Christopher P. Berka

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.