The tools of environmental litigation support: How environmental litigation support teams employ a unique set of skills and tools to improve the outcome and reduce the cost of legal disputes

While the primary goal of environmental investigations is to assess and cle an up contaminated properties, significant efforts are also directed toward s resolving various matters in legal dispute. Opposing parties often disagr ee about the cause and timing of contamination and the associated liability and costs for meeting regulatory site closure requirements. Environmental experts are often needed to help resolve such legal disputes with expertise in hydrogeology, toxicology, microbiology, chemistry, engineering, and pro cess safety. These experts, or teams of experts, provide technical approach es to determine the liability and cost apportionment amongst the various po tentially responsible parties. Fate and transport models, environmental for ensics, and risk assessment help to answer the issues in dispute. Skillful communication of these technical findings is needed to present conclusions to audiences that do not necessarily have technical backgrounds. (C) 2000 A EHS.