Jeremy Esterkin

Jeremy advises utilities, energy companies, manufacturers, and other clients in substantive areas of federal and state environmental law involving the protection and remediation of environmental media, including the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and the California Hazardous Substance Account Act (HSAA). He also helps clients navigate federal and state environmental regulations pertaining to the management of hazardous material, wastewater, and natural resources; represents clients in cost allocation proceedings involving cleanup of contaminated sites; develops comprehensive responses to investigation and enforcement actions from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state-level environmental regulators; and provides holistic guidance on external communications to minimize litigation exposure and reputational injury. Jeremy has experience in matters involving per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS); benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX); volatile organic compounds (VOCs); perchlorate; lead; and radionuclides.

Jeremy is well versed in each stage of litigation, from pre-lawsuit fact-gathering through discovery, taking and defending fact and expert depositions, dispositive motion practice, and trial or mediation. He works collaboratively with clients, technical consultants and co-defendants to develop and execute comprehensive strategies to both resolve immediate issues and protect clients’ long-term business interests.

Jeremy maintains an active and varied pro bono practice helping veterans seeking discharge status upgrades; assisting pro se litigants in navigating federal court procedures; and defending animal welfare legislation. He is currently working alongside the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), NAACP, and Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in litigation challenging discriminatory legislative district maps enacted by the State of Mississippi.

While in law school, Jeremy was an extern for Judge Victor Marrero in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York; earned a Certificate in Environmental Policy through the U. Penn Institute for Environmental Studies; was a Senior Editor of the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Business Law; and provided low-income Philadelphia residents with pro bono tax preparation services. 

• Advises an educational organization regarding routine environmental sampling and public communications concerning site safety
• Obtained a favorable settlement for an energy utility whose power plant in Redlands, Calif., has been adversely impacted by perchlorate contamination in the local groundwater
• Represented a large energy exploration and production company against claims of fraudulent transfer arising from a corporate reorganization and spin-off involving environmental and toxic tort liabilities at thousands of sites across the country
• Counsels a Working Group of waste generators investigating and remediating a closed landfill in West Covina, California
• Defended a global energy company in a multiparty action arising from groundwater contamination in Los Angeles County
• Obtained a favorable settlement for two corporate clients alleged to have contributed to a massive underground VOC plume in the San Gabriel Valley
• Represented non-operating investors in the Macondo well in federal multidistrict litigation over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
• Represents energy and utility companies in connection with the allocation of liability for a closed hazardous waste landfill in Huntington Beach, California
• Defended a global financial institution against allegations by US EPA of potential responsibility for mercury contamination at a Superfund site
• Counsels a global energy company in connection with an investigation by state regulators into wastewater disposal practices
• Obtained a favorable settlement for a supplier of component parts to a factory alleged to have emitted air pollutants in Vernon, California
• Represents the manufacturer of a life-saving drug against multiple personal injury allegations grounded in anti-vaccine misinformation