Never Before Have Corporate Values and Business Strategies Come Under Greater Scrutiny

Investors, regulators, employees, and the public have heightened demands for companies to manage the societal impact of their operations more effectively. On issues ranging from climate risk mitigation to supply chain transparency to workplace health and safety, “doing the right thing” is now more than an aspirational goal for companies; it is a business imperative.

While environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards have gained prominence in recent years—driven by catalysts like climate change, COVID, Black Lives Matter, and #metoo—O’Melveny has been counseling clients on ESG-related matters for decades with a cross-disciplinary team of lawyers offering comprehensive and fully integrated legal support advising on:

  • ESG strategy, design, and implementation
  • ESG reporting and disclosures, including how best to frame ESG goals without risk of litigation backlash and use of third-party audits
  • Diligence and documentation on ESG matters in deals and financings
  • Defense against consumer and business claims related to alleged non-conformance with ESG goals
  • International trade counseling, including compliance with economic sanctions, customs, export controls, and the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act
  • Labor matters, including diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, remote work policies, executive compensation, union organizing, and employee mental health
  • Sustainable, responsible, and impact investing
  • ESG product innovation
  • Supply chain transparency
  • Data privacy and security
  • Investor activism
  • Energy conservation
  • Community investment

Carbon Capture

We work with leading energy companies to capture and sequester carbon emissions, including projects to provide for offshore sequestration of CO2 from oil, gas, and petrochemical producers. Read

Environmental Health and Safety

We help clients plan, finance, and implement projects that clean up contaminated soil and groundwater. We have worked for financial institutions and private equity firms that arrange for remediation and repurposing of refineries and power generation facilities, in some cases providing for enhanced transmission grids. We also counsel clients on their hazardous and medical waste disposal compliance programs, ensuring proper handling of regulated waste to mitigate any impacts on human health or the environment. Read

Pay Equity

We are representing a multinational technology company in a pay equity class action alleging that the company discriminated against women employees in terms of pay and promotions. We also assisted the company with a pay equity review that focused on identifying significant pay disparities and developing a process to investigate and correct those disparities. Read

Public Company Disclosure Requirements

We guide public companies on ESG and SEC-related disclosure, board and corporate governance requirements, “lack of diversity” shareholder derivative actions, institutional investor voting policies, and ESG-related shareholder proposals. Read

Renewable Energy

We help line up financing for projects that bring more renewable energy and clean water to market. We are a leading firm in tax equity finance for the solar, wind, smart grid, energy storage, electric vehicle and other clean tech sectors, with additional current projects involving backup battery systems for renewables and wood pellet-based alternative energy, hydrogen fuel trucking (and other alternative fuel sources for transportation), and public-private partnerships related to electric vehicles. Read
  • Apollo Global Management
  • Berkshire Hathaway Energy 
  • Building Energy
  • Coso Geothermal
  • Mitsui & Co.
  • Walt Disney
  • Wells Fargo 
  • Western Digital