Count on us Overview of Eversheds Sutherland’s emergency response capabilities Eversheds Sutherland Overview of emergency response capabilities Contents Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 3 Emergency Response Know-How ..................................................................................................................... 6 Our Experience ............................................................................................................................................. 10 Our Team ..................................................................................................................................................... 14 2 Eversheds Sutherland Overview of emergency response capabilities Executive Summary Overview. Emergency response is like chess. The next move will have serious implications 10 moves later. Or it is like juggling, with six issues in the air at the same time. Or it is like coaching a team in the second half of the championship game. There are a lot of metaphors, many of them useful, but none gets the whole picture. Emergency response is helping an organization address a rapid series of different but interrelated challenges with profound human and financial consequences. Sometimes you juggle, sometimes you play chess, sometimes you coach, but really you do all of these things (and more) all of the time. You manage the crisis. We know, because we manage crises everywhere in the United States and throughout the energy sector. Crisis response is a specialty. It requires experience, knowledge, and commitment to develop. Few firms really have it, but we do. Here is an overview of our work: ─ Represented Transocean in the investigation and litigation of the Macondo disaster, an undertaking that encompassed every aspect of the emergency response practice, including advising the internal investigation, drafting the public report, preparing executives and personnel to testify in Congress and before the President’s Oil Spill Commission, representing the company at the Joint Investigation Team hearings (Coast Guard/Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement), negotiating civil and criminal penalties under the Oil Pollution Act (OPA) and the Clean Water Act (CWA) with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and trying the case in multi-district litigation in the Eastern District of Louisiana. ─ Investigated the failure of a blowout preventer on a working deep water drill ship in the Gulf of Mexico, handled a joint inquiry with other stakeholders, represented the company in responding to a Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) investigation, and successfully pursued legal claims related to the incident. ─ Served for two decades as US emergency response counsel for Equinor (Statoil), during which we responded to incidents across the country, prepared comprehensive emergency response procedures, conducted regular audits and assessments of emergency preparations, and trained company personnel throughout the country through drills, table-top exercises, and crisis simulations. ─ Counseled a Fortune 100 company in the resource extraction industry on the conduct of its internal investigation into a heavily publicized disaster that caused multiple fatalities, and in the aftermath helped develop emergency response, reporting, and training procedures as barriers against future incidents. ─ Represented an international plastics and chemical firm in responding to catastrophic burn cases at an industrial site in New Mexico, including dealing with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the State of New Mexico, and defending related lawsuits. ─ Coordinated the emergency response to a hydrocarbon spill from an interstate transmission pipeline in the central United States, represented the pipeline in the subsequent investigation and action by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), and successfully pursued claims against the parties responsible for the weld failure. 3 Eversheds Sutherland Overview of emergency response capabilities ─ Handled the emergency response to a gas explosion at an industrial site that resulted in a fatality and several injuries, conducted an internal investigation and company-wide safety audit, responded to OSHA and state regulators, and favorably resolved the ensuing litigation. In emergency response, there is no substitute for experience. The practice is holistic. Every decision affects every other decision, and requires not only foresight but also experience in the industry and across multiple disciplines. Our team comprises top practitioners in relevant areas of law who know the oilfield, negotiate with the regulators, go to the rigs and refineries, litigate the rules and regulations, and investigate the crises. With a proven approach and a veteran team, we are prepared to engage at a moment’s notice to assist our clients in addressing whatever crisis they might face in the United States. Our Team. Our dedicated Crisis Response and Investigation Team includes more than 30 lawyers in the United States and handles matters ranging from industrial catastrophes and environmental disasters to maritime losses and financial collapses. Our core team is led by Jack Massey and David Baay, and includes Susan Lafferty, Jake Dweck, Matt Gatewood, Marlene Williams, Michael Bahar, Mark Thibodeaux, Jim Textor, Kelsey Machado, Cathy Garza, and Ron Zdrojeski. This group illustrates our experience and multi-disciplinary capabilities, including: ─ Energy regulatory response and investigation (Massey; Baay; Machado; Garza) ─ Health, safety, and workplace compliance and litigation (Gatewood, Massey; Garza) ─ Whistleblowers, human resources, discrimination, and trade secrets (Williams; Massey; Zdrojeski; Machado) ─ Emergency preparation, auditing and assessment, procedural review, crisis simulation (Lafferty; Dweck; Gatewood; Massey) ─ Clean Water Act, Oil Pollution Act, Jones Act, Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, Environmental Protection Agency, spill prevention and response, environmental issues (Lafferty; Dweck; Massey; Baay) ─ Anti-bribery and corruption and white collar criminal defense (Zdrojeski; Massey; Garza) ─ Governmental affairs, public relations, corporate strategy (Dweck; Zdrojeski; Massey; Williams; Lafferty) ─ Civil disputes and catastrophic personal injuries (Baay; Massey; Gatewood; Machado; Garza) ─ Marine incidents which can include spill contamination and insurance coverage (Massey; Textor) ─ Maritime cyber risks and piracy (Bahar; Thibodeaux) Standing behind our core team is a support group whose members can bring specific technical, regional, or agency experience to the table as needed (e.g., Steve Roberts was lead lawyer for Transocean during Macondo and is an authority in maritime law; Meghana Shah handles environmental investigations and disputes; and Lino Mendiola has strong contacts with Texas regulators). Our Approach. Every emergency has a life cycle. It begins with the immediate response, grows into public scrutiny, investigation and regulatory action, and matures into litigation, prosecution, and reputation management. How a company deals with each consequence of the emergency determines how successful it will be in dealing with the others. Our approach is to address the entire lifecycle. We begin with integration and training. Major oil and gas companies already have sophisticated procedures in place for responding to emergencies. Working with the client, we familiarize 4 Eversheds Sutherland Overview of emergency response capabilities ourselves with the relevant processes and people, and identify what we can do to strengthen the organization and its processes. Safety auditing, emergency planning, and crisis simulation follow. Both the client and our team need to practice to perform at their best when an incident occurs. And when an incident does occur, we deploy to provide comprehensive and immediate advice during the initial response, and to help the client retain the non-legal professionals who will also be essential to the effort (e.g., public relations; technical; forensic; etc.). Finally, flexibility and pragmatism are essential. Emergency response is not purely legal. The commercial, political, reputational, and human aspects are just as important. So we seek to integrate these competing concerns with a legal strategy that minimizes risk to the company. Part of this approach involves weighing priorities, another part involves thinking ahead to avoid late-cycle risks. At all times, however, we keep in mind the context of each decision and assess how such a decision may affect the representation as a whole. In this way, we ground the representation in fact and keep the strategy on point. 5 Eversheds Sutherland Overview of emergency response capabilities Emergency Response Know-How Our team’s familiarity with three issues: (1) local, state, or national regulations that apply to emergency response; (2) enforcement and investigatory issues that might arise in the context of emergency response; and (3) the regions of the United States where we provide or have provided emergency response support follows. Federal Regulatory Experience. We work with all of the federal agencies regulating the energy industry and workplace safety in the United States, are familiar with their regulations and procedures, and have interacted with each