Ridgway M. Hall, Jr. is a retired partner in Crowell & Moring's Washington, D.C. office and was a founding member of the firm. He practiced in the firm's Environment
& Natural Resources Group. Ridge graduated from Yale University, magna cum laude,
in 1963 and Harvard Law School in 1966. He was named one of the top
lawyers in the environmental field by Best Lawyers in America, Chambers USA, and
Euromoney's Guide to the World's Leading Environmental Lawyers, and he was listed in The International Who's Who Legal for environmental law for many years.
Ridge's practice included all aspects of environmental law and litigation. He practiced in this field from 1973 on and began Crowell & Moring's practice in this area.
He worked with clients in administrative and judicial proceedings, enforcement and
appellate litigation, rulemaking proceedings, permitting, and toxic tort litigation.
His practice included all of the federal environmental statutes and corresponding
state laws and regulatory programs. Prior to joining Crowell & Moring, he was associate general counsel for water at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
during 1975-1977.
Beginning in 1980, he handled numerous Superfund, hazardous waste, and toxic tort
cases for large and small companies in the manufacturing, mining, consumer
products, and construction industries, among others. These cases typically involved
a variety of scientific issues, with the result that Ridge and his colleagues
developed an extensive network of experts in such fields as groundwater and soil
contamination, environmental remediation, toxicology, risk assessment, and other
fields. He also handled Superfund cost recovery and allocation cases and appellate
litigation challenging EPA regulatory actions.
Ridge tried jury and non-jury toxic tort cases in federal and state courts. He
was lead counsel for plaintiff City of Delray Beach, Florida, in a groundwater
contamination case which, after a four-week jury trial, produced a verdict for the
City of $8.7 million, covering past and expected future cleanup costs. For four years,
he was lead counsel of the firm's team which represented one of the nuclear reactor
operating contractors in the Hanford Nuclear Reservation litigation. This consisted
of five consolidated class actions, plus individual cases, in which the defense team
won significant victories at the motion to dismiss and summary judgment stages
before they persuaded the U.S. Department of Energy to take over the defense.
Education
- Yale University, B.A. (1963)
- Harvard Law School, J.D. (1966)
Affiliations
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