A description of the PLC Environment service.
To find out more or to register for a free trial, please call the PLC Helpline on +44 (0)20 7202 1220 or click here.
PLC Environment provides online environmental know-how, which is:
Practical.
Clear.
Concise.
Up-to-date.
The service is primarily aimed at environmental law in England and Wales but also covers key areas of EU environmental law.
PLC Environment is aimed at both lawyers and those outside of the legal profession who need to understand and stay up-to-date with environmental law, such as:
Environmental lawyers - in private practice and at the Bar.
Property, corporate and finance lawyers.
In-house counsel.
Environmental consultants.
Environmental (EHS) managers in companies.
Lenders and investors.
Insurers.
What do we mean by "know-how"? We provide a wide range of materials that are continuously updated to reflect the latest changes in environmental law and policy:
Practice notes - clear and concise summaries of a very wide range of environmental topics.
Standard documents - precedents (such as environmental warranties and indemnities), all of which are accompanied by drafting notes explaining the key legal, negotiating and drafting issues clause by clause.
Legal updates - weekly current awareness e-mails on key developments in environmental law and policy.
Legislation tracker - which tracks the progress of those key developments.
Checklists.
Articles.
Multi-jurisdictional Environment Guide - concise summaries of environmental law in other jurisdictions around the world.
These are explained in more detail below, see What materials do we provide?
PLC Environment is designed and run by a team of environmental specialists with a wide range of practical experience in both the private and public sectors. For further information, see PLC Environment professional support team (www.practicallaw.com/3-204-6071).
The PLC Environment team forms part of, and is supported by, a wider PLC team, which consists of over 90 former practitioners with experience in property, corporate, finance, litigation, tax, intellectual property, competition, employment and pension law. For further information, see PLC professional support team (www.practicallaw.com/4-103-0546).
The materials written by the PLC Environment team are supplemented by materials written by experts from leading law firms and environmental consultancies. These materials are then kept up-to-date by the PLC Environment team.
PLC Environment covers a very wide range of environmental topics, including:
Climate change and emissions trading.
Energy and renewables.
REACH.
WEEE and RoHS.
Contaminated land.
Waste.
Water pollution.
Pollution prevention and control (PPC) regime.
Environmental consultants.
Environmental insurance.
Environmental management and reporting.
Environmental taxes.
Environmental regulators and enforcement.
For a full list of all the topics we cover, see PLC Environment homepage.
Practice notes are concise and practical explanations of key aspects of environmental law and policy. They are aimed at practitioners of all levels of experience and are continuously updated by the PLC Environment team whenever necessary to reflect changes in law and policy.
For an example of a practice note, see Environmental issues in finance transactions: overview (www.practicallaw.com/5-202-2489).
For a full list of all practice notes, see PLC Environment: Practice notes (www.practicallaw.com/6-204-9110).
PLC Environment provides a bank of standard documents (including clauses) for use in commercial transactions, such as corporate and property transactions.
All of the standard documents are accompanied by drafting notes, which give detailed guidance on the relevant legal, negotiating and drafting issues.
As with practice notes, standard documents and drafting notes are updated by the PLC Environment team whenever necessary to reflect changes in law and practice.
Standard documents are available both online and in Microsoft Word 6.0 format (see How do I use the PLC Word template? (www.practicallaw.com/0-101-3271)). For details on converting PLC standard documents into your firm's own house style, see PLC FirmStyle.
For a full list of all standard documents and drafting notes, see:
Standard documents and drafting notes (www.practicallaw.com/4-204-9111).
Standard clauses and drafting notes (www.practicallaw.com/6-205-5342).
Checklists are practical step-by-step guides to environmental issues that arise in the context of commercial transactions.
As with practice notes, standard documents and drafting notes, checklists are updated by the PLC Environment team whenever necessary to reflect relevant developments and changes in practice.
For an example of a checklist, see Legal risk management checklist: Dealing with an environmental crisis: key questions (www.practicallaw.com/0-102-5245).
For a full list of all checklists, see PLC Environment: Checklists (www.practicallaw.com/2-204-9112).
The PLC Environment team commission on a regular basis articles (including case studies) from external contributors on a wide range of environmental topics.
For an example of an externally commissioned article, see Contaminated land: New mechanism for the allocation of liabilities (www.practicallaw.com/5-203-0446).
In addition, PLC Environment includes access to environment-related articles published in the PLC magazine (www.practicallaw.com/1-103-1613) and PLC Cross-border Quarterly (www.practicallaw.com/3-103-2126).
PLC Environment legal updates cover the following:
New UK and EU cases.
New and draft UK and EU legislation.
Consultation papers, guidance notes and other publications from the UK government, European Commission and other relevant bodies.
Changes in environmental policy and market practice.
Notification of new materials added to the PLC Environment website and of any significant changes made to existing materials.
Legal updates are delivered by e-mail, as well as being available online. Subscribers can choose to receive these e-mails either weekly or monthly.
We cover only those developments that are significant and of practical relevance to our subscribers. Our aim is to shield our subscribers from the avalanche of environmental information, not add to it. We therefore apply a rigorous "so what" test. For example, if a case does not change the law, we will not usually cover it unless it provides a useful clarification of the law.
We do not aim to be the first organisation to report on any new development. We report on it when we consider that it is significant and relevant to our subscribers and once we have had the opportunity to identify its practical implications.
For an example of a legal update, see EU Energy Efficiency Action Plan published (www.practicallaw.com/9-205-5147).
The PLC Environment Legislation tracker provides a quick and user-friendly way of tracking the progress of important environmental legislation and policy developments, from the consultation stage through to adoption and implementation.
For further information, see PLC Environment: Legislation tracker (www.practicallaw.com/3-204-3968).
PLC Environment provides access to:
Environment Multi-jurisdictional Guide (www.practicallaw.com/5-202-3945), which provides concise and practical summaries of environmental law in a number of jurisdictions around the world.
PLC Which lawyer? Environment (www.practicallaw.com/5-203-2129), which identifies leading environmental lawyers and law firms in different jurisdictions around the world.
Both of these resources are produced by the PLC Cross-border service and are updated on an annual basis. For further information, see PLC Cross-border homepage.
PLC Environment is a developing service and so additional resources and materials will be added as the service moves forward.
We will keep under review the range of topics we cover and the type of resources and materials we provide.
For a list of:
All materials added recently to PLC Environment, see PLC Environment: New content (www.practicallaw.com/6-203-6669).
The various materials we propose to add to PLC Environment in the forthcoming year, see PLC Environment: Provisional publishing schedule (www.practicallaw.com/2-203-6671).
If you have any comments or suggestions on the service, please e-mail the PLC Environment team at environmentfeedback@practicallaw.com.
PLC Environment is a cost-effective resource for any lawyer or professional outside of the legal profession who needs to understand and stay up-to-date with environmental law.
The service is designed to:
Save lawyers' time and enhance their capacity to do fee-earning or client-related work.
Improve the quality, speed and accuracy of their service to clients.
Bring lawyers (be they senior, junior or trainees) up-to-speed quickly and effectively.
Enable firms and legal departments with professional support lawyers (PSLs) to focus their resources on developing firm and client-specific know-how, instead of on routine information-gathering.
Concentrate more attention on using know-how for marketing purposes and making the practice more competitive.
PLC Environment is a revolutionary professional support service that gives lawyers a level of support that was previously available only to those firms with dedicated PSLs.
The service is also valuable to firms with dedicated PSLs, allowing them to focus on developing firm and client-specific (as opposed to generic) know-how, such as:
Drafting precedents focused on specific clients.
Producing tailored client know-how materials.
Identifying and capturing know-how generated by fee earners through transactions and integrating that with PLC Environment materials.
Delivering training programmes.
Providing support for transactions in terms of research and analysis of specific areas of law.
PLC Environment can be the invisible knowledge foundation of a law firm (see Practical Law Company - My valuable invisible).
The service is also a valuable resource to professionals and organisations outside of the legal profession who need to understand and stay up-to-date with environmental law, such as:
Environmental and health & safety (EHS) managers.
Environmental consultants.
Lenders and investors.
Insurers.
PLC Environmental enables those outside of the legal profession to:
Gain a thorough understanding of a wide range of environmental topics.
Remain up-to-date with recent developments in environmental law.
Understand the practical implications of those topics and developments.
For further information on PLC Environment or to request a free trial, please contact the PLC Helpline (www.practicallaw.com/A17385).
