Practice Areas & Industries: Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP

Practice/Industry Group Overview

Gardere has distinguished itself in the chemical and refining industry representing Fortune 500 and mid-market companies with innovative litigation strategies and proven, effective transaction counseling. Our seasoned team includes attorneys and technical specialists with advanced education and vital work experience in chemical, petroleum, mining, and other engineering fields. We also consult with attorneys in other practice areas to bring the right mix of industry knowledge and legal expertise to bear on client issues. Success in these industries require innovative strategies, high technology, effective litigation strategies, property protection, and streamlined operations. In an industry faced with cyclical supply and demand, fluctuating energy prices and international competition, Gardere’s industry knowledge together with its sophisticated transactional and litigation services provide the basis for a winning formula for clients.

• ­    Complex Business Cases
  • Lawsuits involving contract formation and compliance, commercial agreements and transactions, force majeure, joint ventures, computer system integration claims, construction, trade secrets, insurance coverage, indemnity, pricing issues, and antitrust
  • Class Actions
  • Multidistrict litigation and environmental class-action cases with multiple parties
• ­    Toxic Tort Litigation
  • Workplace exposure cases
  • Benzene, asbestos, vinyl chloride, styrene, pesticides, silicosis
•  Environmental Litigation
  • Regulatory litigation including a recent argument to the U.S. Supreme Court
  • Underground water contamination
  • Superfund litigation
• ­    Patent Litigation

• Major infrastructure projects involving pipelines and power projects with values in the $2 to $3.5 billion range
• In-fence co-generation facilities
• Engineering, procurement and construction contracts
• Operations and maintenance agreements
• Service agreements
• Common facilities agreements
• Contracts for specially manufactured infrastructure components

• Acquisition and divestiture agreements for facilities engaged in the separating, fractionalization and refining of natural gas and liquid hydrocarbons
• Tax planning
• Joint ventures
• Finance agreements

• Strategic supply and sales contracts
• Toll processing agreements
• Power purchase agreements
• Off-taker agreements

• Audit Committee and internal investigations
• Compliance with federal, state and local laws and regulations such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Commodity Exchange Act, environmental laws, and permit issues
• Document retention policies
• Price fixing and antitrust
• Operations integrity programs, incident reporting systems, and risk management

• Patent prosecution in various arts including chemical engineering equipment, chemical reactions, chemical processes, organic chemistry, and polymer chemistry
• Freedom to operate and non-infringement opinions
• Trade secret protection

• Resolution of employment and immigration issues
• Union elections, contract negotiation, strikes and labor boycotts
• Wage and hour disputes, including collective actions
• OSHA planning and defense of citations and safety counseling and process preparation
• EEOC and discrimination claims
• Workers’ compensation retaliation claims

• Short and long-term planning of both permanent and temporary international transfers of personnel for corporate companies
• Obtaining of U.S. non-immigrant visas
• Obtaining U.S. permanent residence through employment, investment or family relationships

• Permitting for the release of pollutants into the air, water, groundwater, municipal sewerage systems and municipal and industrial landfills
• Permitting for fungicides, pesticides, insecticides, rodenticides and toxic substances
• Administrative regulatory compliance matters at the state, federal and local level involving hazardous waste management, wastewater discharges, air emissions, oil pollution, and storm water management
• Environmental risk and compliance issues relating to the acquisition, divestiture and remediation of real property

• Local, state, federal, and international tax advice in connection with reorganizations, spin-offs, mergers, asset acquisitions, and partnerships
• Transfer pricing issues all over the world, but particularly as those issues relate to Japan, Western Europe, and Latin America

• Litigation, arbitration and negotiation of insurance coverage disputes involving property, business interruption, liability, directors and officers and errors and omissions coverage
• Policy reviews