Robert C. Gombar, Sr. is a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP based in the Washington, D.C. office. He is head of the Firm’s OSHA, MSHA & Catastrophe Response Group. He is a former member of the Firm’s management committee, compensation committee, and strategic planning committee.
Key Accomplishments
- Primary outside counsel to companies in over thirty industrial disaster situations
- A recognized expert on OSHA’s Process Safety Management Standard
- Extensive experience in litigation before the federal Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, state safety and health agencies, and federal Courts of Appeal
- Represented companies in occupational safety and health rule-making proceedings
- Represented companies during investigations by the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazards Investigation Board (CSB)
- Represented companies during investigations by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
- Served as an attorney, general counsel, and chief legal officer of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission
- Legal consultant to the U. S. Centers for Disease Control for the development of workplace guidelines for those exposed to HIV
- Represented companies during investigations by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)
- An adjunct professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center and as an advisory board member of the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health
Key Cases
- CH2M HILL, Inc. v. Herman, 192 F. 3d 711 (7th Cir. 1999): Trial and appellate counsel of record for CH2M HILL . The court's decision substantially narrowed the potential liability of all engineers and architects under the Occupational Safety and Health Act
- IBP, Inc. v. Herman, 144 F .3d 861 (D.C. Cir. 1998): Counsel of record for amicus curiae. The court's decision limited the liability of facility owners for OSHA violations committed by independent contractors while working at a facility
- Reich v. General Motors, 89 F. 3d 313 (6th Cir. 1996): Appellate counsel of record and orally argued. The court's decision struck down a major interpretation by OSHA involving the lockout/tagout standard that would have adversely affected automotive assembly lines throughout the U.S.
- Secretary of Labor v. Motiva Enterprises, LLC, OSHRC Dkt. No. 02-2160 (Sept. 22, 2006): Litigation team leader. The Review Commission rejected OSHA’s interpretation that mere proximity of equipment is enough to bring a facility under the coverage of the Process Safety Management Standard
Bob also served as the chairman of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) OSHA Committee; associate editor for the ABA’s treatise on Occupational Safety and Health Law (Bureau of National Affairs, 1988); and co-editor in chief for the ABA OSHA treatise’s First Supplement, 1987-88 (BNA, 1990). He has authored numerous articles and has participated in many conferences focusing on occupational safety and health issues, such as chemical process safety management. Bob is listed in the Labor and Employment Section of the current edition of The Best Lawyers in America
Bob is admitted to the bars in Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, the District of Columbia, various federal district courts, numerous circuits of the U.S. Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States.
Click here for a complete list of Bob's publications and presentations.
Education
- Fordham University School of Law, J.D., 1974
- Pace University, B.B.A. (cum laude), 1970
