Course on Environmental Litigation in Washington DC

On the 20th to the 22nd of June a course will be held on environmental litigation in Washington DC. This advanced course of study, now in its 37th year, provides a unique opportunity for private and public-sector environmental lawyers to refine their litigation skills by understanding better how litigation problems, substantive environmental law, and science relate to each other.

Why Attend?

Freshen and sharpen skills you need to prevail in today’s environmental litigation
   •  Learn how to make litigation more efficient and effective, through cost control and litigation alternatives
   •  See demonstrations of typical environmental trial issues by experienced litigators
   •  Explore your litigation issues with faculty members in informal Clinical Discussion Sessions

This advanced course of study, now in its 37th year, provides a unique opportunity for private and public-sector environmental lawyers to refine their litigation skills by understanding better how litigation problems, substantive environmental law, and science relate to each other.

This year’s program focuses on:
   •  Evidentiary Issues Relating to Technical Data
   •  Electronic Discovery in Environmental Litigation
   •  Experts in Environmental Litigation
   •  Citizen Suits and Defenses against Them
   •  NEPA Litigation

This practical course in environmental advocacy concentrates on the advanced skills necessary to prevail before administrative and judicial forums in the various environmental litigations, including CERCLA, NEPA, and the judicial review of agency action.

During more than 19 hours of instruction, the course uses specifically-prepared materials, lectures, and faculty demonstrations. The faculty is drawn from some of the principal constituencies involved in environmental disputes: private firms representing plaintiffs or defendants, public-interest groups, environmental scientists, the Environmental Enforcement Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. It also includes two sitting U.S. Magistrate Judges, a former U.S. Magistrate Judge, and a leading academic. The faculty members who appear as expert witnesses in the demonstrations also provide valuable insights on the relationship between lawyers and technical consultants and witnesses.

A hallmark of this program over the years has been the way the registrants and the faculty have interacted, not just informally, but especially during program sessions. “Clinical Discussions” allow registrants to explore their particular litigation problems with faculty members on an informal basis. Time is reserved throughout the program for the faculty to address registrants’ questions and to assist them in any other ways that might render the course more productive for their practices.

What You Will Learn

The course starts with an analysis of evidentiary issues in environmental cases and concludes with a discussion of lessons learned from the “big” cases; along the way, it explores the use of demonstrative evidence, discovery problems, and the examination of experts. The course does not concentrate on substantive law; rather, the procedural problems in all environmental litigation, both public and private, receive attention in the context of discovery, expert proof, and citizen suit litigation. For example, the admission of expert testimony under Daubert and its progeny is reviewed both in a procedural context and in the proof of specific subjects, such as in the simulation of a trial involving the siting of an alternative energy facility.

In addition to the problems inherent in plenary litigation, difficult issues continue to arise under NEPA and other informal agency decisions, such as those arising under federal and state wetland laws. The procedural and associated issues relating to these actions receive attention throughout the program. Ethical issues, some of which are unique to environmental litigation, are explored from a practical litigation standpoint.

This year’s other special topics include:

   •  Judicial Review of Agency Action
   •  Effective Advocacy in Air, Water, and Hazardous Waste Litigation
   •  Applications for TROs and Preliminary Injunctions
   •  Current and Emerging Enforcement Trends and Responses
   •  Anatomy of a Hazardous Material Litigation
   •  Trial of an Alternative Energy Siting Case
   •  Ethics in Environmental Litigation

For more information or to register click here.