Successfully navigating the environmental regulatory landscape takes two things: knowledge and relationships. Our lawyers bring that—and more.
Morrison & Foerster's environment and energy lawyers know that the permitting and regulatory process can seem endless and unmanageable at times. We apply our unmatched experience and insider knowledge to provide practical advice to businesses and public agencies on a broad variety of environmental, natural resources and product-related regulatory and enforcement issues, helping them obtain associated local, state and federal government permits and approvals.
Our lawyers have substantial experience in the full spectrum of environmental, natural resources and product-related laws and regulations. Our lawyers' value, however, goes beyond knowledge of substantive requirements. We take a uniquely interdisciplinary approach to develop a holistic solution that meets our clients' business objectives.
Our practice strengths include:
- Compliance and Enforcement: We help our clients develop proactive approaches to avoid litigation. We also work with clients and their consultants to audit compliance programs, develop associated training and address instances of potential non-compliance in advance of enforcement action being initiated. When enforcement is threatened or initiated, we work with our clients to assess the issues raised, present defenses and, when necessary, negotiate settlements on acceptable and sensible terms.
- Due Diligence and Counseling: We perform both environmental and land use due diligence and counseling, advise on associated risks and environmental impact review processes, and assist with structuring environmental and entitlement provisions of corporate asset and real property transactions.
- Natural Resources: We have a broad practice in natural resource permitting, endangered species; wetlands; coastal development; water rights and transfers; and timber, mining and water regulation. We know how to work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and state resources and water agencies to get permits and navigate the approval process.
- Consumer Products Law and Regulation: We are widely recognized as having a premier consumer products law and regulatory practice. We represent companies on consumer protection, disclosure/warning and regulatory issues. We provide advice on the entire life cycle of products, including their development, production, labeling, packaging, marketing, sale and disposal.
- Emerging Issues: We advise clients on cutting-edge environmental, natural resource and land use entitlement issues involving climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, carbon trading, and renewable and non-renewable energy. Our lawyers also are authorities on sustainability and “green” advertising, building and chemistry-related issues and their associated emerging regulatory regimes.
Having served on the inside, our lawyers have intimate knowledge of the workings of state and federal agencies, including those within the EPA, the U.S. Department of the Interior, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Justice. We also have valued relationships with senior officials in key California agencies, such as the Attorney General's Office, the California Air Resources Board, state and regional water boards, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and the Departments of Fish and Wildlife and Toxic Substances Control.
Our lawyers are also recognized as leaders in their field and are seen as emerging cleantech leaders. They include fellows of the American College of Environmental Law, a former U.S. EPA general counsel, a former chair of the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Environmental Law and a former federal environmental prosecutor. We are members of San Francisco's Clean Technology Advisory Council, the California Manufacturers & Technology Association's Climate Change Advisory Committee and the AB 32 Implementation Group's Steering Committee, among other organizations.