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Cozen O’Connor is a renown trial firm with decades of experience in environmental litigation and enforcement. We handle complex disputes and successfully litigate industry-defining cases. Whether defending a novel permit, responding to a government investigation, or seeking a high-value recovery, Cozen O’Connor is efficient, responsive, strategic, and tenacious.
The team has deep collective governmental experience that it leverages in every engagement. Our roster boasts several former senior enforcement attorneys with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), including the former Regional Counsel for the Mid-Atlantic Region, and is chaired by the former Special Assistant to the EPA’s Director of Civil Enforcement. Having worked on both sides of the table, Cozen O’Connor attorneys understand agency processes, constraints, and priorities.
Cozen O’Connor’s Environmental Litigation team represents clients in matters concerning all major federal and state environmental laws: Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, CERCLA and SARA, Endangered Species Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Toxic Substances Control Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act, among others.
Administrative Litigation
Attorneys litigate state and federal permit appeals, agency enforcement actions, and administrative rule challenges before the EPA, state environmental protection agencies, environmental hearing boards, and in other sophisticated administrative forums.
Civil Enforcement Defense
Cozen O’Connor guides client through government investigations, conducts internal investigations, and performs comprehensive audits, all with an eye toward achieving compliance and limiting exposure. Our experienced trial lawyers also defend clients in high-stakes state and federal civil actions with potential liability in the millions of dollars.
Private Party & Citizen Suit Litigation
The firm represents plaintiffs and defendants in cost recovery actions and in personal injury and property damage claims. We also handle the increasing amount of litigation brought by citizens or environmental advocacy groups seeking damages and injunctive relief for alleged environmental violations that regulators failed to enforce.
Appellate Litigation
Our team has extensive appellate capabilities and is often engaged to respond to lower court decisions in environmental litigation. Our attorneys are also adept at Natural Gas Act litigation in which the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals typically has original jurisdiction.