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Christopher P. Berka
Trial attorney Christopher Berka represents energy, real estate, technology and other clients in complex environmental, insurance coverage, product liability and commercial litigation matters.
His decades of courtroom achievement, which include nationally recognized verdicts involving environmental pollution, environmental torts, and cleanup cost recovery, inform the regulatory and transactional counsel he also provides national clients.
In the environmental sector, Chris has handled more than 250 cases with Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), Hazardous Substance Account Act (HSAA), Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), common law and contract claims, involving soil, groundwater, soil vapor, and sediment contamination. His counsel ranges from pre-litigation investigations and negotiations to jury verdict and appeals in federal and state courts. He has significant experience excluding from court unreliable expert testimony under Daubert and related doctrines.
Chris also represents clients' interests at all levels of government oversight and before agencies focused on the environment, public safety, and health. In his advisory role, Chris helps clients manage Brownfields developments and related regulatory requirements. He also offers transactional environmental due diligence counsel and direction on liability allocation in the context of real property acquisitions, mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, and leasings.
Chris has served on the advisory and editorial boards of professional journals and has authored more than 200 published papers on environmental law.
Areas of focus
Services
Education & Credentials
Education
- Stanford University, B.A., with honors, 1976
- University of Michigan Law School, J.D., cum laude, 1980
Bar and Court Admissions
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California
- U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California
- Supreme Court of the United States
Professional Recognition
Best Lawyers in America: Environmental Litigation and Environmental Law, 2009, 2011 – 2015, 2017 – 2024
Legal 500 US, Environmental Litigation, 2011
Super Lawyers, Northern California, 2004, 2006 – 2020
The National Law Journal, "Top 20 Defensive Wins," 2002
Impact
Professional Leadership
- American Bar Association, Section of Environment, Energy and Resources, Toxic Tort and Environmental Litigation Committee, Climate Change and Sustainable Development Committee
- Santa Clara County Bar Association, Environmental Law Section, Executive Committee
- Santa Clara County Superior Court, Judge Pro Tern
- Environmental Liability, Enforcement & Penalties Reporter, Advisory Board Member, 2005 – present
- California Environmental Law and Regulation Reporter, Former Editorial Board Member