Ridgway M. Hall, Jr. was a founding partner in 1979 and is with the firm's Environment & Natural Resources Group. Ridge has been named one of the top lawyers in the environmental field by Best Lawyers In America, Chambers USA, Washington, D.C., Super Lawyers, and Euromoney's Guide to the World's Leading Environmental Lawyers, and has been listed in The International Who's Who Legal for environmental law for many years.

Ridge's practice includes all areas of environmental law and litigation. He has been practicing in this field since 1973 and began Crowell & Moring's practice in this area. He works with clients in administrative and judicial proceedings, enforcement and appellate litigation, rulemaking proceedings, permitting and toxic tort litigation. His practice includes all of the federal environmental statutes and corresponding state laws and regulatory programs. Prior to joining Crowell & Moring, he was Associate General Counsel for Water at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during 1975-1977.

Since 1980 he has handled numerous Superfund, hazardous waste and toxic tort cases for large and small companies in the manufacturing, mining, consumer products and construction industries, among others. These cases typically involve a variety of scientific issues, with the result that Ridge and his colleagues have developed an extensive network of experts in such fields as groundwater and soil contamination, environmental remediation, toxicology, risk assessment and other fields. He has handled Superfund cost recovery and allocation cases and appellate litigation challenging EPA regulatory action.

He has tried jury and non-jury toxic tort cases in federal and state courts. He was lead counsel for the plaintiff City of Delray Beach, Florida, in a groundwater contamination case which, after a four-week jury trial, produced a verdict for the City of $8.7 million, covering past and expected future cleanup costs. For four years he was lead counsel on the firm's team which represented one of the nuclear reactor operating contractors in the Hanford Nuclear Reservation litigation. This consisted of five consolidated class actions, plus individual cases, in which the defense team won significant victories at the motion to dismiss and summary judgment stage before they persuaded the DOE to take over the defense.

In 1998 he won a three-week jury trial of a False Claims Act case involving alleged Clean Water Act violations, which was affirmed by the Sixth Circuit. He served as mediator/arbitrator in a dispute between the purchaser and seller of a large paper mill involving significant Clean Air Act notices of violation, including remedial measures, costs and penalties. During a recent 3 year period, along with partners in our government contracts and business crimes groups, he defended a series of Clean Water Act enforcement investigations and related administrative proceedings for a company with facilities across the country, resulting in a deferred prosecution agreement.

For 4 years, Ridge served as court-appointed Monitor to oversee design and implementation of a nationwide Environmental Management System by BP Amoco at all of its oil exploration, drilling and production facilities, on-shore and off-shore. For over 20 years he has assisted companies in the design and implementation of corporate environmental, health and safety auditing and compliance programs. He has worked extensively with companies in conducting environmental audits, planning for future growth, handling environmental aspects of acquisitions and other business transactions, and setting up training programs.

Ridge has spoken widely on all aspects of environmental law, regulation and litigation on programs sponsored by the American Bar Association, the International Bar Association, the American Law Institute, Government Institutes, Federal Publications, Executive Enterprises, the Environmental Law Institute, and numerous industry groups, trade associations and other organizations. He is a member of the American Law Institute, a past officer of the Environmental Law Institute, a certified environmental compliance auditor, and a member of the Board of Environmental, Health and Safety Auditor Certifications Standards Board. On April 24-25, 2008, he co-chaired the ALI-ABA Conference on Hazardous Substances, Site Remediation and Enforcement in Arlington, VA.

He is a former World Champion in Blue Jay class sailboats, and a finalist in the U.S. Olympic Trials sailing in the Finn Class.

Education
Yale University , B.A., 1963 - magna cum laude
Harvard Law School, LL.B, 1966

Affiliations
Admitted to practice: District of Columbia, Connecticut

Publications
"Sarbanes-Oxley and Environmental Disclosures," Environment and Energy Business Law Reporter, ABA (December 2004). Co-Authors: Ridgway M. Hall, Jr. and Maria Pugliese.

"A Case Study In Compliance Assurance: The BP Amoco Environmental Management System," 33rd Annual ABA Conference on Environmental Law Manual, pp.339 et seq. (March 2004). Author: Ridgway M. Hall, Jr.

"ELR News & Analysis: Lessons Learned From the Intersection of CERCLA and Contract Law," 32 ELR 11481-11489 (December 2002). Co-Authors: Ridgway M. Hall, Jr. and Kirsten L. Nathanson.

"RCRA Hazardous Wastes Handbook," Government Institutes, 12th Ed. (2001). Co-Authors: Ridgway M. Hall, Jr., Robert C. Davis, Jr., Richard E. Schwartz, Nancy S. Bryson and R. Timothy McCrum.

"Countering False Claims Act Litigation Based on Environmental Noncompliance," Briefly, National Legal Center for the Public Interest, Vol. 3, No. 9 (September 1999). Co-Authors: Ridgway M. Hall and Mark Koehn.

"The Superfund Manual," Government Institutes, 6th Ed. (1997). Co-Authors: Ridgway M. Hall Jr., Richard E. Schwartz, Robert C. Davis, Jr., Nancy S. Bryson and R. Timothy McCrum.

"International Corporate Compliance and Auditing Programs," 25 Environmental Law Reporter News and Analysis 10393, Environmental Law Institute (August 1995). Author: Ridgway M. Hall, Jr.

"Superfund Response Cost Allocations: The Law, The Science and the Practice," 49 Business Lawyer 1489 (August 1994). Co-Authors: Ridgway M. Hall, Jr., R.H. Harris and J.A. Reinsdorf.

"All About Environmental Auditing," Federal Publications, Washington, DC (2nd Ed.1992). Co-Authors: Ridgway M. Hall, Jr. and David Case.

Speeches & Presentations
"Substance Classification Schemes," (including regulatory and toxic tort implications), International Bar Association, Section on Energy, Environment, Natural Resources and Infrastructure Law Biennial Conference, Rome, Italy (April 2006). Presenter: Ridgway M. Hall, Jr.

"The Impact of Globalization on the Practice of Corporate Environmental Law," Biennial Meeting of the Auditing Roundtable and the Canadian Environmental Auditing Association in Montreal (May 2004). Presenter: Ridgway M. Hall, Jr.

"The Use of Environmental Management Systems to Identify and Manage Risk," American Bar Association, Business Law Section, 2004 Spring Meeting (April 2004). Presenter: Ridgway M. Hall, Jr.

"Negotiating the Environmental Aspects of a Commercial Transaction," ALI-ABA Conference Proceedings on Hazardous Waste, Superfund and Toxic Substances (October 2001). Presenter: Ridgway M. Hall, Jr.