In 34 years of practicing environmental and maritime law, Harlan has always been the kind of attorney who gets out from behind his desk, puts on boots and walks the client’s site or factory floor or dons a float coat and boards a vessel to see his client’s technology in use at sea. He believes the best way to advise a client on siting a facility, complying with environmental or maritime regulations, resolving enforcement matters, re-developing a brownfield site, or structuring a transaction is get to know the client’s business: how it works and its business goals – so he may then stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the client in helping realize those goals.

Since 2001, Harlan has also exercised his environmental and maritime skills as an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary.