Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Environment

We help business and individual clients when the worlds of environmental regulatory compliance and environmental litigation collide.  Our attorneys fully understand that this collision can mean the risk of significant financial or property loss, deteriorated relations with communities, and civil and criminal sanctions for any company.  Whether negotiating with regulatory agencies over a release of hazardous materials, responding to environmental class-action lawsuits or determining potential Superfund liability, we give our clients commonsense advice that avoids fruitless and costly controversy.  If litigation is unavoidable, Manatt has a nationwide reputation for the ability of our trial-experienced attorneys to design and implement a winning strategy.

We help clients with a multifaceted range of environmental issues that encompass virtually every major industry and have a huge impact on everyday operation, such as:

• Hazardous waste disposal and Superfund liability
• Land use and development
• Natural resource exploration and exploitation
• RCRA, CERCLA and their effect on property values
• Management of endangered species and coastal resources
• Use of pesticides and insecticides
• Air-quality issues on the local, state and federal level
• Environmental due diligence in financial transactions

Manatt’s environmental lawyers have the practical experience to give sound counsel on these and many other concerns.  Members of our team have worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of the Interior, have held senior environmental regulatory positions in California and other state governments, and have headed local planning commissions.  We are skillful and effective at representing clients in administrative proceedings before these regulatory authorities, and address environmental issues on behalf of our clients before committees of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, and state legislatures and regulatory agencies.  Using Manatt’s nationwide litigation capability, we act as counsel for plaintiffs and defendants—individual property owners and multinational corporations—in numerous environmental contamination cases, environmental class actions, chemical exposure cases, regulatory actions, and Proposition 65 actions.  Following is a more detailed look at the many ways we can help you.

Environmental Regulatory Compliance
Environmental compliance is mandatory for any business in the current regulatory climate of aggressive enforcement and sanctions for noncompliance.  At Manatt we work to give our clients compliance programs that have a reasonable cost and are consistent with good business practices.  We are experienced in negotiating and resolving federal, state and local enforcement actions and responding to citizen groups’ and class-action complaints.  Working with a team of business, technical and public relations experts, we address compliance matters ranging from regulated emissions to hazardous material management, disposal, transportation and treatment.  We guide clients through the emerging local, state, national and international standards for environmental management and assist concerned businesses with pollution prevention and recycling.

Litigation
When environmental compliance becomes environmental controversy, Manatt litigators are trial-experienced counsel and vigorous advocates in any forum.  We represent clients ranging from small property owners to large international corporations involved in federal multidistrict litigation, as well as developers, financial institutions, energy and chemical companies, manufacturers, construction contractors and environmental consulting firms.  Our lawyers have the technical skills to handle civil and criminal trials, alternative dispute resolution, and aggressive defense when government agencies exceed their authority or unreasonably obstruct legitimate projects.  Because of our depth of courtroom experience, our trial preparation and strategy are structured equally well for effective settlement or a successful judgment.

We represent clients in state and federal courts concerning a wide variety of environmental and land use disputes, including Superfund, RCRA,  cost recovery and cleanup of contaminated properties, cost allocation, toxic torts, the Clean Air Act, Natural Resource Damage Claims, Proposition 65 actions and eminent domain claims.  Our attorneys understand that the cost of remediating environmental contamination or the exercise of eminent domain by government can have a significant negative financial impact on landowners, so we focus on both the legal and business issues to represent our clients in a dispute.

Transactional Due Diligence and Liability Allocations
We know that mergers, acquisitions, lending/financing and real estate ventures all raise environmental concerns.  Our lawyers have honed their skills at pretransactional due diligence and assessment and can evaluate the existence of prior or current business location operations, on-site and off-site disposal practices, and potential liability to or from adjacent property owners.  Our ability to identify environmental issues enables us to minimize their impact on our clients’ transactions.  Working closely with Manatt’s corporate real estate and finance lawyers, we weigh environmental due diligence investigations against the requirements and goals of a transaction to help the client achieve their strategic objectives while protecting against and allocating risk and liability. 

Environmental Remediation and Restoration Projects
Our environmental lawyers team with geotechnical engineers, hydrogeologists, chemists, regulatory agencies and other legal counsel to apply sophisticated techniques that restore contaminated sites.  We work with these specialists to evaluate the nature and extent of the contamination, estimate the cost of remediation, and develop a cost-effective, environmentally sound response within the right legal framework.  This may include representing clients on a multiparty Superfund committee or in negotiations securing environmental insurance or settlement with regulatory agencies on a voluntary cleanup.

We also work with clients in connection with Brownfield projects.  Many commercial and industrial areas include contaminated properties that would regain value if restored and remediated.  In such situations we help our clients evaluate the nature and extent of the contamination, estimate the cost of remediation, and define the potential return from an investment in cleanup.  If the project makes sound business sense, we coordinate it with developers, environmental consultants, financing institutions, insurance providers, regulatory agencies and other legal counsel, all within a proper legal strategy that provides the greatest return and protection.

Land Use Planning and Project Development
Manatt’s land use attorneys represent private and public landholders and developers before city councils, county boards, state planning commissions and other local, state and federal administrative bodies.  Our clients have included motion picture studios, manufacturers, developers, schools and municipal entities.  We help them obtain permits and other entitlements, including general plan amendments, specific plans, zone changes, environmental compliance documentation, tract maps and development agreements.  If projects hit a snag, we vigorously represent our clients in defense of project approvals and in actions challenging adverse administrative actions. 

Legislative and Regulatory Development
Environmental regulations constantly change.  We monitor and affect legislative and regulatory developments to help our clients keep pace and actively protect and advance their interests by advocacy in Washington, D.C. and in state capitals.

Diversity at Manatt

Manatt considers diversity to be a fundamental component of our institutional identity. As a law firm, we have a professional responsibility, and as individuals, we have a personal responsibility to our respective communities. Incorporating diversity into our culture allows us to enhance the high-quality, creativity and excellence in legal services that our clients have come to expect.

Manatt has invested a significant amount of human and financial resources in our own diversity program. Our philosophy is simple: include women and minority lawyers at all levels of Firm leadership and promote diversity in the legal profession through our support and active involvement in various minority civic and bar organizations.

The mix of our minority and women attorneys has consistently exceeded the national average among the country's top law firms. Our talented mix includes minority and women lawyers serving as heads of offices, members of the firm's Board of Directors and management team, and chairs of some of the firm's most important practice groups.

Inclusive Culture
Our progressive culture allows us to maintain a growing mix of women and minority lawyers, and the results illustrate this commitment.  The American Lawyer ranked our Firm 29th (in the top 12%) on its Diversity Scorecard for the largest 250 law firms in the country for 2009.  Multi Cultural Law Magazine included our Firm on its 2008 lists of the Top 100 Law Firms for Diversity, Top 25 Law Firms for Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders, and Top 25 Law Firms for Openly Gay/Lesbian Americans.

Despite our progress and diversity success, we can do better.  Our challenge extends far beyond exceeding national averages.  Our plan cannot succeed if we focus only on recruiting minority and women attorneys.  The true challenge and measure for achieving success lies in creating and preserving an inclusive environment where our minority and women lawyers will stay, progress, prosper and succeed.  We have implemented a formal diversity program designed to enhance our recruiting and retention of diverse attorneys through an executive mentoring program intended to cultivate personally and professionally meaningful relationships between our diverse lawyers and our partners. 

Our commitment to diversity exists in a living document – a plan – that is concrete, easy to understand and publicly available.  The plan demonstrates to every law school student, lateral associate candidate, lateral partner candidate, recruiter, existing client, and potential client that we are serious about creating a workplace that mirrors the breadth of the communities where we and our clients live and work.

We focus on the following key areas to accomplish our mission.

Targeted Recruitment Effort
At Manatt, recruiting women and minority attorneys does not end on law school campuses. Our recruiting efforts focus on locating talented women and minority lawyers at all levels. At law schools, we seek out and interview students who share our core values in ways shaped and enhanced by their own experience. Manatt's 2005 Summer Program was the most diverse in the Firm's history. Our nine 2005 Summer Associates included two African-American students, three Hispanic students, one Asian-American student and three Caucasian students. Five of these nine students were women.

Mentoring as a Cornerstone
Minority attorneys who join Manatt as new or lateral hires immediately become the focus of a mentoring program. They are paired with senior attorneys who take an active role in encouraging their career development. Mentors actively work with their protégés, helping them form business plans and involving them in firm-wide marketing and development opportunities. Management holds mentors accountable for their roles and their protégés' progress at the Firm, including reviewing their efforts as part of the evaluation and compensation process.

Access to Opportunity
Success is a matter of talent and opportunity. At Manatt, we believe that the key to retaining talented minority attorneys -- and therefore the key to the success of our diversity efforts -- is providing a distinctive experience that offers clear access to professional accomplishment. We provide women and minority attorneys with important responsibilities and leadership opportunities in client development activities, complex litigation, large transactional matters and high-profile community and civic organizations. We also encourage and support minority and women attorneys who take leadership positions within the firm and outside in the community at large.

Long-Term Commitment
We challenge ourselves to make our young lawyers feel valued, involved and invested in the future of the firm. We know that they will eventually occupy the most important financial, management and executive positions at Manatt. Our professionals thrive in an atmosphere that encourages and supports responsibility, ambition, and entrepreneurship. We offer true opportunity equal to individual commitment to success and advancement. That's the history of opportunity at Manatt, where professionals with talent and drive are rewarded with a nurturing, dynamic and energizing climate.

Promoting Diversity
Promoting diversity in the legal profession requires both an investment of money and time. Our women and minority attorneys are prominently involved and hold leadership positions in some of the most important minority civic and bar organizations in the country including:

• Asian Americans of Equality
• Asian Pacific American Legal Center
• Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association
• California Association of Black Lawyers
• California Black Chamber of Commerce
• California Women's Law Center
• Chilean Association of Attorneys
• D.C. Commission on Asian & Pacific Islander Affairs
• Hispanic National Bar Association
• Inner City Law Center
• International Human Rights Committee of the Association of the Bar of City of New York
• Korean American Bar Association
• Korean American Coalition
• L.A. Conservation Corps
• La Raza Galeria Posada
• Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles
• Los Angeles Urban League
• National Asian Pacific American Bar Association
• NOW Legal Defense & Education Fund Board
• Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association
• The Association of Women in International Trade
• Women Lawyers Association
• Women's Bar Association of District of Columbia
• Women's Forum of Washington D.C.