Holland & Hart LLP

Since the mid-1980s, we have successfully represented numerous policyholders in their efforts to obtain insurance coverage for environmental liabilities. In most instances, we have successfully negotiated favorable settlements for clients with claims under Comprehensive General Liability (CGL) policies for environmental remediation costs and third-party (e.g., toxic tort) liabilities.

When litigation has been necessary, we have successfully represented plaintiffs in declaratory judgment and bad faith claims arising from environmental coverage claims. Our extensive trial experience, with the support of Persuasion Strategies, a multimedia and litigation support division within the firm, makes Holland & Hart one of the nation's leading law firms in this area of practice.

Representative Cases

• We were lead trial counsel on behalf of a major chemical manufacturing company against its primary and excess insurers for coverage at over 100 contaminated sites located throughout the United States. We assigned teams of lawyers to investigate and marshal the evidence at each site and to prepare detailed estimates of remediation costs and/or third-party liabilities for each site. We defended hundreds of depositions, managed the production and imaging of millions of pages of documents at numerous locations, and ultimately prepared seven representative cases for trial. We tried five jury trials ranging from two to seven weeks and obtained declarations of coverage for many of the sites in question.
   
• We were lead trial counsel on a major environmental insurance coverage case involving five wood treatment plants with groundwater contamination caused by creosote.
   
• In another case involving a commercial wood treatment operation, we obtained coverage for environmental investigation and clean-up costs following two successful jury trials and a successful appeal. The case was the first jury trial of its kind in Colorado.
   
• We successfully brought coverage claims on behalf of a major mining company for its environmental liabilities at two different third-party sites in Colorado.
   
• We obtained favorable settlements on behalf of a local manufacturing company from over a dozen primary and excess carriers for liability at a major Superfund site in Colorado.

Holland & Hart's Statement of Commitment to Diversity
We are proud of our tradition of fostering and maintaining a work environment in which the diversity of each individual is valued and celebrated. We believe that the contributions of each individual are essential to our continued growth and to our ultimate goal of providing excellent quality legal services to our clients, with greater creativity and innovation. We are committed to taking full advantage of the rich backgrounds and abilities of our people and to promoting a greater diversity whenever and wherever possible.

Diversity Pledge
Holland & Hart is committed to promoting diversity by:

• Making every possible effort to recruit, hire, retain, and promote diverse persons at all levels of employment.
• Promoting greater sensitivity to the value of racial, ethnic and other forms of diversity, through diversity and sensitivity coaching or training for law firm members.
• Inviting to partnership diverse attorneys who meet the requisite criteria.

Diversity Initiatives
The following are additional examples of our commitment and efforts toward supporting and achieving diversity:

• We make a conscious effort to ensure that women and diverse attorneys are included as voting members of our committees of importance within the firm.
• We work closely with law school deans and placement directors in an effort to identify women and diverse law students who are interested in working at Holland & Hart.
• Holland & Hart offers medical and other benefits to partners of gay and lesbian employees on the same terms as it does to spouses of employees.
• We created an Indian Law Practice Group and actively recruited Native American law students and lateral hires.
• Each year we contribute to such scholarship funds as the Colorado Native American Indian Scholarship Fund, the Sam Cary Scholarship Endowment Fund, the Colorado Asian American Bar Scholarship Fund, the Colorado Hispanic Bar Scholarship Fund, and the Colorado Women's Bar Association Scholarship Fund.
• In partnership with the University of Idaho School of Law, we sponsor a "Law by Day, Jazz by Night" each year for undergraduate minority students who have an interest in law.
• We took a leadership role in organizing and supporting the Colorado Pledge Group's Minority First Year Law Student Summer Clerk Program. Through this program, law firms agreed to add at least one diverse first year law student to their summer clerk program.
• We were involved in the creation of the Cross-Professional Business Networking Group, where diverse attorneys in our community can meet and network with non-attorney professionals of color. We view this as a way to help diverse attorneys increase their business development possibilities.

For more information regarding Holland & Hart's commitment to diversity, please contact Peter Houtsma at (303) 295-8259.