PFAS + Emerging Contaminants

We assist with PFAS investigative orders; novel National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System and land application system permit conditions; permitting (including obtaining permits, addressing enforcement issues, and working with regulators); product restrictions and phase-outs; Proposition 65 analyses; and reporting, sampling, and monitoring requirements. We counsel clients on remedial investigations and response activities involving PFAS in groundwater, soil, sediment, stormwater, and industrial discharges, and we partner closely with technical consultants on sampling strategies, engineering projects, pilot studies, and evaluation of treatment options.

Our work also includes advising on due diligence, real estate transactions, and the development of comprehensive PFAS management plans to minimize legal, financial, and operational risk, and to proactively position clients for potential PFAS-related litigation and enforcement.

Our team represents clients in both offensive and defensive PFAS litigation, including federal statutory and state tort claims arising from alleged PFAS contamination of groundwater, surface water, and drinking water supplies.

We have extensive experience handling PFAS contamination disputes and defend companies and municipalities facing claims arising from alleged PFAS impacts. We assert federal and state law claims to recover treatment and response costs for a broad range of clients, including municipal drinking water providers, manufacturers, and other industrial entities. Our matters include cases in Georgia, New York, New Jersey, Maine, Michigan, South Carolina, California, and other jurisdictions involving PFAS discharges from carpet and textile manufacturing, paper production, food and beverage processing, and other industrial uses.

We advise clients involved in the multidistrict litigation and other complex proceedings in connection with aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF), and we are deeply familiar with the claims, defenses, and expert issues being litigated in the PFAS and AFFF dockets.

We work with clients and their insurers on coverage and recovery strategies related to PFAS contamination and associated claims, including claims under the CWA, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and state-law theories such as nuisance, trespass, negligence, product liability, and water quality statutes. We also serve as common counsel at Superfund and other multiparty sites, advise on public water supply assessments and PFAS treatment cost recovery, and negotiate PFAS-related administrative orders and other compliance instruments.

In addition to regulatory and litigation support, we provide strategic counsel on PFAS-related legislation and rulemaking at the federal and state levels, helping clients anticipate and respond to evolving requirements that affect their operations, products, and transactions.

Our attorneys advise private equity and other investors on identifying and evaluating PFAS risks in portfolio companies and targets. We serve as lead environmental counsel for many clients, integrating PFAS considerations into broader environmental compliance and business strategy and coordinating closely between regulatory and litigation teams to align compliance, risk management, and dispute resolution strategies.