Jeffrey Martin

Jeffrey N. Martin has devoted the past four decades to the field of environmental law, litigating many of the legal issues that govern today’s practice and drafting the original version of agreements widely used today in CERCLA proceedings.

A nationally recognized figure in superfund, natural resource damage, and toxic tort litigation, Jeff has focused on complex, multiparty environmental cases since he began in private practice. He is a first chair litigator who has also mediated environmental disputes and served as a mediator himself.

Jeff represents waste management firms, electric utilities, consumer product manufacturers, and chemical and paper companies.

After serving as an editor of Harvard’s first Environmental Law Review in 1977, he went on to clerk for US District Judge John H. Pratt in 1978, and has been in private practice in Washington, DC since 1979.  He has litigated cases in trial and appellate courts throughout the United States and in Puerto Rico.

Experience:

• Represented companies in more than 100 federal and state Superfund cases.
• Thirty-eight years of experience litigating cases involving claims under the major federal environmental statutes, including CERCLA, RCRA, Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and TSCA.
• Counsel in landmark Supreme Court case on use of injunctions under federal environmental laws, Weinberger v. Romero-Barcelo.
• Lead draftsman, first consent decree under federal Superfund law, Enviro-Chem.
• Lead draftsman, first comprehensive Superfund site PRP agreement at Royal N.
• Hardage Superfund site; later adapted by Information Network for Superfund Settlements.
• Counsel in early cases on standards for proof of hazardous substances under CERCLA, including United States v. Charles George Trucking Company.
• Counsel in precedent-setting remedy selection cases tried under section 106 of CERCLA and section 7003 of RCRA, Royal N. Hardage Site, Oklahoma, and Metal Bank/Cottman Avenue, Pennsylvania.
• Counsel in precedent-setting cases clarifying standards for cost recovery and contribution under CERCLA, City of New York v. Exxon, United States v. Royal N. Hardage.
• Counsel in early cases addressing successor liability standards under CERCLA.
• Counsel in cases involving interpretation of liability releases under Superfund law.
• Counsel in early cases resolving natural resource damage claims, including Oak Grove, Minnesota; G&H Landfill, Michigan; and Sutton Brook, Massachusetts.
• Counsel in ongoing “mega-site” sediment contamination cases: Kalamazoo River, Berry’s Creek, Gowanus Canal.
• Counsels corporate clients on requirements for compliance with state and federal environmental laws and regulations.
• Provides advice to companies seeking to minimize the environmental liabilities associated with corporate acquisitions and property purchases.
• Extensive experience in the filing of comments in EPA rulemaking proceedings and in the prosecution of challenges to EPA rules.
• Serves as common counsel to industry groups in the prosecution and defense of contribution and cost recovery claims for waste site cleanup costs, and natural resource damages .
• Defended numerous federal court and state court lawsuits involving toxic tort claims for personal injury and property damage throughout the United States.

EDUCATION:

• JD, Harvard Law School, Harvard Environmental Law Review, 1978
• BA, Government, Lawrence University, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, 1974

BAR ADMISSIONS:

• District of Columbia

CLERKSHIPS:

• US District Court, District of Columbia

Memberships:

• Member, American Bar Association