EPA Considers Classifying Discarded PVC Plastic as Hazardous Waste

Jill Askren devotes her practice to complex litigation in both state and federal courts, representing clients in individual, class action, and government enforcement matters, as well as commercial business disputes. Jill has worked on matters from the pre-litigation stage through final disposition or resolution. She has experience conducting discovery, researching and drafting a wide variety of motions, including dispositive motions, preparing witnesses for deposition, expert witness preparation, and other aspects of preparing complex cases for trial. Her practice has also included advising clients facing government enforcement actions. Prior to joining the firm, Jill clerked for judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. While clerking with the federal district and appellate courts, she was exposed to complex litigation in many different areas of the law, including class actions, business disputes, mass tort litigation, insurance coverage, and other areas. She drafted bench memoranda concerning civil and criminal issues relating to evidentiary rulings, statutory and contractual interpretation, and related claims.

Chris Bell represents clients in civil and criminal enforcement and investigations, litigation, compliance counseling, emergency incident response, and legislative and regulatory advocacy (including appellate challenges to rulemakings) under all of the major environmental, health, safety and natural resource laws. His enforcement experience includes internal investigations, responding to grand jury investigations and agency information requests, and negotiating consent, probation, and debarment agreements. He recently completed a 5-year stint as the EPA Independent Monitor overseeing Duke Energy's compliance with complex debarment and probation agreements arising from the resolution of a criminal enforcement case brought under the Clean Water Act. Chris assists buyers, sellers, investors and financial institutions on the environmental aspects of transactions, including conducting due diligence, negotiating the environmental provisions of transactional documents, and identifying and executing insurance-based risk management opportunities. His transactional experience has included upstream, midstream and downstream energy projects, alternative energy projects, and transactions in the manufacturing, logistics, consumer products and chemicals sectors. He helps clients evaluate and implement compliance and ethics programs (e.g., under the Sentencing Guidelines), and environmental, health and safety management systems (including based on ISO 14001). Chris advises clients on sustainable development, climate change, product and chemical stewardship and regulation, and value chain management. He recently served on an independent committee advising the senior management of a Fortune 50 company on its global sustainability strategy and reporting. He is also experienced with international matters, including compliance with product and chemical regulations in the EU and Asia, and the international transportation of raw materials and waste. For over twenty years he has represented industry in the development of international standards, including ISO standards on EMS (ISO 14001), auditing, life cycle assessment, sustainable development, nanotechnology, and anti-bribery management systems (ISO 37001). Chris spent a year seconded to a major multinational corporation as in-house counsel, and has worked with clients in many sectors, including power generation and distribution, natural gas, alternative energy, transportation, chemicals, oil exploration and production, life sciences, natural resources, defense, electronics, communications, real estate, consumer products, retail sales, and general manufacturing.