Christopher Berka

Trial lawyer Christopher Berka has decades of courtroom experience, including nationally recognized verdicts involving environmental pollution, environmental torts, and cleanup cost recovery. His experience informs the regulatory and transactional counsel he provides clients nationwide. 

In the environmental sector, Chris has handled more than 250 cases involving the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act; the Hazardous Substance Account Act; the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act; common law; and contract claims involving soil, groundwater, soil vapor, and sediment contamination. His counsel ranges from prelitigation investigations and negotiations to jury verdicts and appeals in federal and state courts. Chris also has significant experience excluding unreliable expert testimony from court under Daubert and related doctrines. 

He 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 advises on transactional environmental due diligence counsel and liability allocation in real property acquisitions, M&As, 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.