Insights

Washington – June 1, 2023: Crowell & Moring earned 82 rankings for 68 lawyers across 48 categories, as well as 37 national and statewide practice area rankings, in the Chambers USA 2023 guide. The rankings are driven by independent interviews of clients and lawyers at peer firms.

Washington – January 11, 2023: Crowell & Moring has published Litigation Forecast 2023: What Corporate Counsel Need to Know for the Coming Year. The 11th-annual Litigation Forecast focuses on trends in litigation that are playing out in specific jurisdictions around the globe. 

Washington – June 1, 2022: Chambers and Partners has ranked 70 Crowell & Moring lawyers in 84 rankings across 40 categories in the Chambers USA 2022 guide. In addition, 37 practice areas were also ranked in the guide. The regional and national rankings are driven by independent interviews of clients and lawyers.

On December 29, 2022, the IRS released new guidance on whether vehicles qualify for tax credits under the clean vehicle provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act (the “IRA”). At the same time, Treasury released a much-anticipated White Paper describing the Administration’s planned approach to assessing whether vehicles meet the critical mineral content and battery processing requirements of the IRA.

On October 26, 2016, a New York state judge ordered PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) to produce documents related to an ongoing New York Attorney General (NYAG) investigation into whether Exxon Mobil Corporation (Exxon) committed financial fraud by failing to disclose the financial and operational impacts of known climate change-related risks to the business. The court order, if it withstands appeal, is further indication that public companies need to begin managing climate risk as an enterprise level concern, even though significant uncertainty remains regarding the level of public disclosure required. Out of an abundance of caution, companies should also not expect any internal climate risk projections, audits and assessments to remain private.

Last week, in North Dakota v. Heydinger, No. 14-2156, (8th Cir. June 15, 2016), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, affirming a lower court decision, struck down a Minnesota state law limiting the carbon intensity of the state’s utility grid by proscribing out-of-state imports or long-term power contracts with “new large energy facilit[ies] that would [increase] statewide power sector carbon dioxide emissions.” The decision comes at a time when EPA’s Clean Power Plan to reduce CO2 emissions from the power sector is on hold pending judicial review, leaving the states essentially on their own with regard to greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions initiatives. The Heydinger decision potentially raises several questions on the constitutional viability and design of state GHG mitigation programs affecting the electric energy sector.

Washington, D.C.-based senior counsel in the firm's Environment & Natural Resources Group, Robert Meyers, talks with Law360 regarding Congress' approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, which is likely going to be vetoed by President Obama. With a veto looming, Meyers offers that Congress may look at other areas, such as transmission siting and grid reliability, that don’t have the political history of Keystone and could have some reasonable prospect of success in 2015. "I imagine the House will reach out in a bipartisan manner on the type of economic issues where you can get that, as opposed to those that boil down to environmental issues," Meyers said.

Elliott Laws, a Washington D.C.-based partner in the firm's Government Affairs and Environment & Natural Resources groups, shares his perspective on five questions about his own experiences breaking the glass ceiling in the legal industry. He also offers insight on the importance of diversity within law firms, and advice for firms looking to increase diversity within their ranks.

Robert Meyers, Washington, D.C.-based senior counsel in the firm's Environment & Natural Resources Group, discusses potential new fuel economy regulations after record Clean Air Act fines were levied last year for greenhouse gas emission and fuel economy reporting violations. "In broad brush, I think this is a signal of increasing scrutiny, and I would attribute some of it to the fact of the suggested rulemaking," Meyers said.

When it comes to environmental laws and regulations, the only question is when—not if—the courts will be asked to resolve contentious issues. Such is the case with a rule proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency, under the Clean Air Act, to limit the greenhouse gas emissions of fossil fuel-fired power plants.

The Household and Commercial Products Association’s (HCPA’s) Pesticide Regulation Workshop, organized, hosted, and co-presented by Crowell, is the oldest and largest annual event dedicated to pesticide regulation, compliance, and enforcement under federal and state pesticide laws. This year’s workshop will feature guest speakers from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Pesticide Programs and Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance and from the Natural Resources Defense Council. This year’s workshop will focus on practical information, including what companies need to know in order to get their pesticide products onto the market, keep them there, and avoid business disruptions and penalties. Knowledgeable and experienced presenters will cover the following topics:

Join us for an engaging talk by Andrew Revkin, a Strategic Adviser for Environmental and Science Journalism at the National Geographic Society. Revkin has won most of the top awards in science journalism along with a Guggenheim Fellowship. Revkin has written on global environmental change and risk for more than 30 years, reporting from the North Pole to the White House, the Amazon rain forest to the Vatican. His fourth book is, “Weather: An Illustrated History, from Cloud Atlases to Climate Change."

As 2023 rolls in, what changes can government contractors expect? What will be the focus of the US Government? How should contractors prepare?

Partner Amanda Berman will be presenting the session "Regulatory Roulette: The State of Play Under the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Other Major Environmental Statutes" at 10:45 am on Wednesday, March 24th.

Companies must be prepared to address climate change in 2021 or risk getting left behind by an accelerating global policy debate. Growing public awareness, proliferating policy proposals, and the opportunity for increased public investment in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis have elevated climate to the top of the economic policy agenda globally. This momentum will translate into a growing array of policies and regulations in the U.S., Asia, EU and other geographies that could reshape the operating environment and investment landscape for industry. Public-private partnerships across all sectors of the economy will be essential to devise workable policy models and commercial solutions.