Joseph Salazar

Joe A. Salazar is the administrative partner in the Sacramento office of Lewis Brisbois and a member of the Energy & Environmental Practice. He represents a broad range of public and private sector entities relating to environmental contamination, remediation and redevelopment.

With over twenty-five verdicts in State and Federal courts, Joe has a wealth of practical experience in defending and prosecuting matters involving :

• Environmental Matters (including water rights adjudications, contaminated soils and groundwater sites, CERCLA, RCRA, Clean Water Act, CEQA, Endangered Species Act)
• Public Entity litigation – Inverse Condemnation/Eminent Domain and Environmental Cleanup cost recovery actions
• Public Entity employment litigation – discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims against Water Districts, Fire Districts, etc.
• Mass Environmental Tort/Class Action litigation
• Home Owners Association litigation.

Joe has over 24 years of courtroom experience with multiple jury and bench verdicts in State and Federal Court. He has handled numerous environmental lawsuits from groundwater rights adjudications to multi-party, comingled plume trials.

His practical knowledge in geology, hydrogeology and contaminant chemistry allows him to work with scientific personnel to quickly understand the technical challenges that these cases present.

A trial lawyer at heart, he often parachutes into other cases to first chair the trial work and has a special knack in converting complex issues into compelling and understandable presentations. Recently, he defensed a personal injury trial after the Plaintiff only got as far as his opening statement to the jury. See Quigley v. Garden Valley Fire Protection District (2017) cited below.

Education :

• UCLA School of Law, Juris Doctor, 1993
• Stanford University, Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, 1987

Admissions :

• State Bar Admissions, California
• State Supreme Courts, California Supreme Court
• State Appellate Courts, California Courts of Appeal
• United States District Courts
  • United States District Court for the Central District of California
  • United States District Court for the Eastern District of California
  • United States District Court for the Northern District of California

Associations : American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA)