Len is a pioneer in the environmental field as one of the first environmental lawyers in the U.S. government, working for the National Air Pollution Control Administration and then as part of the group of federal employees who started the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). While at EPA, Len created the structures of the modern-day regulation of air and water pollution, and designed the framework for all of the EPA permit programs. He headed the national water enforcement effort and handled ground-breaking and controversial enforcement cases from Alaska to Idaho to the Caribbean.

In private practice since 1980, Len has represented some of the largest corporations in the world in solving their environmental, health and safety issues, and championed the cause of new companies from the United States, China, Korea and India entering the U.S. agricultural chemical market. He has also represented several industry groups and associations, notably the nylon industry and the asphalt pavement industry in matters requiring innovative solutions to complex environmental, health and safety issues. Len has handled cases involving aldrin/dieldrin, PCBs, dioxins, lead and asbestos. He also has pursued patent infringement actions against some of the largest companies in the telecom industry.

Len has advised Fortune 500 companies, start-up companies, trade associations, international Swiss bankers and venture capitalists. He has a particular interest in the settlement-first approach to conflict resolution, involving coalition formation, alternative dispute resolution and mediation.

Representative Client Work

  • Represents generic agricultural chemical companies entering the U.S. market (including the first Indian and Korean companies to be awarded a technical registration by the U.S. EPA), involving data compensation negotiations and arbitrations, business strategy, and product defense
  • Represented the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) trade association on the evaluation of the carcinogenicity of bitumen (asphalt) by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Negotiated a landmark agreement to reduce worker exposure to fumes among the asphalt paving industry and construction labor unions, equipment manufacturers and the U.S. government (OSHA and NIOSH). This effort was recognized as a finalist for the Ford Foundation's Innovations in American Government Award
  • Consulted with U.S., Australian and French companies about water privatization for both wastewater treatment plants and drinking water supplies, and evaluated opportunities in the U.S. marketplace
  • Represented a major chemical company for over a dozen years on all of its water pollution and hazardous waste cases around the country, and represented another of the largest manufacturing companies in the United States on citizen suits, wastewater control and PCB incineration
  • On behalf of the phosphate fertilizer industry along the lower Mississippi River, obtained one of the few rulings from U.S. EPA that withdrew a water pollution effluent guideline, thus allowing for a tailored solution to discharges of gypsum
  • Advised a large Canadian mining company on a precedent-setting federal court case regarding trans-boundary water pollution migrating to the United States
  • Represented the nylon producers who use caprolactam as a feedstock, and was the first to convince the U.S. EPA and the environmental community that a substance deserved to be taken off the congressionally mandated list of hazardous air pollutants

Bar & Court Admissions

  • District of Columbia
  • U.S. District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
  • Supreme Court of the United States

Education

  • J.D., Harvard Law School
  • B.A., cum laude, Brandeis University

Community Engagement

  • President and Co-Founder, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Alumni Association
  • President and Founder, Water Resource Action Project
  • Member, Board of Directors, Parsons Water Fund, Chair of the Environmental, Water Policy, and External Relations Committee, Advisor to CEO of Jewish National Fund (JNF) on environmental issues
  • Member, Council of Partners, Environmental Law Institute
  • Officer, U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (1968-1972)

Awards & Honors

  • U.S. Public Health Service, Commendation Medal; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, two EPA Bronze Medals for Commendable Service, EPA Silver Medal for Superior Service, and EPA Distinguished Career Award; recognized as one of the founding employees of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
  • Best Lawyers in America® (2006-2023)
  • Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers (2007-2015)
  • The Clean Water Handbook, Second Edition, Government Institutes, 1997
  • NPDES Permit Handbook, Second Edition, Government Institutes, 1992
  • Product Risk in the Chemical Industry, Executive Enterprises, 1985 numerous articles

Seminars & Presentations

  • Lectured widely at universities, companies, trade associations and professional courses throughout the United States and abroad, giving over a hundred speeches on topics related to pollution control, government regulation, generic pesticide market entrants and dispute resolution
  • "Business Opportunities for Chinese Pesticide Producers in the U.S. Market," presented at AgroChemex 2010, Shanghai, PRC (October 2010)

Practices

Jump to Page