Blakes has a first-rate environmental team that can handle the most complex cases efficiently.
Ranked Band 1 in Chambers Canada: Canada's Leading Lawyers for Business
Across industry sectors, the Blakes Environmental group finds solutions to environmental law challenges by navigating the layers of environmental regulation; advising on environmental assessments, permitting and approvals; devising risk-management strategies; and resolving disputes, all while advancing your business objectives.
We develop sophisticated strategies to minimize our clients’ exposure to environmental liabilities and advise them on management, compliance, due diligence procedures, training and permit requirements for projects with potential environmental ramifications. Our litigators are well-prepared to defend our clients in the courts when required and have represented numerous corporations, municipalities and individuals charged with environmental offences or named in government compliance and remediation orders.
We also regularly advise on virtually every aspect of Indigenous rights, handling constitutional litigation on behalf of First Nations, corporations, organizations and institutions in connection with various business opportunities and transactions and on several landmark claims involving Indigenous rights, lands and natural resources.
As a full-service business law firm, our Environmental team also works closely with leading specialists in our Corporate & Commercial, Financial Services, Commercial Real Estate and Restructuring & Insolvency groups, across all our offices. We provide environmental law advice to clients involved in business and real estate acquisitions and dispositions, land leasing and infrastructure development, among other areas. We frequently oversee environmental site assessments and audits as part of major business transactions involving multiple properties across the country and around the world.
Environmental, Social and Governance
Our team provides strategic environmental and regulatory advice relating to environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria that are a part of our clients’ commercial operations, sustainable investment decisions and business objectives.
We advise on a number of issues, including environmental considerations in transactional due diligence with respect to issues involving contaminated lands, waste management, greenhouse gas emissions, resource management, wildlife management and other environmental risks. We also advise on strategies geared towards managing carbon footprints including greenhouse-gas-emission requirements, climate change strategies, measurement and disclosure. Working directly with our clients, we assist them with avoiding or mitigating the risks of environmental liabilities associated to ongoing operations.
