Mr. Paul M. Hauge is an environmental litigator with a practice focused on CERCLA and Spill Act cost recovery and contribution actions. He represents clients principally in connection with sites in New Jersey and New York, ranging from small, client-owned industrial facilities to massive, multi-party disposal sites.
His scientific training and experience as an environmental scientist–at a consulting firm, a public-interest organization, and the research division of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection–enable him to provide special insights into complex environmental matters. In one recent matter, he helped to obtain dismissal of a CERCLA claim by persuading the court to recognize the applicability of the statute’s rarely invoked “act of war” defense.
In addition to litigation in both federal and state courts, Mr. Hauge represents clients in administrative proceedings, EPA investigations, and brownfield disputes. His matters have involved:
- assisting owners of contaminated sites with claims against former owners and operators responsible for the contamination
- helping both large and small contributors to landfill sites to minimize their allocated shares of liability
- successfully defending a manufacturer of leather goods sued by neighbors of a former facility for alleged harms from substances used at the facility
- responding to Spill Act directives issued by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
- coordinating the work of experts, consultants, and Licensed Site Remediation Professionals under the novel “private oversight” approach of New Jersey’s Site Remediation Reform Act
- unraveling an unreasonable and arbitrarily administered system of municipal sewer fees on behalf of a large food-processing company
Before joining Gibbons, Mr. Hauge clerked for then-Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, who was elevated to the United States Supreme Court in 2006.
Mr. Hauge is also a co-author (with Gibbons Director Susanne Peticolas) of the chapters on CERCLA and New Jersey Environmental Law in West’s annually updated Business Law Deskbook series. He has taught courses in Environmental Law and the Clean Water Act as an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University School of Law in Newark.
EDUCATION:
- Harvard Law School (J.D., magna cum laude)
- Boston University (A.M.)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology(S.M.)
- Princeton University (A.B., cum laude)
PROFESSIONAL ADMISSIONS:
- State of New Jersey
- United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
- United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
- United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES:
- American Bar Association
- Member, Environment, Energy, and Resources Section
- New Jersey State Bar Association
- Member, Environmental Law Section
JUDICIAL CLERKSHIP(S):
- Law clerk to the Honorable Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Newark, New Jersey (now Associate Justice, United States Supreme Court), 1995-1996
Cost
Rate : $$$
