2013 Lex Mundi Environmental Practice Group Global Meeting conference in Amsterdam on 8 May 2013
The firm Houthoff Buruma, in Amsterdam, hosted the annual meeting of environmental lawyers affiliated to Lex Mundi.
The conference had five sessions which covered the most pressing environmental law issues in international practice.
The first session, „Due Diligence in the Environmental Context”, discussed environmental issues arising in transactions. Ways of assessing pre-transaction legal risks were also reviewed. Lawyers from Romania, Mexico and Poland presented their own experiences. Dominik Wałkowski, of Wardyński & Partners Environmental Law Practice Group, gave a lecture. The discussion was moderated by the practice group head, Izabela Zielińska-Barłożek, Vice-President of the Environmental Practice Group for Europe, Middle East and Africa.
The next session also dealt with transactions. Here, participants focused on aspects of negotiating transaction documents („Negotiating the Purchase Agreement”). The moderator showed how clients can be protected contractually from liability for damage to the environment, while other speakers presented key negotiation issues faced by sellers and buyers.
The third session was devoted to issues of implementing investment projects. A US speaker considered this from experience gained in constructing industrial facilities in the United States, while another speaker referred to examples from constructing offshore wind farms in the Netherlands.
During the session on most recent trends in environmental proceedings in courts, speakers presented the latest approaches in court jurisprudence that could be relevant in other countries.
The meeting ended with a succinct review of new legislative solutions to industrial emissions in the United States and the European Union.
