Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington DC focus on environmental litigation at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, supported by the firm’s other offices across the US.

Clients praise the practice’s ‘first-rate service at all times’ and particularly value ‘the firm’s knowledge of our business and values, the quality of work, and manner in which matters are staffed’.

The environment litigation team handles a wide variety of civil, administrative and criminal matters, representing individuals, companies and other entities in cases under all of the major federal environmental statutes and the laws of many states. The practice’s clients are active in a wide range of manufacturing sectors, as well as pharmaceutical, chemical, research and development and retail businesses.

The firm recently represented Teck Cominco Metals in developing and successfully negotiating an ‘historic’ transnational agreement with the EPA and the Department of Justice (DOJ). The firm litigated over the extraterritorial reach of the Superfund law and also undertook negotiations that involved the Canadian Government, the State of Washington, two Native American tribes, the State Department, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Council of Environmental Quality, DOJ and EPA.

The practice is also currently representing the City of Rialto in one of the leading environmental cases pending in Southern California at this time. Worth $200m, the case concerns water contamination from a 2800-acre area used by the United States Government during World War II as the ammunition storage point for all Pacific theater ordinance, and subsequently used for decades of rocket, munitions and fireworks manufacturing.

CLIENTS: Known for its ‘impressive depth and breadth’, the firm has a far-reaching client base that includes Chevron, Conoco Phillips, ExxonMobil, 3M, Orange County Water Board, Union Pacific Railroad and the City of Rialto.

INDIVIDUALS: Co-leader of firm’s environmental litigation group, Christopher McNevin has ‘a harder edge’. Based in the firm’s Los Angeles office, he focuses his practice on working with environmental agencies on climate-change issues, clients confirming that they turn to him for his ‘expertise in environmental litigation’. He is described as ‘focused, practical, cost-effective, a tremendous communicator who gets great results’.

Houston-based partner Thomas Campbell is ‘connected, dedicated to our success, responsive and practical’, say clients. Representing domestic and multinational companies in complex litigation, his ‘political expertise’ is much sought after by clients.

Vinson & Elkins L.L.P.

PRACTICE: With offices in Austin, Houston, Dallas, Washington DC and New York, clients praise Vinson & Elkins L.L.P. for ‘its results-oriented approach to problem solving’ and ‘smart and aggressive lawyers’. The firm represents clients across a wide range of issues, including toxic tort, civil and criminal enforcement and superfund litigation, achieving a ‘record of good results’.

The ‘outstanding’ practice is particularly well regarded for handling and defending toxic tort litigation.

Representative matters include the defense of a major petrochemical manufacturer in litigation filed by tens of thousands of banana plantation workers allegedly rendered sterile by application of a pesticide to the plants; the representation includes supervision of defense of actions filed in multiple non-US jurisdictions.

In the Superfund sphere, the practice recently represented a rail company over claims that the client’s sales of a scrap metal for use as a raw material made it liable for the costs of cleaning up contamination at the buyer’s manufacturing operations. The Fourth Circuit reversed a decision by the trial court imposing $10m on the practice’s client and established an important new precedent limiting Superfund liability for a secondary material.

CLIENTS: The firm represents many high-profile clients such as Proctor & Gamble, Occidental, TXU, Heil, the Port of Houston and Sandy Creek Energy Associates.

INDIVIDUALS: Based in the firm’s Austin office, the ‘really bright’ and ‘very pleasant’ Molly Cagle is known for her ‘top notch litigation skills’. Representing clients before agencies and state and federal courts, she is an established expert in superfund, clean-water and clean-air issues.

D Ferguson McNiel is described as ‘a fantastic guy’. Practising from the firm’s Houston office, he represents many Fortune 100 companies, and ‘isn’t pompous or arrogant’. Experienced in toxic-tort and energy cases, he is ‘a model of what a good lawyer should be’, say clients.

Alston & Bird LLP

PRACTICE: With a strong base in the South East and a growing environmental litigation practice in Washington DC, Alston & Bird LLP is thought of by clients as ‘very, very good’ with ‘good quality lawyers’.

With solid regulatory and litigious expertise, and well known for its defense of national and multinational conglomerates in large and highly contentious litigation, the firm provides clients with a service that is ‘more than competent’.

The practice recently defended a major chemical manufacturer against allegations that its product labels and Material Safety Data Sheets were inadequate and out of compliance with Proposition 65. The litigation was a significant contributing factor to a landmark ruling by federal OSHA, exempting out-of-state manufacturers from providing Proposition 65 warnings for workplace exposures in California.

CLIENTS: Representing a range of Fortune 500 companies, the firm’s eminent client list includes Amvac, Emory University, Imerys, MEAG Power, Dalton Utilities, Verizon, Gwinnett County and the City of Atlanta.

INDIVIDUALS: Robert Mowrey chairs the firm’s energy and sustainability practice group. Located in the firm’s Atlanta office, he covers a diverse range of issues and is known in the hazardous-waste and toxic-tort arenas. His new focus is climate change and carbon management issues.

Also based in Atlanta, Lee DeHihns focuses on defensive litigation matters. With over 30 years’ environmental litigation experience, he was named chair of the ABA’s Environment Section in 2007.

Bruce Pasfield, whose prior employment was as an environmental prosecutor for the DoJ, has added gravitas to the smaller, but growing, Washington DC office.

Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP

PRACTICE: Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP has six partners focusing on environmental litigation working from the firm’s New York and Washington DC offices. While the firm is perhaps better known for its corporate work in the environmental field, clients are ‘extremely impressed with its responsiveness’ and rely on its ‘clear, candid advice that you can count on’ when it comes to litigation.

The practice handles a variety of matters ranging from CERCLA cost recovery to defense of civil and criminal penalties under various environmental statutes; and insurance coverage claims to contractual claims for indemnification.

The practice successfully secured for the Oneida Indian Nation one of the largest land into trust decisions granted by the Department of the Interior under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. The group’s attorneys played a key role in obtaining this decision which was based largely on one of the most comprehensive environmental impact statements prepared to support a Native American Trust Land Application.

CLIENTS: The firm represents a range of mainly corporate clients, including CBS, General Electric, Elementis, WR Grace, Crow Holdings, Goldman Sachs Credit Partners, Seacor Holdings and Citigroup.

INDIVIDUALS: Head of the firm’s environmental practice, David Berz is ‘exceptionally commercially oriented and creative in his approach’, say clients. Based in the firm’s Washington DC office, Berz has more than 20 years’ experience in civil and criminal environmental litigation, including water, air and chemical issues, where he ‘always sees the big picture’ and ‘helps drive to the desired result without getting mired down in the weeds’.

Also picked out by clients as ‘responsive and understanding of the client’s needs’ are Washington DC-based David Hird and Annemargaret Connolly. Experts in a range of environmental issues, clients see them as ‘practical’ and ‘excellent’ lawyers.

White & Case LLP

PRACTICE: With four partners, five associates and one counsel concentrating on environmental work, White & Case LLP ‘impresses with its environmental and procedural expertise in all aspects’.

The firm’s environmental group carries out a lot of corporate and transactional matters but it also boasts a solid record and reputation for superfund litigation, where clients confirm that it ‘provides sound advice within the confines of the law’.

The practice currently represents a group of major limestone mining companies, and their trade association, in environmental litigation concerning federal permits for limestone excavation activities in wetlands. Several environmental organizations challenged the permits issued to the companies. At stake is whether the companies can continue to mine limestone in an area that supplies 40% of the State of Florida’s supply of construction aggregate and 25% of Florida’s production of cement. The case has generated national attention, and is one of the most significant environmental cases in Florida.

CLIENTS: The firm represents a variety of domestic and international clients, including Estée Lauder, International Finance Corporation, Ciba Specialty Chemical Volvo International, Fordham University, ABB, Deutsche Bank and G&S Motor Equipment.

INDIVIDUALS: New York-based Paul Milmed is ‘very experienced’ and can be ‘instrumental in bringing matters to resolution’. Having gained strong superfund litigation experience, he is regarded as a ‘very savvy litigator’ and is a respected mediator.

Also practising from the firm’s New York office, Richard Horsch is ‘all about client service’. Representing clients in all aspects of environmental litigation, he ‘assists clients from both a business and legal perspective’, where he ‘puts himself in the client’s shoes’.

Baker Botts, L.L.P.

PRACTICE: With 11 partners in Austin, Washington DC and Houston, Baker Botts, L.L.P. has an ‘active environmental practice’ that provides clients with full-service regulatory, transactional and litigation advice at both the federal and state levels.

Prominent in Texas, the firm has a strong client base in the oil and gas field but is less active on the West Coast.

Baker Botts, L.L.P. is national counsel to two leading refiners and a chemical company in defending scores of product liability claims across the country, alleging that gasoline containing the additive methyl-tertiary-butyl-ether contaminated water supply wells. The practice helped negotiate a settlement of the majority of these cases but is defending over twenty remaining actions.

The group is also currently representing a national mining and smelting company in connection with estimation proceedings on $6.5bn in environmental claims at approximately 75 sites across the country. The case has been described by the Department of Justice as the single most complicated environmental bankruptcy in history.

CLIENTS: The firm represents a raft of big-name energy clients including ExxonMobil, Valero Energy, Motiva Enterprises, CPS Energy, Sinclair Oil and Excel Energy.

INDIVIDUALS: Head of the firm’s environmental group is Pamela Giblin. Based in the firm’s Austin office, her practice encompasses the range of environmental litigation.

Steven Leifer is based in Washington DC and is best known for his expertise in regards to hazardous waste and substances. Also in Washington DC, William Bumpers focuses on climate-change and Clean Air Act matters, and is the head of the firm’s global climate-change group.

Jones Day

PRACTICE: 35 attorneys focusing on environmental matters are ‘committed to providing a good service’, according to clients of Jones Day.

The firm provides a full-service practice that includes representation in toxic tort, superfund and natural resource claims, private citizen suits and class actions.

Jones Day’s environmental practice represented Dana in connection with the federal government’s efforts to recover approximately $425m in environmental cleanup costs from Dana relating to seven superfund sites. The practice reached a settlement with the government for $125m for all seven sites in April 2008.

In 2007 and 2008, the practice defended the nation’s largest manufacturer of wheel balancing weights, Perfect Equipment, in a California Proposition 65 lawsuit filed by a leading environmental public interest group, the Center for Environmental Health (CEH). CEH claimed that wheel balancing weights manufactured by Perfect, which historically have been made of lead, contaminate California’s drinking water supply when they fall off tires near surface water ditches and storm drains. The group exposed problems in the plaintiff’s case, including on the issue of proximate cause, and the case settled on favorable terms for the client.

The practice also defended Xcel Energy in connection with a class action suit that claimed Xcel’s emissions substantially contributed to global warming and caused Hurricane Katrina. The court dismissed the claims on standing and political question grounds.

CLIENTS: Representing clients from a multitude of industries, a representative sample of the firm’s clients includes Chevron, Bridgestone Americas Holding, IBM, Doe Food, Excel Energy, Textron and PCS Nitrogen.

INDIVIDUALS: A ‘recognized national expert in the field’, Kevin Holewinski is ‘best-in-class’. Based in the firm’s Washington DC office and heading up the firm’s environmental litigation practice, he ‘has brought his background and experience to our efforts’, say clients.

Thompson & Knight LLP

PRACTICE: With four offices in Texas and one in New York, Thompson & Knight LLP is thought by clients to be ‘highly knowledgeable, very thoughtful and extremely persistent’.

Although better known for its strong regulatory and counseling practice in the environmental field, the firm’s litigation practice is nonetheless ‘very experienced in the range of areas in which we retain them’ according to clients.

The practice was retained in 2008 by a railway company to defend more than 300 lawsuits that have been filed by residents of Somerville, Texas. The claims arise from a railroad tie treatment plant and the suits claim personal injuries from alleged emissions and fugitive dust from the plant, as well as alleged property damages due to claimed contamination of the soils, groundwater, and air surrounding the area.

The group has also been involved in some large Superfund matters on behalf of oil company clients in 2009.

CLIENTS: The ‘very thoughtful’ firm represents clients such as General Motors, Occidental, Ford, Ashland, Honeywell, Dal Chemical and Eagle Materials.

INDIVIDUALS: Jonathan Shoebotham is praised for his ‘professional and competent work’. Based in Houston, he is well known for ‘his knowledge in the toxic-tort area’, and also has experience of litigating high-stakes superfund matters; one client values his expertise so much that ‘we followed him from his old firm to where he is now’.

Austin-based partner James Morriss is described as ‘an intelligent lawyer with good problem-solving skills’. Representing clients from a range of industries, including energy and real estate, clients view him as ‘sensitive to our business concerns’; with one stating that they have ‘never worked with anyone with Jim’s skills’.