Brian Israel

Brian Israel is Chair of the firm's Environmental Practice Group, as well as co-lead of the firm’s
Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) working group. Brian's practice
focuses broadly on environmental litigation, crisis management and counseling—including
climate-related issues—and he is one of the nation's leading lawyers for Natural Resource
Damages (NRD) claims. Over the course of his career, Brian has successfully litigated and/or
resolved over one hundred environmental matters. Among other areas, Brian specializes in
cases brought under federal and state environmental laws related to contaminated sites,
including toxic tort lawsuits. Brian represents multiple Fortune 500 companies in some of the
largest and most complex environmental matters across the country. Since 2010, Brian has been
lead counsel to BP in relation to Deepwater Horizon NRD claims, and was also one of the trial
attorneys at the Deepwater Horizon Clean Water Act (CWA) penalty trial.
Prior to joining the firm, Brian was an Honors Trial Attorney in the Environmental Enforcement
Section of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). While at the DOJ, he handled several
high-profile cases, including the largest NRD trial at the time. Additionally, Brian was awarded
the Distinguished Service Award for his accomplishments in a Clean Air Act jury trial during his
time at the DOJ. He also litigated claims on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
pursuant to the Clean Water Act; the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA); and the
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).
Brian has spoken and written extensively about environmental law and policy issues. He is a
principal author of "Natural Resource Damages: A Guide to Litigating and Resolving NRD
Cases" (ABA, 2019), the definitive treatise on NRD claims. Brian is also the co-editor of the
recently published book (ABA 2023), “Environmental, Social, Governance: The Professional’s
Guide to the Law and Practice of ESG.” For nearly years, Brian has maintained and regularly
updated the State-by-State Guide to NRD Programs in All 50 States and Puerto Rico. He is the
author of the "Natural Resource Damages" chapter in the Environmental Law Practice Guide
(Gerrard, ed.). Brian has published on many other environmental law topics including
environmental enforcement, crisis management, climate policy, corporate liability, regulatory
reform, trial strategy, and Superfund. Brian's student note, "An Environmental Justice Critique
of Risk Assessment," is published in the NYU Environmental Law Journal.