William N. Hall, Partner

Bill Hall is a partner in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office and is extensively involved in D.C. legislative and sports activities. His environmental and health and safety practice includes representing the Resilient Floor Covering Institute (RFCI), the National Paint and Coatings Association (NPCA), the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI), and companies in the resilient flooring, paint, plastics, pharmaceutical, utility, chemical, and power tool industries.

Mr. Hall has handled regulatory, enforcement, and litigation matters involving asbestos, lead paint, green buildings/products, waste disposal and cleanup, chemical production, water and air permits, and occupational health and safety. He has participated in numerous agency rulemakings and has acted as lead counsel for RFCI in judicial review petitions challenging the OSHA asbestos standard, OSHA slip resistance standard, EPA recycled material regulations, and New York state green building requirements. He has defended NPCA in lead paint litigation in Baltimore and defended clients in asbestos personal injury and property-damage cases. Mr. Hall has performed environmental due diligence projects for pharmaceutical, chemical, and utility clients.

Mr. Hall has represented corporate clients and PRP committees in responding to CERCLA cleanup demands and natural resource damage claims, and has been lead counsel in a CERCLA contribution action against 1,181 defendants in Fort Wayne, Ind. Mr. Hall also has defended clients in RCRA corrective action matters and Clean Water Act citizen suits.

Mr. Hall has lobbied Congress on economic stimulus, lead paint, green building, and labeling issues and has lobbied state legislatures on asbestos and green building issues.

He has extensive experience lobbying the D.C. City Council, Mayor’s Office, and D.C. agencies on lead paint, anti-graffiti, green building, pharmaceutical, asbestos, and baseball issues. His D.C. lobbying clients have included trade associations representing the resilient flooring, paint and coatings, pharmaceutical, chemical, and forest and paper industries.

Mr. Hall has represented insureds in obtaining insurance coverage for environmental and asbestos liabilities involving hundreds of millions of dollars of coverage. He has extensively dealt with insurers at the primary and excess coverage layers in these matters, including Travelers/Aetna, CNA, Wausau, Liberty Mutual, Chubb, and others.

Mr. Hall’s sports work includes representation of Kevin Durant, first round pick of the Seattle SuperSonics in the 2007 NBA draft (second pick overall), and involvement in all aspects of baseball activities and sports facilities in Washington, D.C.

Activities

Since 1994, Mr. Hall has served as a board member on the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission, having been nominated to successive terms by Mayors Barry, Williams, and Fenty and confirmed unanimously by the D.C. Council on five occasions. He currently serves as vice chair of the commission and, since 1995, chair of the Baseball Committee. In that capacity, Mr. Hall has played a leading role in negotiating the return of major league baseball to Washington and the construction of the new baseball stadium.

Mr. Hall is a board member of the Greater Washington Sports Alliance, a business organization which promotes sports in the Greater Washington area. He is a member of the Federal City Council, a business and professional organization committed to improving Washington, D.C. From 1994 to 1995, he served on the board of the National Capital Development Corporation, which developed the MCI Sports Arena (now Verizon Center).

Mr. Hall is a member of the American Bar Association, the D.C. Bar Association, and the voluntary Bar Association of the District of Columbia, and previously chaired the Environmental Law and Administrative Law committees of the voluntary bar.

From 2001 to 2005, Mr. Hall served on the Restoration Advisory Board for the Spring Valley (D.C.) neighborhood, which addresses environmental issues arising from chemical warfare production at American University during World War I.

Education

Speeches and Publications