Practice/Organization Description
Foley Hoag has perhaps the largest environmental litigation and dispute resolution practice in New England. And, through service to our clients, we have attained a national reputation in environmental matters. Our lawyers have built an impressive record resolving environmental disputes at the negotiating table and in the courtroom, and a number of our cases have produced precedents of national importance.
Foley Hoag has demonstrated to our clients the effectiveness of our approach, which combines the aggressive use of litigation, alternative dispute resolution and negotiation, to pursue all avenues of relief or defense. Foley Hoag has considerable experience in the resolution of environmental litigation through facilitated third-party mediation, and several of the members of the environmental group are formally trained as mediators and have served as mediators.
We carefully tailor our efforts to promote successful, but cost-effective, results for each client.
We represent clients in a large number of federal and state superfund matters pending in courts in all regions of the country. Those matters involved both government enforcement actions and private-party cost-recovery claims. We have also handled a number of claims bought under other environmental statutes, such as the Clean Water Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the Clean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Often we represent governmental entities in litigation centering on environmental and land-use issues. We also have considerable experience in litigating so-called toxic tort claims, which involve allegations of personal injury from exposure to hazardous materials.
We have successfully represented our clients in numerous state and federal enforcement proceedings for alleged violations of clean air/clean water regulations, toxic substances regulations, and hazardous waste and hazardous material regulations. We have negotiated significant reductions in proposed penalties, and helped craft creative solutions to agency demands for pollution prevention or control, which satisfy the agency without unduly interfering with business operations.
