Our team is recognized as being among the elite environmental practices in the United States, adeptly guiding clients through the complex, technical and ever-changing thicket of domestic and international environmental legal regimes. With a deep understanding of how environmental issues impact businesses, we assist clients in identifying and managing environmental risks and opportunities both in the transactional context and beyond. We have extensive experience advising on the environmental challenges arising across a range of environmentally sensitive industries, including energy, heavy manufacturing, hazardous waste management, and chemical production, as well as on the ESG and sustainability concerns increasingly facing nearly every company worldwide.
Project Development
We work hand-in-glove with Milbank’s renowned Project, Energy and Infrastructure team in advising project sponsors, investors and lenders on the myriad environmental and social issues that arise in project development, including those relating to endangered species, contamination, brownfields development, NEPA reviews, and air and water permitting requirements.
Our team has been at the forefront of the energy transition, advising on many of the country’s largest and most complicated onshore and offshore renewable energy projects. We are intimately familiar with the unique environmental issues presented by utility-scale solar and wind projects and are adept at navigating the often confusing and constantly shifting processes for obtaining the governmental approvals needed to develop and operate these assets.
We counsel clients on projects sited across the globe and are well-versed in the numerous international environmental and social risk frameworks, including the Equator Principles and the IFC Performance Standards. We work closely with our international offices to provide tailored guidance on project compliance with domestic and international legal regimes in addition to the often complex environmental and social obligations contained in project agreements.
Corporate and Real Estate Transactions
We regularly counsel clients on the wide range of environmental concerns that arise in the context of mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments, divestitures, real estate deals and de-SPAC transactions, among others. We have extensive experience with environmental and regulatory liability and risk allocation issues, drafting and negotiating contract terms, managing due diligence, and administrative and judicial proceedings to obtain regulatory approvals necessary to close transactions. We have worked on domestic and cross-border transactions involving companies in nearly every major industry sector, including power, oil and gas, manufacturing, mining, transportation, chemicals and consumer goods.
Restructuring
Our team has played a key role in many of the most environmentally sensitive bankruptcies and restructurings that have occurred in the past two decades, working with debtors, creditors, environmental regulators and other interested parties to address environmental liabilities in often creative ways that preserve value while also protecting the environment.
Financing & Capital Markets
We have extensive experience working with both borrowers and lenders in complex financing transactions where environmental considerations are top of mind, including in connection with leveraged buyouts, IPOs, public debt and equity offerings, private placements and alternative financing instruments.
Regulatory Compliance
We frequently advise clients on a wide variety of environmental compliance and regulatory matters, including those relating to permitting requirements and reporting obligations, as well as opportunities presented by emerging regulatory regimes promoting renewable energy (such as the federal Inflation Reduction Act), reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and sustainable development. We also counsel clients on compliance with existing and emerging legal obligations to assess and publicly disclose information concerning environmental risks and liabilities, including those relating to greenhouse gas emissions and sustainability initiatives.
