A top-ranked environmental regulatory and litigation firm.
Environmental issues touch virtually every aspect of our lives and business operations, and continue to evolve rapidly in breadth and complexity, extending beyond “traditional” environmental disciplines of air, water, and waste to encompass other areas. B&D exists to serve clients who need holistic and strategic advice from a deep team of lawyers and other professionals who focus on these matters, understand the full picture, and can help anticipate and prepare for what’s coming next.
From emerging contaminants, climate change, and energy efficiency, to environmental justice, sustainability, ESG, and more, B&D offers decades of focused experience advising industry sectors on environmental law and litigation and their changing applicability to businesses worldwide.
B&D holds top-tier rankings for environmental law and litigation from legal directories and ranking services, including Chambers USA, Best Lawyers, Law360, and The Legal 500. Best Lawyers named B&D the 2024 “Law Firm of the Year" for Environmental Law. Many of our more than 140 lawyers are similarly recognized as outstanding practitioners.
Comprehensive Regulatory, Transactional, and Litigation Support for Environmental and Product Issues
We support clients' “day-to-day” operating needs and “bet the company” challenges across all core environmental disciplines and related fields. Clients benefit from our combination of regulatory and litigation capabilities and our ability to handle U.S. federal and state matters as well as robust international capacity and global perspective. Some of the ways we work with clients include:
- Obtaining air, water, waste and natural resources/species permits and other governmental approvals for business operations, modifications, and expansions—counseling on compliance and litigating challenges.
- Managing litigation, including environmental claims, citizen suits, nuisance and tort claims (including toxic torts), putative class actions, product liability, and commercial disputes.
- Responding to federal and state government enforcement actions.
- Ensuring worker health and safety and responding to safety incidents.
- Preparing emergency and crisis response plans, and managing crises, including chemical and oil spills/releases.
- Monitoring ongoing compliance and reporting across the enterprise, including environmental management system audits and enhancements.
- Addressing new ESG challenges, from SEC reporting to ranking and rating agencies, to stakeholder and NGO engagement.
- Conducting internal investigations and defending white-collar and environmental crimes matters.
- Tracking multi-jurisdictional environmental, health, and safety (EHS), chemical, and product regulatory developments and advising on compliance.
- Participating in global, national, and regional carbon markets and renewable energy credit markets.
- Developing new projects, or managing acquisitions and divestitures, that may pose legacy or novel environmental and land development issues.
- Advising on environmental attributes of transactions, including environmental due diligence
- Incorporating environmental justice, historic, and cultural preservation considerations and requirements into business and project development plans.
- Participating in international efforts to set environmental and chemical standards.
- Counseling on and litigating product advertising claims, including “green marketing” claims such as recyclability.
- Combining environmental management systems and compliance cultures in company mergers.
- Accessing insurance proceeds for environmental incidents and to mitigate risks.
- Advising corporate counsel, business professionals, and corporate boards on emerging environmental issues.
- Answering customer and stakeholder questions about product formulations, supply chains, and corporate sustainability efforts (including human and indigenous rights).
- Deploying new technologies amidst uncertainty about applicable legal or regulatory regimes, and gaining access to new markets around the world.
Collaborative Teams Focused on Adding Value and Business Success
For many clients, we serve as an extension of their environmental legal and compliance functions. For others, we work behind the scenes. In all cases, our focus, depth, and breadth, varied backgrounds - including government service and technical training - and industry connections add value and set us apart from other firms.
A Legacy of Government Service
Nearly two-thirds of our lawyers have prior U.S. state or federal government experience, and several more have worked as corporate counsel, enriching our ability to help clients prioritize issues, explain the implications of various actions, and chart concrete strategies and implementation steps for success. B&D's origins and evolution parallel the development of U.S. environmental and natural resource regulation. Our founders include the first Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and the first commissioner of the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. We helped shape the law, litigated early and seminal test cases, and continue to help clients adapt.
Technical Backgrounds
Nearly one-third of B&D's lawyers have scientific or technical degrees, an added benefit when dealing with highly specialized litigation and regulatory matters. Moreover, we can explain and translate technical terms and issues into language that business leaders, judges, and juries understand.
Industry Connections
We participate in many industry groups as members, sponsors, counsel, or informal advisors, which gives broad perspectives on best practices across industry sectors, informs our guidance for individual clients, and fosters connections. Examples include:
- American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources (Sponsor)
- American Chemistry Council (Associate Member)
- Association of Corporate Counsel Environmental & Sustainability Network (Sponsor)
- Defense Research Institute (DRI) Toxic Tort and Environmental Law Committee (Chair)
- Environmental Law Institute (Star Sponsor)
- Retail Industry Leaders Association (Environmental Compliance Network Sponsor)
We also form independent or ad hoc groups for specific industries or issues, such as coalitions for industry advocacy, litigation amicus briefs, and more.
Clients also have opportunities to connect with peers and share ideas through participation in industry roundtables B&D organizes. Examples include:
- Corporate Environmental Justice Network
- China EHS Roundtable
- Information Technology Environmental, Sustainability, and Supply Chain Counsel Roundtable
- Pharmaceutical EHS Roundtable
Focused on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) are core values at B&D. We regularly partner with clients on DE&I and achieve independent recognition for our efforts. We believe that our differences make us stronger and provide better results for our clients. Learn more about our DE&I efforts, results, and recognitions.
How May We Help You?
Please contact your usual B&D contact, any of our service and industry team contacts, our Firm Chair, Kathy Szmuszkovicz, or our Firmwide Managing Principal, Marc Goldstein, to start a conversation about how we can help you meet your challenges.
