CERCLA Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser Defense: Securing and Maintaining Liability Protection

Mr. Otis provides strategic, insightful and cost-effective solutions to address the environmental remediation, permitting, compliance, climate change, and environmental, social and governance (ESG) needs of clients across a range of industries, including in the commodity trading, mining, energy and insurance sectors. He helps clients address and mitigate environmental risks; advises on cleanups and compliance; counsels on environmental issues in domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, financings, and real estate developments; and represents clients in international arbitrations involving environmental claims outside the United States. Mr. Otis also guides clients in navigating ESG policy development and reporting under the ever-evolving ESG disclosure standards and advises clients in the greenhouse gas emissions trading markets. He brings more than three decades of legal and environmental experience to his work on behalf of clients. Mr. Otis worked for nine years at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where he participated in writing rules under the Clean Air Act, including Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standards for refinery and other operations, and played a key advisory role in policy areas such as global climate change, use of market mechanisms and sustainability. Prior to joining the firm, he was a partner in the environmental practice at one prominent international firm and headed the environmental team at another. Mr. Otis has also developed and taught classes in environmental policy and law at both Indiana University and Vassar College.

Mr. Warren, Partner Environmental practice, recognized as one of the pre-eminent lawyers in his field, counsels and represents clients in a comprehensive range of environmental law matters.  A former regional administrator with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), he brings more than 40 years of knowledge and experience in environmental law, both in government and private practice, to his work on behalf of clients. Mr. Warren advises public and privately held corporations as well as other organizations, and individuals on compliance under state and federal environmental statutes and regulations, including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, solid waste and brownfield laws, the Superfund law and other hazardous waste statutes, as well as the Occupational Safety and Health Act. He also provides environmental auditing, environmental impact review and due diligence work for these clients, and represents them in permitting, enforcement procedures and litigation. Mr. Warren's clients have included major real estate developers with environmental problems such as hazardous waste issues; industrial companies with air pollution, water pollution and hazardous waste issues; and creditors’ committees in bankruptcies involving major environmental issues. As a member of interdisciplinary teams, he also performs critical environmental review and due diligence in the context of corporate transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and bankruptcies and restructurings as well as in some of the largest and most well-known real estate transactions and developments in New York.