Firm Profile
History
My greatest pleasure as an attorney and counselor is maintaining a long-term, positive relationship with my clients by getting to know their interests and goals, and then working hard to help them protect their interests and meet their goals. I have formed my own firm to get away from conflicting demands from "management" in order to focus entirely on client service. I have been fortunate to practice with many well-qualified attorneys and will continue to value my relationships with them, as well as the many other colleagues I have gotten to know through my 28 years practicing law in numerous jurisdictions and through service to bar association organizations at the national, state and local levels.
I have been admitted in four jurisdictions (Michigan, New York, New Jersey and DC) and maintain my bar association memberships in Michigan and New York. I have handled environmental litigation in a number of federal and state courts, and have negotiated settlements with numerous state and federal agencies, including several of the US EPA regional offices.
Clients
Our environmental experience encompasses many of the myriad sub-specialties of environmental law. While more information is available on the areas of practice page, some recent examples include:
- Automotive plant renovation;
- Real Estate due diligence;
- Oil and gas pipeline issues;
- PCB cleanup;
- Sand dunes permitting;
- Riparian rights litigation;
- Toll manufacturing ("arranger liability") defense; and
- Food processing and wastewater discharge compliance.
Case Wins
CERCLA transhipment allegation: Negotiate settlement of federal court litigation on behalf of Group of alleged transhippers of chemical waste for a collective de minimis share.
CERCLA scrap recycling litigation: As common counsel for de minimis group, negotiate several rounds of settlement for large numbers of parties.
NRD: Common representation of five major corporations in negotiation of settlement of natural resource damages claims.
Wastewater discharge: Convince state to withdraw criminal investigation and negotiate substantial reduction in penalty.
Municipal POTW violations: Negotiate resolution for city of state claims involving criminal allegations against individual operators.
PCB cleanup: Coordinate consultant work and client evaluation of PCB cleanup involving over 100,000 square feet and both state and federal law.
Environmental insurance: Pursue recovery of claim for environmental cleanup costing over $1 million.