Dan Riesel once again will chair this year's ALI-ABA Course in Environmental Litigation. This year's course, which will be held on June 27-30 at the University of Colorado School of Law, is the 32nd Annual Advanced ALI-ABA Summer Course of Study.

You and your colleagues might be interested in attending, and the following paragraphs provide an overview of the course's scope and purpose:

This 3½ day advanced course of study provides a unique opportunity for private and public-sector environmental lawyers to understand the interplay among substantive environmental law, science, and litigation skills. This 32nd annual presentation comprises more than 22 hours of instruction.

The course uses specially prepared materials, lectures, and faculty demonstrations. The demonstrations simulate representative environmental litigation situations such as hearings on injunctive relief, direct and cross-examination of experts, and the trial of technical issues.

Core issues inherent in all environmental litigation, private and public, are examined in both their procedural and substantive contexts. For example, the admission of expert testimony under Daubert and its progeny is reviewed both in a procedural context and in the proof of specific subjects such as ground water movement, health risks from exposure to toxic substances, and other difficult areas of environmental proof.

Each year, new problems are reviewed. This year, discovery of electronically stored data under the new amendments to the Federal Rules, spoliation, the manipulation of scientific data, emerging litigation under the Clean Air Act, and hazardous waste litigation in the post-Aviall world receive special attention.

The course begins with a discussion of standing and concludes with settlement procedures. In between, it addresses superfund litigation and related toxic torts, as well as natural resource damages. Recurring discovery and case management issues, including lessons learned from the Clean Air Act New Source Review litigation, also are discussed. Although the course does not concentrate on substantive law, the procedural problems in air and water litigation receive attention in the context of discovery, expert proof, and citizen suit litigation.

In addition to the problems inherent in plenary litigation, difficult issues continue to arise under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and other informal agency decisions such as those arising under federal and state wetland laws. The procedural and associated issues relating to these actions receive attention throughout the program. Ethical issues, some of which are unique to environmental litigation, are explored from a practical litigation standpoint.

Time is reserved throughout the program for the faculty to address registrants' questions and to assist them in any other ways that might render the course more productive for their practices.

For additional information, including registration instructions, please view the complete course brochure.