Environmental, Safety & Health

Whether it is negotiating consent decrees, preparing and reviewing Title V applications, and permitting, or counseling on pollution control strategies involving emissions trading credits (including EU ETS), our global footprint ensures we have the knowledge you need. Our lawyers are experienced in counseling clients in clean air and air quality legislation, including defending enforcement actions under such legislation; counseling and negotiating with agencies on permits, variances and state/local implementation plan revisions; representing clients in administrative rulemakings/policy development; challenging regulations in court; and providing assistance in responding to agency information requests.

We are one of the world’s leading chemicals practices and one of the few able to assist clients in legal, regulatory and advocacy matters related to chemicals and materials on a global basis. In particular, we have industry-leading expertise in requirements associated with the manufacture, import, export and distribution of chemicals and materials.

This includes experience in the EU and the UK, under the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) and Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) legislation; and in the US, under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and California’s Proposition 65 (Prop 65). We bring a strategic approach to meeting the regulatory challenges that arise across the life cycle of chemicals – from planning and market access, to production, to distribution and use, to disposal. We also have expertise in related areas in other jurisdictions such as Korean REACH (K-REACH) and Turkish REACH.

Additionally, we counsel across evolving EU regulatory hurdles and restrictions to market access that are also relevant to certain substances and materials – including requirements around CE marking, restrictions of hazardous substances (RoHS), waste electrical and electronic equipment recycling (WEEE), restrictions on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and many more.

We also have complementary product safety, conformity and recall expertise, which means that we understand downstream implications and issues of noncompliance in the chemicals and materials supply chain.

We provide bespoke, creative advice to help our clients solve the challenges and seize the opportunities presented by the evolving responses of regulators and other organizations (including nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)) to climate change. We routinely advise on the full breadth of environmental issues, such as energy efficiency targets, offsetting and credibility of carbon credits, sustainability reporting, due diligence obligations and sustainable finance, supporting clients in their decarbonization goals and wider sustainability objectives, including supply chain procurement processes.

Our team offers a wide spectrum of services, including legislative and regulatory monitoring, counseling and advocacy; rulemaking challenge; compliance; green claims advice; carbon trading and projects advice; support with energy-efficiency strategies; counseling on power siting and development; and advice on the development of renewable and clean energy.

We assist with the complex issues associated with project and infrastructure siting and development involving manufacturing facilities, landfills, transportation infrastructure, deep well injection and transfer facilities, wind farms, hydroelectric facilities, cogeneration facilities, mines, oil and gas exploration, and pipelines.

We have specific expertise in environmental due diligence associated with site and property acquisition and development, including identification and valuation of associated risks, complex permitting in environmentally sensitive areas, including permits associated with impacts to wetlands and jurisdictional waters, historic preservation areas and endangered species, and redevelopment of brownfield properties.

We assist clients (including other law firms without specialist ESH expertise) in both national and cross-border corporate finance transactions, such as mergers, acquisitions and disposals, to understand and minimize environmental risks, and risks related to the health and safety of employees, or others (for example, customers or consumers, in the case of food safety or product safety). We advise purchasers, vendors and secured lenders on how to identify, manage and allocate risk; the allocation of environmental risk and liabilities under contracts; and identification and characterizing relevant risks in due diligence reports.

We provide similar due diligence support on asset and property acquisitions, including in relation to complex siting, permitting and infrastructure development.

We advise clients on traditional, alternative and unconventional resource development, including siting and infrastructure development (including impacts to wetlands, jurisdictional waters and endangered species). We are one of a handful of firms in the UK with nuclear safety experience.

Our experience includes work for the utility industry and the renewable energy industry, including wind farms and solar farms, cogeneration, hydroelectric and geothermal facilities. We also have experience with shale gas development, pipeline development and regulation, and nuclear decommissioning.

One of the unique strengths of our practice is the ability of our lawyers to litigate their own cases. Our combination of trial skills, appellate experience and substantive expertise allows us to provide sophisticated and cost-effective representation in the most complex environmental disputes. Our global team has defended civil and criminal enforcement cases brought by regulators, defended citizen suits, defended and brought cost recovery actions, litigated natural resource damage actions and handled the defense of a long list of multiparty and class action toxic tort actions at the federal and state levels in the US, as well as corresponding enforcement action and complex civil litigation, in the UK, Europe and Australia.

When it comes to health and safety incidents and similar crises, time is of the essence. We provide immediate assistance and counseling on-site following major catastrophic events involving the safety of workers or others, or environmental pollution, including worker fatalities and workplace accidents, explosions, fires or significant spills and releases. We advise across post-incident investigations and interviews, and the defense of civil and criminal enforcement actions, including wrongful death or manslaughter, as well as specific breaches of applicable laws.

We advise on privilege, insurance coverage, and customer, workforce, community and media relations, as well as potential liabilities in relation to the incident, and strategies for response and defense. We also support on potential exposure for employers to workers’ compensation issues and intentional tort litigation.

We also counsel on the broad range of workplace safety and health compliance obligations, including all aspects of OSHA and MSHA compliance and reporting in the US, requirements for reporting to regulators in other jurisdictions (for example, under RIDDOR in the UK), obligations to control major hazards and hazardous substances, process safety management, exposure to air contaminants, medical surveillance and monitoring, and hazard communication.

In addition, we have extensive experience defending Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) orders and enforcement actions involving worker safety in connection with the transportation of hazardous liquids and other materials. Our experience also covers exposure to air contaminants, fall protection/working at height, building safety, fire safety, confined space entry, workplace transport, crane operations, crowd safety, stage safety, protection from terrorism, electrical safety, personal protective equipment, asbestos notification and removal requirements and requirements of, and certifications to, health and safety management standards.

We can guide you through the alcohol, food and licensing process for premises in the UK and Australia, offering advice on licensing requirements, audits to assess compliance and correct deficiencies, required applications, hearings, reviews and appeals.

We represent a diverse client list consisting of transport hubs, retail, hotels, stadiums and football clubs, property developers, hospitality and in-house catering, as well as supporting on other licenses that may be required for such operators, including marriage venue approvals, treatment licenses and approvals for highway trading.

Our expertise is unmatched in the iron and steel-making, cast metals, rare earth, gold, silver, ferroalloys and iron ore and coal-mining industries. We work closely with clients on the full range of environmental issues, including siting; public land access and use rights and approvals; permitting; developing impact statements; endangered species matters; defending government and citizen suit enforcement actions, cost recovery actions, multiparty and class-action toxic tort actions; resolving property disputes; and environmental due diligence during the sale and purchase of mining assets.

We help clients navigate national and local land management regulations by outlining risks and strategies that are clear and understandable. We assist in the development of the right remediation program and advise on the conduct of emergency removal actions, completion of long-term remediation investigations and feasibility studies, hazardous waste corrective actions and the selection of remedial action requirements.

Our lawyers have handled hundreds of matters on behalf of industrial, commercial and municipal clients. Our experience includes prosecuting and defending private cost recovery actions. We have experience defending natural resource damage claims, negotiating consent, directing remedial investigations and feasibility studies, and assisting with remedial design and implementation.

Our UK team is one of the few environmental groups to have hands-on experience of defending enforcement actions under the Contaminated Land Regime.

We are one of few firms with an international presence dealing with global manufacturers and operators of various industrial and consumer products, meaning that we provide cross-jurisdictional advice to our clients on product safety, conformity, marking and labeling and recalls/market withdrawals.

Key areas of expertise include market access advice across various product types, including food and feed, food-contact materials, machinery, toys, electrical and electronic equipment, batteries, medical devices, vehicles and technology; representation of clients in regulatory investigations and enforcement action by competent national and local authorities; advising operators on notifications and product recall or withdrawal obligations and processes; counseling on safety compliance programs; and supporting on potential disputes between producers and suppliers in respect of product defects.

We advise on engagement with regulators such as the US FDA and CPSC, the UK FSA and OPSS, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, and with RAPEX and RASFF EU reporting portals, as well as on the myriad EU- and UK-specific product rules relating to product type and overarching requirements, such as those under General Product Safety legislation, the Product Liability Directive, RoHS, WEEE, CLP and Eco-Design regimes.

We see, and strategically advise on, trends in product safety and conformity regulation and enforcement, including in areas such as lithium batteries, green claims, substance restrictions or proposed restrictions (e.g., PFAS/ PFOA, BPA and other hazardous bisphenols), food fraud, the regulation of AI used within industrial and consumer products and evolving eco-design requirements. We have the benefit of specialty chemicals and materials lawyers, which gives us an edge for advising on potential product liability issues connected with the upstream authorization, registration and/or labeling of substances and mixtures in the composition of industrial and consumer products and food contact materials, as well as alleged defects and safety risks in the downstream product.

We are widely known for our environmental work in policy and other regulatory arenas. We are able to proactively monitor initiatives that may significantly impact operations, analyze proposed rules, prepare comments and testimony, negotiate with regulators to improve rule content and, when necessary, litigate to secure key changes. Our rulemaking and policy development advocacy includes work for private and public entities of all sizes, trade associations and coalitions.

We offer advice on compliance with solid and hazardous waste laws and regulations (CERCLA, RCRA and Environment Agency), alongside compliance with solid and hazardous waste laws and regulations under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, state equivalents, and legislation governing waste permits (and exemptions), waste management and waste disposal outside of the US, as well as potential cross-border waste issues. This includes the siting and permitting of solid waste landfills and transfer stations and hazardous waste facilities, compliance management, including the scope of the definition of waste and applicable duties of care, management of odors and air emissions, and closure and corrective action.

We provide pertinent advice about issues related to the development of water quality standards, pre-treatment standards and discharge limitations, development of permits and compliance with terms and conditions.

We also counsel on securing, protecting and transferring rights to surface and groundwater; surface and groundwater regulations and their interactions; and inter-basin transfers of groundwater resources and groundwater recharge projects, among many other project-types.