Earl Phillips has practiced environmental and natural resource law and worked on related utilities projects for more than 30 years. He has chaired the firm's Environmental and Utilities Practice Group since 1987. Comprising more than 25 professionals (lawyers, environmental and utility analysts, and environmental managers), the group is one of the largest among private law firms in the Northeastern United States. Mr. Phillips represents foreign and domestic interests in various matters. His practice includes environmental compliance counseling and risk management, transactional counseling, brownfield development, project and utility (energy and water) permitting, crisis management preparation and response, environmental defense, and cost recovery. He represents various natural resource (e.g. stone, sand, gravel), metal reclamation and recycling, and heavy manufacturing clients and significant pharmaceutical, chemical, petroleum, waste, explosives, and munitions companies, as well as facility and project developers, municipalities, and utilities. Mr. Phillips is widely published and has lectured to diverse business and legal audiences throughout the United States and abroad. He has taught courses in environmental, water, and land use law at Wesleyan University, the University of Connecticut, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Mr. Phillips is listed in the top tier of environmental lawyers in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business. He has also been listed in The Best Lawyers in America in the area of Environmental Law for more than a decade (Copyright 2011 by Woodward/White, Inc., Aiken, SC). He has been consistently ranked as a Top Lawyer in Corporate Counsel magazine. Mr. Phillips is also listed in The International Who's Who of Environment Lawyers 2009 and The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers 2010 (environment chapter) by Who's Who Legal. He has been named to the New England Super Lawyers® list in the area of Environmental Law since 2007 (Super Lawyers is a registered trademark of Key Professional Media, Inc.). Professional Associations - American College of Environmental Lawyers - Connecticut Business & Industry Association, Past Member of Executive Steering Committee of Environmental Policies Council - Connecticut Council on Environmental Quality - National Institute of Municipal Law Officers, Past Chair of Environmental Section - United States Law Firm Group, Chair of Environmental Section Honors and Awards - Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® in the area of Environmental Law since 1993 (Copyright 2011 by Woodward/White, Inc., Aiken, SC) - Listed in Connecticut Super Lawyers® in the area of Environmental Law since 2007 (Super Lawyers is a registered trademark of Key Professional Media, Inc.) - Listed as one of the Top 50 Lawyers in Connecticut by Connecticut Super Lawyers® 2011 (Super Lawyers is a registered trademark of Key Professional Media, Inc.) - Listed in Who's Who Legal: The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers 2010 in the area of Environment (Copyright by Law Business Research Ltd) - Listed in Who's Who Legal: The International Who's Who of Environment Lawyers 2009, 2011 (Copyright by Law Business Research Ltd) - Ranked in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business in the state of Connecticut in the area of Environment Experience - Counseling clients in the investigation, remediation, risk shifting, and transactional elements of converting complex brownfield properties to alternate commercial and residential uses. - Representing clients in project involving extensive groundwater investigation and remediation, on-site soils investigation and remediation, negotiation of multiagency (federal, state, municipal) resolution, cost recovery efforts from prior owners, and defense of toxic tort claims. - Representation of a manufacturer of technology products and provider of support services for the aerospace and building industries worldwide at a National Priorities List site where state and federal agencies sought to compel remediation over a 10-square-mile area, including areas never owned or operated by our client. Negotiated a consent decree limiting the work to performing an investigation only and only for our client's property. Significantly limited additional groundwater work through the state regulatory program. - Representation of a large aerospace manufacturing client to advance arguments for Environmental Protection Agency's deferral to the development of international standards for greenhouse gas emissions from certain source categories. Robinson & Cole worked with the client's technical, marketing, and legal personnel to develop an in-depth white paper on the issues and relevant U.S. and international law, governmental authorities, and nongovernmental organizations, as well as a strategy document setting out potential options, venues, and pressure points. - Representation of a client in the investigation and subsequent remediation of a historic clock manufacturing building in Waterbury, Connecticut. The contaminant was radium and the remediation was overseen by the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The initial site inspections were conducted by NRC experts. - Representation of a manufacturer of high-technology products and provider of support services to the aerospace and building industries worldwide for legal work concerning design and permitting of several connected "sustainable campus" projects to upgrade the client's treatment and reuse of wastewater, to install a combined heat and power cogeneration facility, and to make related infrastructure changes at a business unit's headquarters. - Representation of retail gasoline operator and multisite owners in mediation of issues related to responsibilities for investigation and remediation. - Representation of retail gasoline company in responding to release and securing legislative mandate enabling recovery of money from the state. - Representation of a construction materials company concerning the sale of its asphalt paving and construction contracting business in Michigan and Indiana. - Representation of NYSE-listed company in subpoena response to New York State attorney general industry-wide investigation of highly regulated industry. - Negotiated and counseled clients on the environmental provisions in throughput contracts at petroleum terminals. - Represented a Fortune 500 company in connection with construction of a $280 million pharmaceutical facility on a brownfield in Eastern Connecticut. Publications & Presentations Articles - "Cap-and-Trade: Law and Economics," coauthored with Kirstin M. Etela, Brian C. Freeman, Lauren Vinokur (1/2010), published in LexisNexis Global Climate Change Special Pamphlet Series - Coauthor of chapter on state environmental law, Treatise on Environmental Law, published by Matthew Bender - Coauthor of chapter, Brownfields Law and Practice: The Cleanup and Redevelopment of Contaminated Land, published by Matthew Bender - Coauthor of Connecticut Chapter, Environmental Law Practice Guide, published by Matthew Bender - "Enforcement Issues Under the New Clean Air Act" published in National Business Institute, coauthor - "Mandated Penalties Under the Proposed Federal Environmental Sentencing for Business Organizations" published in ABA Environmental Litigation Section Newsletter, coauthor - "The Cleanup and Redevelopment of Contaminated Land" published in Brownfields Law & Practice, coauthored for Matthew Bender Presentations - "Thinking About the Unthinkable: Crisis Preparation and Management" presented for the New England Fuel Institute, lecturer and author - "Getting a Good Deal Buying or Selling an SSG Business - Business and Environmental Legal Strategies," copresented with W. Richard Smith, Jr. (3/21/2011) at National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association - "Environmental Risk Management" and "Environmental Inspections" presented for Executive Enterprises Course in Boston, Massachusetts, lecturer and author - U.S. environmental law paper and lecture presented to a consortium of large law firms principally located in London, United Kingdom, lecturer - "Bankruptcy Law Meets Environmental Law: Toxic Gridlock" presented for the Commercial and Bankruptcy Law Section of the Connecticut Bar Association, lecturer and author - "Brownfield Redevelopment Along The Coastal Edge: New England Experiences" presented at Coastal Zone National Conference, Baltimore, MD - "Buying and Selling Environmentally Challenged Businesses and Properties" presented for the New England Fuel Institute, lecturer and author - "Clean Water Act Programs and the Water Quality Act of 1987 (An Overview)" presented for Executive Enterprises in Boston, Massachusetts, lecturer and coauthor - "Crisis Preparation and Response" presented for the Massachusetts Chemical Technology Association, lecturer and author - "Emergency Planning and Right-to-Know: The Municipal Perspective" presented at the Annual Conference of New England Finance Officer's Association, lecturer and coauthor - "Environmental Considerations in the Transactional Setting" presented for Executive Enterprises Environmental Regulation Course, lecturer and author - "Environmental Investigations, Audits and Assessments" presented for Executive Enterprises Environmental Regulation Course in Hartford, Connecticut, and Boston, Massachusetts, lecturer and coauthor - "Environmental Issues Confronting the Business Community" presented at Penn State University and published in the Northeastern Pennsylvania Chamber of Commerce, lecturer and author - "Environmental Risk Management" presented for Executive Enterprises Environmental Regulation Course, lecturer and author - "Expanding Profit Potentials Through Environmental Risk Management" presented for the National Real Estate Development Center in Miami, Florida, lecturer and coauthor - "Ground Water Protection and Mitigation Measures" presented for the Urban Land Institute in San Francisco, California, lecturer and coauthor - "Hazardous Waste: The Resource Conservation Recovery Act" presented for the National Business Institute, lecturer and coauthor - "Local Groundwater Protection" presented for the American Planning Association in Denver, Colorado, lecturer and author - "Responsibilities and Risks in Training the Risk Manager and Response Team Under Title III" presented at the Conference Sponsored by the American Industrial Hygiene Association, lecturer and coauthor - "Security and Crisis Management" presented for the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, lecturer and author - "Superfund and Solid Waste: The Municipal Perspective" presented for the National Institute of Municipal Law Officers, 53rd Annual Conference in Charleston, South Carolina, lecturer and coauthor - "The Clean Air Act; Business Impacts and Public Relations" presented for Ruder-Finn (New York Academy of Science) in New York, New York, lecturer and coauthor News 6.17.11, Chambers USA Ranks Robinson & Cole in Six Practices, Names 12 Attorneys as Leading Lawyers 4.08.11, Earl Phillips and Rich Smith Present at National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association Convention 7.08.10, Earl Phillips Jr. Featured in the Connecticut Law Tribune's "Gulf Lessons" 6.14.10, Chambers USA Ranks Robinson & Cole in Five Practices, Names 11 Attorneys as Leading Lawyers 3.08.10, Robinson & Cole Attorneys Author Chapter in Global Climate Change Special Pamphlet Series 7.11.08, Robinson & Cole Partner Joins American College of Environmental Lawyers |