Periconi LLC, Announces the Release of its New Environmental Law Web Site; Providing a Focus on Due Diligence, Brownfields Development & Other Env

10 October 2006

Periconi, LLC, the New York-based boutique environmental law firm formed in early 2003, announces the release of its new web site, at Periconi.com. An environmental law blog will soon follow.

The firm's five attorneys have a collective environmental law practice experience of «close to 100 years,» according to the firm's founder, James J. Periconi. About 50% litigation oriented, with the remaining work divided equally between counseling and regulatory representation, the firm's lawyers' experience includes «every area» of environmental law practice. This includes hazardous waste compliance and defensive work, in federal and state forums, from one-on-one private contribution or cost recovery actions to multi-hundred party Superfund sites with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on the other side.

The firm's practice is, these days, heavily involved in representing real estate development in the New York area. It also represents a wide range of corporate parties and individuals in diverse subject areas, such as wetlands enforcement and permitting, State Environmental Quality Review Act («SEQRA») work, and brownfields work. In addition, the firm has experience in numerous issues raised by the siting of power plants and transmission lines.

Above all, according to Mr. Periconi, «we help clients make deals that they might not otherwise make because of fear of environmental liabilities.» The firm likes to say that it «demystifies» the arcane world of environmental law, defining the risk in ways that business people, especially real estate development companies, can understand. «We know we've done our job when clients tell us they're sleeping better at night because they now understand the true level of environmental risk, and have decided they can live with it.»

The web site is now, and the environmental blog will be, centered on such «demystification.» On the one hand, the firm will explain carefully how recent developments in the law, whether new federal or state statutes or court decisions, might affect client decision-making in the future. But at that same time, the firm believes in «translating» those legal developments into practical terms for clients to use.

The firm and its attorneys relish the breadth and depth of their practice. «We enjoy helping clients work through a number of possible ‘what if' scenarios, depending on what kind of risk they're willing to take, and where they think the marketplace is going. We like to enhance the options a client has in making a business decision.» This is an integral of Environmental due diligence. On the other hand, the firm's focus is on expeditiously, as well as thoroughly, working through those possible scenarios, knowing how often time is of the essence.

In representing sellers, for example, the firm helps clients rebut exaggerated claims about the scope of liabilities in the property or facility that is up for sale. «We have many years of government experience to back up our judgment of what is most likely to happen when the government agencies look at the issues,» says Mr. Periconi.

On enforcement issues, the firm has defended clients in administrative forums as well as in the federal and state courts. The firm also has the relatively unusual capability of criminal environmental enforcement experience. The firm's founder, as an Assistant New York Attorney General, obtained the first hazardous waste felony jury corporate and individual convictions in New York, in the early 1980's, and had previously been an Assistant District Attorney in New York County under Robert Morgenthau.

Individual attorneys at the firm have also acted as federal court-appointed Special Masters in several different matters, as well as act as expert witnesses and special counsel.

For additional information about the firm behind the new web site, contact James J. Periconi or visit the firm's website at http://www.periconi.com.

About Periconi, LLC:

In business since early 2003, the attorneys of Periconi, LLC, have collectively nearly 100 years of environmental law experience, beginning in 1970, a combination of private practice and significant New York environmental law governmental experience. That experience runs the gamut from the drafter of New York's rules for the siting of electric power transmission lines, the prosecutor who through early cases in the field developed in effect the «rules» for sustainable environmental criminal indictments, to expert witness testimony to be used in, for example, a case in which the client charged a law firm with malpractice as environmental counsel and obtained a very significant monetary settlement of claims, based in part on the proposed expert testimony. The firm and its attorneys have undertaken internal corporate environmental compliance reviews following on the heels of allegations of wrongdoing that threatened to send corporate executives to prison, as well as frequently acting as special counsel -- «a lawyer's lawyer» -- to top real estate and corporate attorneys in the City.

James J. Periconi, the firm's founding member, was Chief of Hazardous Waste Enforcement for New York's Department of Environmental Conservation, as well as Chair (2003-2004) of the Environmental Law Section of the New York State Bar Association. On the Advisory Board of the BNA Toxics Law Reporter, Mr. Periconi has written and lectured extensively on various topics of environmental law. He is Martindale «AV» rated, which means «a lawyer's peers rank him or her at the highest level of professional excellence.»

Contact:

James J. Periconi

Periconi, LLC

708 Third Avenue, 17th Floor

New York, NY 10017

212-213-5500

Source: emediawire

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