Media Coverage of LNL Sustainability Initiative
LOCAL ATTORNEY AMONG GROUP ADDRESSING LEGAL CHALLENGES OF 'GOING GREEN'
By Chris Spittal
Daily
Reporter Staff Writer
08/29/2007
As more companies and industries begin to explore the environmental
sustainability movement, an increasing number of legal issues are bound to arise
and potentially impact their operations.
An international group of attorneys, including Columbus lawyer David Scott, has
recognized the problem and are working to explore potential legal challenges to
clients who choose to go green, and to develop possible solutions.
Scott, an attorney with Luper, Neidenthal and Logan, is one of 10 members of the
Leadership Institute, a program started by Meritas, a global alliance of business
law firms.
Meritas works to ensure its member firms deliver quality service, and firms are
able to call on each other for advice or for referral services. Meritas has more
than 170 firms
in 60 countries, equating to roughly 5,700 lawyers; Luper Neidenthal
and Logan is the only member based in Central Ohio.
"It's a year-long project to do something for the greater good of the Meritas
organization," Scott said of the group's focus on helping businesses go green. "Sustainability
is not just a trend, it's the future of business."
The 10 members of the group, hailing from locales such as Toronto, Spain and the
Bahamas, came together at the Meritas annual meeting in April and decided on two
goals: To anticipate how sustainability will lead to new legal challenges and how
attorneys can help clients meet those challenges, and to create a set of guidelines
for firms to become more "eco-conscious."
The second goal was chosen in the light of "practicing what you preach," Scott
explained, as a firm working to go green will appeal to clients experiencing a similar
process.
"Clients going through those challenges [of developing more sustainability in
their practice] would appreciate their law firms going through the same challenges,"
he said. The group participates in monthly conference calls and frequent e-mails
to discuss potential issues and solutions, as well as to share client stories. One
of the group's members in particular, a real estate attorney in Los Angeles, has
been a wealth of knowledge regarding issues her clients already have been through,
Scott said.
"The communication is actually going pretty well," Scott said. "They're all intelligent,
motivated people with great ideas." One of the largest industries that will be facing
growing legal concerns is the energy industry, specifically renewable energies.
"When you're dealing
with renewable energy, you get a whole host of legal issues,"
said Scott. Issues such as zoning rights and environmental concerns could arise
when developing a renewable energy site, such as those housing wind turbines.
Similar concerns can reach a handful of industries - manufacturers and the printing
industry, for example - as groups work to obtain LEED certification. Another group
that could be impacted by sustainability is the construction industry since building
design and construction, as well as sustainable materials will be scrutinized.
While sustainability initiatives are changing the way people do business and creating
new industries, Scott said his group hopes to develop a series of "take-aways" for
clients and firms, advising them how to handle the changing landscape and to appropriately
address legal issues.
The group will present its finished product at the Meritas annual meeting in Chicago
during April 2008, at which time the members also will host a roundtable discussion
of clients and attorneys to discuss their experiences with going green.
We hope to show people the 'green is green' concept," Scott said, explaining taking
small steps to help the environment can help firms profit in the long-run. "Usually
they hear the word 'environment' and run the other direction."
In the next six months, Scott said his firm of Luper, Neidenthal and Logan will
be working to meet the ABA-EPA Law Office Challenge, a program designed by the American
Bar Association and Environmental Protection Agency encouraging firms to take simple,
practical steps to become better environmental and energy stewards.
As part of the Leadership Institute, the committee is developing a list of best
practices for firms interested in going green. Though it is just a rough draft at
this point, Scott said the group is working on a five-tier plan of conservation
advising firms to "not do nothing, but just do something."
The first tier of the plan encourages simple steps such as conserving energy by
turning off lights, computers and other electronics to carpooling. The commitments
increase throughout the tiers, from using environmentally-friendly cleaning products,
to using recycled paper and Energy Star Equipment, to the highest level of having
a LEEDs certified building or becoming carbon neutral.
"They're at least ideas that (firms) can go from," said Scott.
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