Contact Information: CONTACT: RANDY VISSER (213) 617-4144 RALPH RICHARDSON (213) 617-5542
Sheppard Mullin Launches Global Climate Change Practice
| Source: Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP
LOS ANGELES, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- May 15, 2007 -- Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP
announced today the launch of its Global Climate Change practice led by
partners Randolph C. Visser and M. Elizabeth McDaniel. Visser and McDaniel
are experienced practitioners in the environmental, energy and litigation
practice fields, and bring a depth of expertise to this rapidly evolving
area of law.
With Visser and Mc Daniel, partners Polly Towill and Stephen J. O'Neil will
be charged with leading the litigation side of the practice. They will be
joined by close to 50 other attorneys in the specialization and the
practice group will encompass most Sheppard Mullin offices, including Los
Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., San Diego and Shanghai.
Sheppard Mullin's Global Climate Change Practice consists of a team of
attorneys who counsel, and advocate for, clients across a wide array of
industries and practice areas impacted by climate change regulation
including industrial, energy and natural resources development, "Green"
architecture and land use and re-use, regulatory compliance, renewable
energy and energy infrastructure projects, corporate disclosure and
governance, carbon markets, California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA"),
National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA") and toxic tort litigation, and
government relations. The team assists clients to meet the challenges and
take advantage of the opportunities presented them by regulatory and
corporate responses to climate change.
"We recognize that global climate change has become an important and
complex environmental imperative that will change the way businesses
operate," observed Visser. "Importantly, California's Global Warming
Solutions Act of 2006 is one of the first environmental laws looking to
prevent a future cataclysmic environmental event rather than one resulting
from a past environmental disaster such as Bhopal or Times Beach. That
signifies progress in our thinking on the subject."
"Climate change will lead to additional governmental regulation, and
litigation affecting a wide array of industries has already begun,"
continued Visser. "As pressure to curb greenhouse gas emissions increases
around the world, companies must grapple with developing new policies to
manage their own emissions and related regulatory and litigation risks. We
are well suited to guide them through that process."
The interdisciplinary practice team is focused in concentrated areas of
specialization: Policy Monitoring; Rulemaking and Advocacy; Regulatory
Compliance; Carbon Projects, Finance and Trading; Project Development;
Corporate; Land Use; Litigation. Given the mix of inter-related policies
and the legal and scientific skills required to address them, the firm will
be partnering with other expert policy, strategy and technical
environmental consulting professionals, allowing us to provide a full
service climate change team.
Visser is a member of the Construction, Environmental, Real Estate and Land
Use Litigation practice group in the firm's Los Angeles office. He
specializes in environmental compliance, government contracts counseling
and environmental enforcement defense and administrative and judicial
litigation. Visser has significant experience and expertise in CEQA, NEPA,
Proposition 65, and federal, state and local environmental, water and air
quality laws, including particularly the South Coast Air Quality Management
District, Regional Clean Air Incentives Market Program and other market
incentive environmental programs.
McDaniel is a member of the Construction, Environmental, Real Estate and
Land Use Litigation Practice Group in the firm's San Francisco office. She
has been a litigator for more than twenty years, with an emphasis on
environmental and real estate issues and California's Proposition 65.
McDaniel has represented entities in both state and federal court, and she
has had both jury trial and bench trial experience. She holds a
certificate in hazardous materials management from U.C. Berkeley, and she
counsels clients on a wide variety of environmental compliance issues,
including air quality and hazardous substance handling. McDaniel also
assists with transactions involving contaminated property.
Towill is a member of the Business Trial practice group in the firm's Los
Angeles office, and leader of the Toxic Torts and Products Liability team.
She has extensive experience in litigating complex business issues in state
and federal courts. Towill's varied practice includes representing clients
in fraud actions, actions involving breach of contract and unfair business
practice claims, toxic tort litigation, product liability matters and in
performing internal investigations and audits. She also has significant
experience with government contract litigation, including defending
contractors in False Claim Act actions.
O'Neil is based in the firm's Los Angeles office, where he specializes in
environmental law and complex environmental litigation. He has extensive
experience in environmental counseling and in environmental and toxic tort
litigation. O'Neil has advised major oil companies in environmental
regulatory matters, and he regularly counsels clients on the environmental
implications of the purchase or sale of real property. He has tried or
arbitrated numerous environmental cases, and he has extensive experience in
managing large, complex environmental cases and conducting depositions and
discovery.
About Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP
Sheppard Mullin is a full service AmLaw 100 firm with 490 attorneys in 10
offices located throughout California and in New York, Washington, D.C. and
Shanghai. The firm's California offices are located in Los Angeles, San
Francisco, Santa Barbara, Century City, Orange County, Del Mar Heights and
San Diego. Founded in 1927 on the principle that the firm would succeed
only if its attorneys delivered prompt, high quality and cost-effective
legal services, Sheppard Mullin provides legal counsel to U.S. and
international clients. Companies turn to Sheppard Mullin to handle a full
range of corporate and technology matters, high stakes litigation and
complex financial transactions. In the U.S., the firm's clients include
more than half of the Fortune 100 companies. For more information, please
visit www.sheppardmullin.com.