Best Law Firms in the United States for Litigation - Environmental

Jones Walker LLP is among the largest 145 law firms in the United States. With offices in Alabama, Arizona, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, New York, and Texas, we serve local, regional, national, and international business interests. The firm is committed to providing a comprehensive range of legal services to major multinational public and private corporations, Fortune® 500 companies, money center banks, worldwide insurers, and emerging companies doing business in the United States and abroad.

Since 2012, The BTI Consulting Group has named Jones Walker to its Client Service A-Team, which identifies the top client service firms in the nation. The firm has previously been named to both the A-Team and BTI's Client Service 30, a list of top 30 firms in the country for dedication to client service. Clients have recognized Jones Walker for consistent excellence in areas such as client focus, anticipating the client's needs, and understanding the client's business.

Rethink. Refine. Rediscover.

With more than 235 attorneys in Louisiana and Texas, Kean Miller serves as legal counsel to the people and industries that drive the energy-belt economy. Fortune 500 companies, national businesses, and local companies rely on Kean Miller for efficient legal services and practical advice, always provided in a cost-efficient manner. In the courtroom and the boardroom, Kean Miller attorneys create unique solutions, pragmatic strategies, and unparalleled value that allow our clients to perform at the highest level.

Leaders in Energy and Petrochemical Refining

Kean Miller has long been known as a go-to law firm for the energy and petrochemical industries throughout the energy belt region. Our legal acumen spans every aspect of upstream, midstream, and downstream activity and the myriad businesses and service providers that support them.

Uncommon Breadth

Kean Miller’s expertise has evolved to encompass virtually every legal discipline inherent to sectors as diverse as maritime, construction, manufacturing, tax, hospitality, financial services, healthcare and beyond. Regardless of industry, we provide businesses and individuals with the legal tools they need to build lasting success.

People First

Kean Miller attorneys are more than just quality practitioners; they are down-to-earth people who genuinely enjoy working with others, both in the firm and in the community. Their personal investment in each client’s goals, framed by the firm’s long-standing culture of integrity and value, is a core component of the Kean Miller experience.

Rediscover Service

Being there for our clients, wherever and whenever we are needed, is our passion and purpose. We prepare ourselves to be at our best when our clients need us the most, ready to answer every call with sound strategy and pragmatic solutions – no matter the urgency.

Rethink Your ROI

Our clients cite the superior return on investment that Kean Miller provides as an important contributor to their long-term success. Our attorneys possess exceptional business skills and strive to produce legal work of the highest quality while never losing sight of the business objective and bottom line.

Diversity in Action

Practical experience has proven that diverse teams consistently make better decisions. Our inclusive culture is key to attracting individuals with diverse experiences to join our team. We have one of the highest percentages of women attorneys and partners of any major law firm, and rank among firms having the highest percentages of minority attorneys.

Future Proof Relationships

Kean Miller’s intentional focus on building long-term collaborative relationships internally and externally ensures that our clients’ interests are not dependent on any single attorney. A discerning recruitment process, integrated team approach, and commitment to outstanding culture position us to support our clients – and each other – across generations.

As one of the first environmental law firms founded in Texas 35 years ago, Lloyd Gosselink has continually evolved to meet our clients’ ever-changing and expanding demands in new areas of expertise. Our original core practices in environmental and utility law have grown to include practices in litigation, employment law and business transactions, with a long history of serving governmental clients throughout Texas.

Despite our growth, Lloyd Gosselink has never strayed from our founding mission of  delivering top-quality, cost-effective legal representation and working with our clients to develop innovative solutions to legal problems, while maintaining the highest professional standards. We are committed to our clients and their success. We work to gain an in-depth understanding of our clients and their business so we can provide practical counsel while offering creative solutions to their challenges. We have the depth of knowledge and talent necessary to provide clients with the kind of responsiveness and long-term continuity that earns their trust and loyalty.

Lloyd Gosselink was founded on the principle of teamwork that draws on the talents of everyone—professionals and support staff—to exceed our clients’ expectations. The result is a team-oriented culture that sets Lloyd Gosselink apart in the legal community. The Firm’s growing practice continues to attract top quality lawyers with real world experience. Our lawyers are highly recognized in their fields and are widely sought-after speakers. Our Firm has been selected in 2012-2019 as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work for in Texas.

A full service Southeastern-based law firm representing clients across the United States and internationally, Stites & Harbison PLLC is known as a preeminent firm managing sophisticated transactions, challenging litigation, and complex regulatory matters on a daily basis. The firm represents a broad spectrum of clients including multinational corporations, financial institutions, pharmaceutical companies, health care organizations, manufacturers, private companies, nonprofit organizations, family-owned businesses and individuals. Tracing its origins to 1832, Stites & Harbison is one of the oldest law practices in the nation.

The firm maintains 11 offices across six states--Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, and Virginia--and is able to service the needs of international clients with its memberships in Business Counsel, Inc. and Lex Mundi. Additionally, Stites & Harbison is a member of The Harmonie Group, the national network of top litigation law firms, and is the Kentucky representative to the prestigious Southern Law Network.

At Taft, we work as one team, driven and committed to helping you succeed. Our attorneys understand that innovative, value-creating solutions help our clients reach their goals. Our collaborative approach, advanced technological resources, and depth of services can transform what you expect from your legal team.

With more than 1,100 attorneys, Taft has offices in Chicago, Illinois; Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, and Delaware, Ohio; Aspen, Denver, and Colorado Springs, Colorado; Detroit and Southfield, Michigan; Minneapolis, Minnesota.; Indianapolis, Indiana; Covington, Kentucky; Phoenix, Arizona; Stuart and West Palm Beach, Florida; and Washington, D.C.

Taft attorneys serve individuals and businesses worldwide in both mature and emerging industries.

The firm practices across a wide range of industries in virtually every area of law, including:

• Business
• Bankruptcy and Restructuring
• Employment and Labor Relations
• Energy
• Environmental
  
• Health Care
• Intellectual Property
  
• Lending and Finance
• Litigation
• Private Client
• Real Estate
• Tax

Since 1885, Taft has maintained a constant focus: to provide clients, both large and small, with legal advice and services that meet the highest possible standards.

Affiliated Businesses

As an additional service to our clients, Taft attorneys often partner with members of our affiliated businesses to provide comprehensive service to our clients. Our affiliated businesses include:

• Ginovus
• Taft Advisors LLC
• Taft Business Consulting
• Taft Infrastructure Advisors

Through these businesses, clients can access business consulting across a variety of disciplines, from general planning and forecasting to government relations and public policy.

Awards and Honors

Taft has received numerous awards and honors:

• 108 Taft attorneys and 45 practice areas are listed in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.

• Eight Taft attorneys are listed in Chambers High Net Worth (HNW), and the firm is named a leading law firm in the HNW guide in Private Wealth Law for Indiana, Minnesota, and Ohio.

• Taft is ranked among the Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms." Taft received 20 national Tier 1 rankings, and Tier 1 rankings by metropolitan area in 154 practice areas.

• 363 Taft attorneys were honored with inclusion in the most recent edition of The Best Lawyers in America, with an additional 136 attorneys honored in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America.

• 112 Taft attorneys were named to the most recent list of Super Lawyers by Super Lawyers magazine.

• 78 Taft attorneys were named to the most recent list of Rising Stars by Super Lawyers magazine.

• Taft is rated a Highly Recommended Firm in Ohio and Indiana as well as a Recommended Firm in Minnesota by Benchmark Litigation, and Taft attorneys hold 22 rankings by Benchmark in one or more categories.

Main Areas of Practice:

Business: We provide legal services to public, private, and non-profit clients in a wide variety of industries, including banking, construction, distribution, finance, health care, housing, insurance, manufacturing, private equity, professional sports, real estate, retail, and utilities. Members of the group represent clients of different sizes, from emerging companies to Fortune 500 companies, on issues ranging from local matters to transactions with national and international implications.

Bankruptcy and Restructuring: We represent debtors, lenders, committees, suppliers, real estate owners and developers, equipment lessors, receivers, trustees, buyers and sellers, and other parties in connection with a wide assortment of transactions and litigation. We have extensive experience in the automotive, steel, telecommunications, basic manufacturing, retail and wholesale goods, and distressed-debt trading industries.

Employment and Labor Relations: We represent clients in a wide range of legal services to manage the complex relationship between employers and employees, including labor management relations, employment litigation, day-to-day counseling, benefit plans and ERISA compliance, workplace safety and health, immigration and citizenship, and workers’ compensation.

Energy: We provide full-service representation to a broad range of energy providers, public utilities, transmission-only utilities, independent power producers, developers, regional entities, and other energy-sector participants.

Environmental: We provide services in the areas of trial practice, Superfund defense and negotiation, enforcement defense, cost-recovery for plaintiffs and defendants, criminal environmental defense, environmental insurance and toxic tort litigation, mold and sick building litigation, lawsuits involving environmental problems discovered as a result of real property transfers or mergers and acquisitions, Brownfields redevelopment, defense of claims of occupational exposures, and administrative proceedings before state and federal agencies.

Health Care: We advise individual and institutional healthcare providers, research institutions, and pharmaceutical, medical device and biotechnology clients in multiple areas of law, including business and finance, employment and labor relations, malpractice litigation, insurance, regulatory and administrative law, ERISA, third-party reimbursement (Medicare, Medicaid and private payers) and hospital financing (tax-exempt bond financing).

Intellectual Property: We counsel and assist clients with patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, intellectual property, and pharmaceutical and life sciences litigation, including Hatch-Waxman litigation, biosimilars, computer software and internet-related issues.

Lending and Finance: Lenders and borrowers alike need lawyers that understand market dynamics and help simplify the complexity of transactions wherever possible. Clients trust our team to bring a practical, business-oriented approach to each transaction. Our team represents lenders and borrowers in all types of financing transactions, including asset-based lending, mezzanine finance, traditional working capital and equipment finance, acquisition finance (senior and mezzanine), capital call lines of credit, real estate finance, equipment leasing, regulatory compliance, investigations and enforcement, and consumer financial services and lending.

Litigation: We represent clients in pretrial, trial and appellate litigation in federal and state courts, before regulatory agencies and arbitration panels, and in alternative dispute resolution in a full range of matters, including antitrust, appellate, bankruptcy, construction, ERISA, education, estates, trusts and fiduciary, environmental, FCPA and international anti-corruption, First Amendment and media law, government contracts, insurance, intellectual property, pharmaceutical and life sciences, product liability and personal injury, securities, sports, and corporate compliance and white collar criminal defense.

Private Client: We counsel owners of family businesses in establishing organizational structures to satisfy current and long-term needs, to plan for the transfer of the business to the next generation (whether during the owner's lifetime or upon death), and to implement strategies. We also represent clients on personal planning, taking into account estate and income tax issues, closely-held businesses, second marriages, and planning for special needs of children and other heirs.

Real Estate: We represent clients in all services related to the acquisition, disposition, financing, leasing, management, and use of real estate, including lease, financing agreement, construction contract, and purchase and sale agreement negotiations, land use representation and litigation, and tax valuation representation and litigation.

Tax: We represent public corporations, financial institutions, domestic joint ventures, new business ventures, non-profit and tax-exempt organizations, and individuals in tax matters such as business transactions, employee benefits and executive compensation, international taxation, mergers and acquisitions, state and local tax, and tax controversy and litigation.

Weitz & Luxenberg is one of the premier plaintiff’s lawfirms in the nation. The largest mass tort and personal injury litigation lawfirm in New York, Weitz & Luxenberg is also one of the most successfulfirms nationally, having won over $17 billion in verdicts and settlements for clients from all 50 states.

The crowning achievement in the firm’s well-rounded and respected practice, Weitz & Luxenberg has won acclaim for its pioneering work in asbestos litigation. Clients attest to the firm’s reputation of excellence and trustworthiness – which it earns through a commitment to both cutting-edge legal work and old-fashioned principles.

Leaders in Asbestos Litigation

Established in 1986, Weitz & Luxenberg has developed one of the most successful asbestos litigation practices in the nation. The firm has fought on the sides of thousands of clients suffering from mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis. The firm has litigation groups to assist clients harmed by environmental pollutants, defective drugs and medical devices, and negligent acts.

Weitz & Luxenberg’s attention to these clients is always dispensed on a personal, intimate level. The firm’s asbestos lawyers approach each client’s case with a fresh eye. Their elite legal team is able to walk a new client through the steps they need to take, all while listening to the client’s needs to determine which direction those steps should point.

This personalized approach is backed up by a powerful litigation engine. Weitz & Luxenberg’s asbestos practice is larger than that of many other firms who specialize in asbestos cases, and the firm’s lawyers hold leadership positions on many asbestos bankruptcy trusts, which comprise a combined $30 billion earmarked for compensating victims of asbestos.

What it boils down to is a firm with dozens of lawyers, locations in three major cities, and one goal: providing exemplary, custom-tailored legal service.

Flourishing Legal Practice

Weitz & Luxenberg’s considerable resources also extend to other major practice areas. The firm has litigation groups to assist clients harmed by environmental pollutants, defective drugs and medical devices, and negligent acts – including medical malpractice, traumatic injuries, and other accidents. Attorneys in these practice areas have obtained a number of remarkable legal successes for Weitz & Luxenberg’s clients.

Firm History

Weitz & Luxenberg was founded in 1986 by partners Perry Weitz and Arthur Luxenberg. One of their first court victories – a $75 million verdict for clients exposed to asbestos while working at the Brooklyn Navy Yard– was a historic case that changed the landscape of asbestos litigation.

The firm’s reputation has continued to grow in the interceding years – as has its access to top-flight resources. Weitz &Luxenberg currently has more than 85 attorneys in their New York, Los Angeles,and Cherry Hill, NJ offices. Weitz & Luxenberg lawyers are sought-after speakers for the asbestos bar, and even competing law firms ask Weitz& Luxenberg to handle many of their asbestos-related cases every year.

The firm continues to break ground with their legal work today. In a 2011 lung cancer case, Weitz & Luxenberg secured a $22 million verdict against Goodyear Tire & Rubber on behalf of two smokers who had been exposed to asbestos on the job.

Simply Excellent LegalService

Weitz & Luxenberg is well known for its elite legal work, but the strength of their commitment to their clients’ goals and communities is not to be overlooked.

The firm makes a point of telling clients to express their goals and concerns – which the firm then responds to by formulating legal strategies sensitive to those objectives. With those goals in mind, Weitz & Luxenberg is then equipped – perhaps as well as any plaintiff’s litigation law firm in the nation – to make those goals a reality.