| Biography:
Robert J. Kafin is Proskauer's General Counsel, responsible for providing professional
legal advice to the Firm.
A 1966 magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, Bob has concentrated
his outside client service in the area of environmental law since 1971 and is
a member of Proskauer's Environmental Practice Group. Through his considerable
experience in this field, Bob has become familiar with the entire spectrum of
environmental issues which face businesses.
Bob regularly provides compliance counseling advice to businesses facing regulations
under all of the major federal environmental laws and state analogues, including
the Clean Air Act, Emergency Planning and Right-to-Know Act, Federal Water Pollution
Control Act, Oil Pollution Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Safe
Drinking Water Act, Superfund and Toxic Substances Control Act.
In recent years, Bob has been called upon in major transactions involving almost
every type of industry to review and evaluate environmental compliance and liabilities.
These include acquisitions and dispositions of businesses and properties in
the aluminum, cement, basic chemicals, agricultural products, pharmaceutical,
tire manufacturing, specialty chemicals, ship-building, steel, zinc, railroad,
food production, and automotive products industries.
In addition to addressing environmental issues in transactions, Bob has worked
extensively on the environmental impact and zoning problems of major real estate
developments and industrial facilities, including the 1980 Winter Olympic Games
in Lake Placid.
With the significant concern about the handling of hazardous materials, Bob
has often been called upon to represent potentially responsible persons in Superfund
cases and in other controversies dealing with liability for contaminated real
estate and natural resources. With the shift away from the litigious Superfund
process to negotiated remedies for previously disturbed sites ripe for reuse,
Bob assists clients with "Brownfields" projects in working their way
through the regulatory and financing maze created by new statutes and regulations
setting up voluntary clean-up and liability protection programs.
As a result of his extensive experience, Bob has many times been called upon
to teach, lecture or write about environmental law matters. These include presentations
at the State University of New York, Harvard University, the University of Michigan,
the Institute of Man and Science, Pace University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
Indiana State University, New York Land Institute and the Suffolk Academy of
Law. He was editor of the Treatise on New York Environmental Law (NYSBA
1992, 1995). He is also the author of "Love Canal Judge Rejects Third-Party
Defense" (3 Hazardous Waste and Toxic Tort Law and Strategy 1988),
"Environmental Enforcement; Criminal Sanctions Lead to Higher Fines and
Jail" (NYLJ, July 23, 1990), "Corporate Officers: Protect Yourself
from Personal Liability" (Environmental Manager, Dec. 1990), "Revisions
Widen Clean Air Act's Business Impact" (NYLJ, April 23, 1991) and
has published in Municipal Lawyer and Syracuse Law Review. He
is a member of the Board of Editorial Advisors of Real Estate Environmental
Liability News.
Numerous governmental agencies have called Bob to act in a consulting capacity
in helping them to manage various environmental matters. He assisted the New
York State Department of Environmental Conservation in writing the initial regulations
under the State Environmental Quality Review Act, in training Administrative
Law Judges and in revising hearing regulations. He has assisted New York City
in developing a comprehensive solid waste management plan and provided similar
services to numerous county governments. He holds a mayoral appointment to the
Council on the Environment of New York City.
Bob's knowledge of environmental law has been widely recognized by other lawyers
who regularly call on him to instruct practicing lawyers in continuing legal
education programs and to serve on professional committees. He has been selected
by Chambers USA as one of the leading attorneys in his field in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
Bob is the past Chair of the Environmental Law Section of the New York State
Bar Association.
He also served as Chair of Parks & Trails New York and as a Vice Chair
of the Preservation League of New York State, on whose boards he currently sits.
He is a Director of both the Adirondack Council and the Times Square Alliance.
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