West Virginia and the surrounding Appalachian Basin is home to several of the world’s largest chemical manufacturers.

Bowles Rice provides experienced counsel to chemical industry clients, which range from small, locally owned businesses to international Fortune 500 companies.  We regularly assist manufacturers, distributors and transporters in the expansion, development, and protection of their businesses and companies.

Lawyers from each of the firm’s practice groups provide coordinated, value-added legal services that help clients achieve their business objectives.

Legal services to the chemical industry include:

Several Bowles Rice lawyers hold undergraduate degrees in chemistry, biochemistry and engineering. The combination of real-world technical experience and extensive knowledge of the issues and regulations facing manufacturers and distributors of chemicals allows Bowles Rice to provide unparalleled counsel and services to our clients. 

Bowles Rice attorney Tom Graff serves as Chairman and President of the Board of Directors of the Chemical Alliance Zone, a nonprofit collaborative of citizens, labor leaders, educators, government officials, chemical executives and business leaders that works to channel and leverage efforts to strengthen the local chemical industry. 

Bowles Rice attorneys are also members of the Polymer Alliance Zone®, Inc (PAZ), a membership organization that includes both polymer and related industries.

Toxic Tort Litigation
Our firm began a long tradition of handling major toxic tort litigation in the 1980s, when Bowles Rice was involved in defending one of the world's largest chemical companies in a large-scale chemical exposure case. The trial involved seven representative plaintiffs out of more than 100 claimants.  After an 11-month trial, Bowles Rice obtained a defense verdict on all claims raised by all plaintiffs except for one nominal exposure claim on behalf of one plaintiff. 

Since that time, we have handled a myriad of chemical exposure cases involving dioxin, pesticides, benzene, trichloroethylene, chlorine, phenols, polyacrylamide, PCBs and many others.  We handled a toxic tort class action involving thousands of plaintiffs and an entire township.  We are also representing several defendants in asbestos litigation in West Virginia and western Pennsylvania.

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