Welcome to ELA Online

Environmental Litigation Associates (ELA) was formed to provide the legal community with access to an integrated team of consultants and expert witnesses in the fields of environmental sciences and engineering. ELA is comprised of senior scientists and engineers with strong technical ability in one or more scientific or engineering disciplines.

The Associates of ELA each manage and operate consulting practices which operate independently of ELA and who sponsor, in part, The Institute of Environmental Technology (IET) in Houston, Texas. They also serve as Lecturers in the IET training programs to encourage and promote good science and engineering and thereby minimize unnecessary litigation. As primary objectives, ELA facilitates technical litigation support and expert-witness testimony for both plaintiffs and defendant causes throughout the U.S.

Most environmental litigation involves more than one of the disciplines represented in ELA. The Senior Associates have worked together on numerous consulting and engineering projects since 1988; each Principal provides input to a project according to their specialized technical background and experience. This has resulted in a synergistic effect in many of the projects where the whole was clearly more than the sum of the parts. Recent projects involving two or more of the Principals have shown that the principle of professional synergism clearly applies to litigation support and tends to broaden each of the Principal's perspective and ability to support the attorneys' efforts in their practice of environmental law or any other litigation requiring scientific and/or engineering support. This synergism ordinarily will not prevail in a group composed of independent technical experts and consultants or in many consulting companies today.

Disciplines
You may wish to become familiar with each Associates' perspective on their disciplines in clarifying relevant issues in the the selection of experts in your litigation and to decide which Associate(s) to contact. ELA Disciplines, with the respective Associates' views, are presented in the DISCIPLINES area of this Web site.

Associates Activities
Each Associate is active in their respective disciplines and lectures at many professional gatherings, most notibly, The Institute of Environmental Technology (IET), an institute which cross-trains professionals to be involved in the environmental sciences and engineering fields, and promotes research with an emphasis on topical subjects affecting Houston and other areas and on minimizing unnecessary litigation.

Experience Summaries, Litigation Summaries and Curriculum Vitae reside in the ASSOCIATES area of this Web site (and CVs can be downloaded). After reviewing the Associate's credentials, please contact us through e-mail or telephone for detailed discussions. In many cases, the Associate representing the dominant discipline in the case serves as Associate-in-Charge.

Project Management
Although project management is commonplace in the environmental and mining fields, only a few professionals have sufficient experience to be truly proficient. ELA has the technical foundation, business acumen and solid reputation to provide the kind of expertise essential for successful litigation.

As a matter of policy, ELA incorporates technical input and business savvy from complimentary disciplines. This approach results in superior litigation support for attorneys of plaintiffs, defendants or court-appointed functions. ELA is known for thorough investigations, and for appropriate deposition and court testimony.

Effective project management often makes the difference between a good case and a bad one. The Principals of ELA can help you make the best case that is reasonably possible. ELA is listed in the ASTM Directory of Consultants and Expert Witnesses (here).


ELA Associates Listening to Clients

Documentation
During long-term litigation, efficient management of time and expenses becomes critical. ELA is known for its excellent record keeping and timely reporting and supports each invoice with documentation when indicated.

Technical Resources
In complex or straightforward litigation, experts must be able to provide appropriate technical information. ELA has access not only to industry sources but maintains extensive in-house scientific and engineering literature in the ELA Library. Additionally, the firm has access to exclusive portals and databases, such as the ELA WWW Resources and the IET Technical Resources Site.


To visit the non-frames version of the ELA Web site, click (here).
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